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Mother Nature reminds us that football isn’t everything

By Dean Mullen

NEW ORLEANS, LA - AUGUST 29: The sun breaks through the clouds over a cemetery as the region remembers Hurricane Katrina on the 10th anniversary of it making landfall on August 29, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina, killed at least 1836 and is considered the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - AUGUST 29: The sun breaks through the clouds over a cemetery as the region remembers Hurricane Katrina on the 10th anniversary of it making landfall on August 29, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina, killed at least 1836 and is considered the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) /
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This weekend is the first NFL Sunday for the season. However, there are plenty of people with high anxiety today as Hurricane Irma looms and Mother Nature takes center stage. Saints fans remember.

New Orleans has been there and back. The images and pictures that the people of New Orleans still remain. The city has surely been resurrected since Hurricane Katrina over 12 years ago. However, the scars still exist to this very day.

After the devastation left from Hurricane Harvey in Texas, flashbacks of Katrina made their way into my thoughts. Fortunately for me, New Orleans was not where I was living at the time. After college in 1998, I decided to move to Orlando. Central Florida ended up being my temporary home for nearly 10 years. New Orleans seemed to resemble a third world country during this time.

The pain and suffering occurred live for me through a 24″ square. Nothing stopped the city of New Orleans drowning in sorrow on TV. Thousands were left behind to fend for themselves on a bridge to nowhere. They were stranded. The media called us “refugees.”

These frightening images seemed to last forever back in 2005. But eventually, the city would rebound. There was talk that the New Orleans Saints could be moving. Once again, another stab in the heart.

Many of these people uprooted and moved to Houston where they rebuilt and started over. Presumably, Houston was a SAFE place to reside. That was then. Now Houston is the city that New Orleans was. We understand. It hurts to see others go through the same unbearable pain. No one would wish that same catastrophe on anyone else. Ironically, Houston was more than generous to us. And that’s why many of the people here went to Houston to help.

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By the same token, there is another monster out there. Hurricane Irma is lurking close by Florida and the southeast region. There is still uncertainty as to where exactly the storm will hit. At the same time, people will also get together this Sunday to watch many NFL games. This is what fans have been waiting for since February. Sunday was going to be the time to celebrate the game of football. But the NFL kickoff this Sunday will not exactly be the number one issue on many peoples’ minds.

Regrettably, there are plenty of other people that will feel the same sense of pain of loss and devastation that Katrina and Harvey unleashed. Some have already evacuated and are living in some distant town that doesn’t resemble home. Those same people were hoping to see their teams start playing on Sunday, like the Miami Dolphins or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That game has been rescheduled for Nov.19th.

Ultimately, there is nothing that people can do to fight the forces of Mother Nature. Football will be playing second fiddle this weekend to a much more important story. In time, these people may look back and be able to reflect on the adversity they went through. Hopefully, they will have the chance to be able to.

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