Cyril continues to be part of the problem, not the solution

Gary tipped me off to this interview with Austin’s own Cyril Neville.

A couple of choice bits:

Everybody who had obligations to help out didn’t.

Huh?  This kind of shit just reinforces the rest of the country’s perception that we’re just sitting here waiting for help to arrive.  And it’s an insult to all those who did so much.  Yeah, we’re all still pissed at a lot of people, but we’re also trying to take care of business.

My sister-in-law’s house, which I’ve been staying at off and on when I come back, it’s easier for her to drive across the lake [nearby] to go shopping than it is for her to drive all the way uptown to the one Walmart that they have there on Annunciation Street. It’s going to be a long time before the overall city itself is back to anywhere close that it used to be. Yes the French Quarter is there and they can build casinos anywhere they want now — they don’t have to go offshore.

Yeah, New Orleans sucks now that it’s so hard to get to the WalMart.

Look, I’m happy for what he’s doing for the wetlands, but he bashes the city whose allure pays his bills, and then he shortchanges the people who’ve dedicated the last 4 1/2 years to getting things going again.

We wore “Never Brothers” t-shirts to the first JazzFest after the levee failures, and Cyril makes it tempting to break those out again.

Saints school Cowboys

This is awesome:

I smell a nice rivalry cooking.

On Friday night, the Saints’ staff at the combine gathered in a private room at St. Elmo Steakhouse, an 108-year-old Indy landmark, for a final celebratory nod to the Super Bowl win over the Colts. This is a group that likes its wine, and likes to have fun.

At the restaurant, word passed that Dallas owner Jerry Jones would have his Dallas group in this exact room Saturday night for a team dinner. Jones had even phoned ahead, according to a waiter, to make sure a magnum of a wine he loved, Caymus Special Selection cabernet sauvignon, was ready to be served at dinner.

Sean Payton told the waiter he’d like to have that wine, too. The waiter told him: Sorry, sir. We have only one bottle left, and it’s reserved for Mr. Jones.

Payton said he’d like to have the bottle nonetheless. I assume there was much angst on the part of the wait staff at that point. My God! Who do we piss off? One of the most powerful owners in the NFL, or the coach who’s the toast of the NFL, the coach who just won the Super Bowl?

Here came the bottle of Caymus Special Selection, and the Saints’ party drained it.

But drinking Jones’ wine wasn’t enough. Payton gave the waiter some instructions, took out his pen … and, well, the Cowboys party found at the middle of their table the next evening an empty magnum of Caymus Special Selection cabernet sauvignon, with these words hand-written on the fancy label:

WHO DAT!
World Champions XLIV
Sean Payton

That’s the kind of thing Jones will get a big laugh out of. And remember.