WAKE ME UP WHEN THE REBUILDING ENDS

I didn't watch the New Orleans Superdome ESPN Monday Night Football love fest last night, featuring the entire irritating ESPN staff, and music by noted local musicians . . . er, Bono and Billie Joe Armstrong. I'm sorry, but I can't get excited about football returning to NOLA, when half its pre-Katrina residents and businesses haven't returned, hospitals and schools are badly in need of funding, and countless flood damaged buildings have not yet been bulldozed, let alone rebuilt. As it is, the owner was ready to pack up and move the Saints last year, if it weren't for the $185 million dollars he was given to repair the stadium, $115M of which came from FEMA (or more accurately, from U.S. taxpayers).

I know the city wants to use the Superdome as a "symbol of recovery" to give the world the appearance that they're "back", but everyone knows they're in serious trouble. Doesn't anyone realize that sports does NOT save us, it only distracts us from reality for a brief moment? I can't believe I'm typing this sentence, but Spike Lee said it best last night: "It's only for four hours, and then they have to return to their FEMA trailers." (Of course, right after that he said Isaiah Thomas would be the NBA coach of the year, but for a fleeting moment I agreed with him.)

Wake me up when the rebuilding ends.

UPDATE: I just went to the Music Rising site, not realizing until just now that it's raising money to help New Orleans . . . musicians. Uhm, okay. And the aforementioned music montage was awful.