re: Anyone else sort of feel unexcited about the upcoming season?

I thought I was the only one.

With everything this team has been able to accomplish, and then how the last two seasons have ended... its left me wanting. Not that its the teams fault, it just seems like the NFL has stolen away the interest of next season from me.

Going back to my boyhood in the Bum Phillips era my fall weekends have been arranged with an eye on LSU and Saints kickoff times. Work, study, travel, romantic trysts, fistfights and even one funeral had to bow to those secular High Holies. Bye weeks and Mon/Thu night games often resulted in a melancholy, disoriented Sun. And it wasn't just me. This was the world I lived in. Through the Ditka years, Chris Everett, and even the Billy Joes I put a happy face on frustration and did my Baghdad Bob routine week after week,year after year. The memory of the joyous 2009 season even shielded me somewhat from the undiluted frickery of Goodell's Bountygate vendetta.The kneelers annoyed me to a degree but it was the smug vapidity of ESPN's shift to the political that really diminished the NFL for me. I never boycotted. I don't think I ever intentionally skipped watching a game, but I suddenly found myself with other interests and very little nostalgia for what once was. Then Alvin Kamara happened. His immediate chemistry with a revitalized Brees along with a scrappy defense pulled me right back in. Set me right up for more Goodell slime. The most infuriating part was ESPN's cowardly about face the following Tue. I'm sure I'll still watch a game here and there but I don't think noon on a fall Sunday will ever regain the inviolate status it's held for most of my life.

I am just now starting to get excited again.

My friends and I have a long standing fantasy league full of tradition. Every year we go to different city for our draft since we have members from NY to Los Angeles and in between. It’s an opportunity for all of us to stay connected, and we all love keeping up with the NFL so that is helping my excitement.

As for the Saints, the way the last 2 seasons have ended has almost made me love and feel even more connected, oddly enough. When you lose something / someone, it can bring people together like nothing else. You wanna see this team conquer everything and all that they’ve been through, and end up on top. I just hope the team can pick itself up one more time!

They are just a great organization through and through. Top to bottom - from ownership, management, coaching, elite players, the chemistry that they clearly have together, and the impact they have on New Orleans. I just want to see all that culminate in another championship.

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WTF is wrong with so many of you?

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These chances are not going to be there year after year. If the team blows its opportunity that is one thing. When the league robs you and exposes a corrupt system you once thought was not rigged, excitement for the next season wanes. Not the Saints' fault at all. Love the team, love the players but hate the NFL.

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I’m looking forward to spending those Sundays in the fall with my wife to be instead of watching a fake product.

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That no call upset us all bro.... But let's not get carried away.

Anyone from around here..... or for that matter anyone anywhere who is impartial and saw that game knows now that the NFL is 100% rigged. So no.... it’s not very exciting. I mean what is the best we can hope for? That they rig it for us this time?

Some baws relish that feeling of that fish hitting their hook, that rush you get.... Or the sound of revving from that car you’ve restored, or that runners high you get after completing an iron man, or that lifelong search for the perfect buck.

But Me? I relish starting that trek towards the Mecca from S Galvez & poydras around 10am, six pack of Jucifer, or some Bookers if it’s cold, my best buds that I rarely see except for game day, because life has gotten away. But we always find time for our Saints. Walking down the train tracks like Stand by Me.....

Tension building as you wait in line to get into the Poydras St end zone gate. Black, white, rich, poor, trashy women with pink Reggie bush jerseys & “speak to your manager” haircuts. That one day for 4 hours where people come together.

You get closer to the gate as chants bellow & taunting ensues for that opposing teams fans that, more times than not, are eating that L by days ends. But at this point you really feel it. Your sweat beads start to cower when it hits your face. The drip down your back dries up & you start to get goosebumps. Nipples rip through the shirt on guys that shouldn’t be wearing Dri fit. That 9,000 ton AC unit starts to give you life....it’s what I have lived to feel every Sunday the last 30 years. That Dome AC on a hot, fall, New Orleans day. That orgasmic body shock, nothing like it.

A win means Lucy’s, or the Penthouse club, or or Vic’s kangaroo lounge. Maybe a quick bite at Meril or Seaworthy or Salt n Pepper. A hangover on Monday turns into a great work week, only to do it again as the schedule calls. It either flows thru you or it doesn’t.

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It either flows thru you or it doesn’t

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It used to flow through me. It doesnt anymore. I love the Saints, they will always be my team but I don't get excited over a win or upset at a loss. Those days are long gone.

I've believed the league was rigged for awhile now, even before 2009. I figured it was easy to see. People didn't believe it then. The league pulled a frick You last year, knowing fans will back again and that last year is history. Even made a rule change to appease the masses. Nothing will change because 50% of the refs will call PI while the other 50 won't. The entire game is left up to the officials and it keeps getting worse.

I might take my family to the Dome this year just for the experience. It would be a one time thing though. The price is just ridiculous. I've been numerous times and used to have season tickets. I will always watch the NFL because I love it. It's no different than a WWE fan watching his favorite past time. That's how I feel.

I don’t let last year bother me so much. For me I love football season because it’s a reason to go home and see family and friends. Being in Houston I freaking love being in the city and feeling the energy of the dome. WHO DAT

my interest picks up once the actual season starts. I hate pre season football, and I am still in Pelicans/basketball mode. The no call took a lot out of everyone, but this is a good and resilient team, and also likely the last season for the best payer in our franchises history. We will miss that man so much once he retires.

My gut feeling is this is the year and it is going to feel fricking sweet. After 2 soul crushing playoff losses in back-to-back seasons, the Saints win their 2nd Superbowl on the same field they won it on 10 years ago. The two seasons after the SB win were soul crushing (beastquake, Vernon Davs), now it is essentially the reverse where the two bad losses (MIN miracle, the no call) happen before the SB. Don't be surprised if the SB opponent is the same, too.