Saints’ coach surprises fans

It is hard to believe that Sean Payton would move his family to Dallas, one of the arch enemies of the New Orleans Saints which he coaches.

He might have some hidden ambitions to become part of the Cowboys’ picture in the future. That is not good if he is going to continue coaching the Saints. Or perhaps he only wants to settle his family in where he intends to retire when his coaching career ends.

He has two years left on his contract with the Saints. It seems if he intended to work in Dallas after that, he would have waited to pick up and leave.

It certainly destroys part of the Payton-Brees-Who Dat unity that has made professional football such an intensely enjoyable association in the past few years. He undoubtedly will have a lot of questions asked about his football future in the months ahead.

We understand he asked if such a living arrangement were possible when he was hired as Saints’ coach in 2006. General Manager Mickey Loomis told him no at the time. Perhaps the outcome was written on the wall this time by Payton.

He has become such a beloved fixture that it will be hard for him to say goodbye for half a year.

Now that the news is out, he will have to re-tie the bonds that existed when he was a hometown coach for the New Orleans team. He lost a lot of admiration in the process.

 

National anthem should not be changed

Christina Aguilera not only flubbed her lines in singing the “Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl Sunday, she sang it the way most soloists before big events do nowadays. Years ago, the anthem was performed in simple melody with each word uttered on one powerful note. Nowadays, performers range their voices up and down to high and low notes on almost every word. It takes away the strength and patriotic message of the song about our country’s birth and progress and replaces it with a sound that gyrates up and down the musical scale.

Singers should follow the style of Kate Smith when she sang the “Star Spangled Banner” years ago. It was strong and proud and only one note to a word.

It is not a song that should be sung in different styles every year. We are still the same country our forefathers founded years ago and the song that represents that courage should remain the same.