Goodbye and Good Luck...

It’s officially final and finally official. Mr. Drew Brees is now a member of the one and only New Orleans Saints. A team that cost me $50 last year in their season opener by playing with all kinds of unwarranted emotion have once again left me disappointed. Oh, wait, no they didn’t. They just proved to me to be at the front of the pack in terms of ‘Sports Owners that I Know More Than” group. In what amounts to me as a questionable decision, the Saints have offered and it has been accepted, a 6 year 60 million dollar deal with a 10 million dollar signing bonus. Now as I sit here and read this over and over again, I am struck a bit puzzled as to why you would do this as a the owner of a professional sports franchise. It is difficult for me to see justifying this deal on any level, which brings me great disappointment. There have not been too many quarterbacks for our franchise in my lifetime that I have been able to grow accustomed to. Once again this holds true, as the hard to love Drew Brees leaves town for good. And in all honesty, if that is truly the money it was going to take to keep the guy with injury, I’ll help him pack his stuff and send him on his way with a smile and a pat on the back. Seeing as how I can’t really articulate what thoughts are assaulting the inside of my skull right now, I am switching to bullet format. Enjoy...

-This deal: 6 years/ $60 million, $10million dollar signing bonus, is universally out of this world ludicrous. I would have been disappointed had the Chargers even approached this mark for a one armed man. I wonder if I can get the Benson’s on the phone and tell them I have some property in the 9th Ward with minor water damage for sale???

-Timeline:

2002-2003- Drew Brees is our Quarterback. Drew Brees is not my favorite quarterback...

2004 - Drew Brees plays himself onto the favorite quarterback list...

2005 - Coaching staff does their part to deflect interest from Drew Brees’ regressing numbers to their own ineptness on the field...

12.31.2005- Drew Brees injures shoulder in meaningless game. Severity of injury downplayed. Coaching staff escapes ‘Barry Bonds Level’ scrutiny for their decision to start him...

03.14.2006- Drew Brees becomes a New Orleans Saint. I laugh uncontrollably at the terms of the contract. Unfortunately eating girl scout cookies at the time terms were announced. Same cookies are now growing in my lungs.

Drew Brees was a decent quarterback and an easy to like kind of guy when he was playing well. I don’t think that the Chargers, or more importantly, I would have ponied up the scratch for a 6 year/60 million dollar deal, even if the injury never occurred. Drew is a solid quarterback that had one great year, one decent year, and one and a half awful ones. Sorry, a $10 million per year quarterback he is not, even with two arms...

-Miami reportedly put Drew through a series of tests Monday to measure the progress of the rehabilitation. Obviously, they did not like what they saw enough that they went and traded a second round draft pick for Daunte Culpepper. The same Daunte Culpepper that has a $100 million dollar contract and had an interception to touchdown ratio last season prior to his injury of about 126:1. Or roughly the same ratio in Mammoth last weekend of guys to boobs.

-New Orleans in true New Orleans form, chose to ignore the fact that a torn labrum, combined with a torn rotator cuff is a serious career threatening type injury. Opting to focus on the derma band exercises that Drew has perfected post surgery. He is showing professional form raising and lowering his arm, stretching the resistance bands well, and is striving to be able to raise a donut, and turn multiple pages of a newspaper in the next month. But think, he is six weeks ahead in his rehab, no one thought he'd be turning pages of newsprint this quickly. Throwing the ball you say? Not important, as he will not be able to test that ability or lack there of until June or so. Logically that leads us to the conclusion that the Saints ownership just gave $10 million guaranteed to a guy who at the moment, cannot throw the ball. Good thing throwing a ball is not in the job description for a quarterback.

-Finally, as it would be I am saddened to see Drew go. He seemed like a good guy, liked the town and obviously worked very hard to become a good quarterback after what would be generous to describe as an inauspicious start. Things were pretty bleak there for a while. But, he did his best and with the mentality of a team we improved and got much better as the sum of our parts. Had the coaching staff not reverted back to their ultra conservative ways at times we may have achieved a higher degree of success. But, sad as it is to see him go, it’s time. An injury has wrecked his future here. No matter how much personal admiration and good feeling we hold for him, he is damaged goods now. Investing in him financially would be like buying a car with Louisiana Plates and a watermark on the dash. You may get a good deal, but you don’t know what you are getting. The funny part is the Saints didn’t really even get a good deal. They paid top dollar. And, it is being reported that Drew and his wife took out a full page ad to thank New Orleans for their new opportunity. The kind folks in the Big Easy decided to thank Drew by taking up a collection to pay for the ad so that Drew doesn't put a strain on his $60 million dollar savings... A new era begins in San Diego.