Saints Have Plan in Place for Gustav

Three years ago, despite advanced warnings, Hurricane Katrina caught the Saints, New Orleans, and our government off guard. If that weren't bad enough, all three of those entities responded embarrassingly.

But if Gustav, the feisty Euro metrosexual tropical storm which has devastated Haiti (see right) and is currently heading towards the Gulf Coast, decides to touch down and wreak havoc on New Orleans again, the Saints will already be prepared.

"What we do is really predicated on when it's supposed to arrive, and the good news with a hurricane is there's advance warning," Payton said. "So we'll have a plan; it's currently in place. And having gone through this once before, we'll be thoroughly prepared."

Gustav was recently downgraded from a hurricane. And considering the margin of error in predicting storm patterns, Louisiana might not get anything more than a swift thunderstorm. Still, it's good to know that the Saints have thought ahead this time, and are prepared for any contingency plans that need to be implemented. Said contingency plans probably don't involve working out in a parking lot in San Antonio, and so that's already a step up.

That being said, as Sean Payton notes, the first concern in the Gulf Coast when news of a potential hurricane comes shouldn't be the football team. If Gustav proves even half as troublesome as Katrina, New Orleans residents will probably wish their leadership was as on-point as the Saints'. For that, we turn to Washington, and are unfortunately and inevitably met with a sea of disinterested faces.