[Publisher’s Note]  Do You Know What it Means ...?

by Todd Stauffer
August 25, 2010

That Super Bowl journey with the New Orleans Saints last year was such a roller-coaster ride that I'll admit I've been slow to get back into the football-watching rhythm so far this preseason.

Yes, I watched the draft with half an eye, checked in on training camp from time to time. I watched some of the Saints-Texans while we were here last Saturday finalizing BOOM Jackson's fall issue, and I've got Nola.com in my browser history as we speak--but I've tried (Lord, I've tried) not to get too carried away too early.

After all, it's been a nice spring and summer of reasonably productive weekends--and it will forever be tough for me to get too riled up about football when the heat index is over 105 degrees.

But all that is about to change; the story lines are falling into place, and things are starting to get serious.

For the first time in what feels like months, temperatures are forecast for the low 90s. (Yay, low 90s!)

Brett Favre will play. (And he'll forever give national TV interviews where he still hasn't even gotten his story straight in his own head.)

Another Saints running back (P.J. Hill) is out for the season.

Reggie Bush actually ran straight up the field during a play in a preseason game, resulting in a worldwide chorus of approval.

Pierre Thomas rambled a ridiculous number of yards on a screen pass.

The New Orleans offense clicks so well that 23-year-old Chase Daniels was able to march down the field three times against Houston.

Drew Brees is the best quarterback in football today (I don't remember him throwing a key interception on a 10-yard play during the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl), but we're still going to have nothing but Peyton Manning ads this season. (It appears that the nod to New Orleans will be voiceover by Harry Connick Jr. on a variety of NFL.com promotions.)

Shout out to Mississippi State grad Anthony Dixon, who looked great in his first-ever NFL start (preseason, yes) for the San Francisco 49ers, and who could beat out veteran Brian Westbrook as a starter.

The Saints seem to be sticking with the "bend-but-don't-break" style of defense where their secondary runs around looking utterly confused, letting you get easy 40-yard passes and 25-yard runs, but only giving up a touchdown every third possession. It's a remarkable game plan, but only if you can count on your offense to score at least 38 points per game.

When I think of all of this--and particularly the Saints stuff, and see the shots of the Superdome on national TeeVee--I think of New Orleans.

Not that I relish the thought in this heat, mind you, but part of the Saints experience for me last year was the being-out-in-it of New Orleans. Walking around the Quarter, drinking beer in the bars, listening to the other teams' fans taunt and sing in the street, hearing "Oh When the Saints" over and over again played by actual brass bands, strolling among the tailgaters on Poydras and the street parties in the business district.

Then there's the gumbo before the game; the coffee-and-beignets afterward; the brunch the next day.

Yes, there are also the storms and aftermath, the oil, the police scandals, the new mayor (with the old name), the "A-list" college graduates who are reportedly flocking to the city from Ivy League schools and walking around "in undershirts and straw fedoras" in the Bywater, according to a recent story at Dailybeast.com.

But those crazy kids are also some of the young folks who have put together a technology incubator in the city called LaunchPad (http://launchpadnola.com/) where you can rent a desk or office by the month in order to hang out with other creative, techy folks. (They have on-site yoga classes, mixers, lunch-and-learns and programming meet-ups.) They're down there to make a difference, trying out as teachers and firefighters and--perhaps--entrepreneurs participating in a bit of a New Economy renaissance that has been missed terribly by a place as cool and unique as New Orleans.

If anyone could use a little New Economy, it might be the Big Easy.

So being that this publication is called the "Jackson" Free Press, then what does this have to do with Jackson? Aside from the obvious connection to New Orleans (as the capital of South Mississippi), I think the takeaway is simply this: Remember that your choices--even during football season--affect your community. From where you watch the game to where you buy the beer and chips, you can make a ton of local choices on Saturdays and Sundays that can help Jackson flourish as a unique cultural entity in its own right.

One thing that's fun about football is sharing it with other folks in Jackson, including dropping some scratch with a local business. If you're up for a little company, get out to a local restaurant or sports bar and enjoy the game with other partisans. (In most of these places, they'll even bring the food and drink to you--by request--without creating tension in the relationship.)

Or if you're packing it in for the game, invite over friends and cook or tailgate--remembering, again, that it's the Montgomery Hardwares, Rainbow Co-ops and McDade's Markets that deserve some of your dollars for the grill and grill-ables. Maybe it feels easier and quicker to saunter into the Big Box and directly invest in making those rich folks richer in Bentonville (do they still live in Bentonville? Or have they moved to Shanghai?), but I bet you'll get out of the local stores in the same amount of time--and with more smiles.

Most importantly, don't forget to get just a little crazy, whether at the game, in the bar or during the week at a local technology incubator. (Start one!) That's not to say you should leave the designated driver at home, but go ahead and inject a little New Orleans attitude--old and new--into living "la vida local" this fall.

Have fun and be safe. Even if you are a Colts fan.

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