Monday, Sept. 9, 2013, was a day of infamy in the relationship between Saints fans and the newspaper they once relied on. For the first time ever there was no day-after-the-game newspaper home delivered. That that particular game happened to be a riveting victory over the Atlanta Falcons made the loss even greater.

Last October when The T-P was cut back to thrice weekly (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), the Newhouse execs had to deal with the absence of next-day Saints coverage. The answer was a tabloid sports extra that was delivered to subscribers. Now there is not even that. Instead fans who want print coverage are asked to go to the newsstand to buy at copy of the newspaper’s Monday tabloid edition of The Times-Picayune Street.

Those fans could, of course, turn to their i-things for game analysis, but that is not the same experience as having the sports section spread across the breakfast table, each page filled with insights and statistics. I used to particularly enjoy columnist Jeff Duncan’s coverage plus the sports staff’s Monday morning grading of the game by squads, including the coaches. Now that’s lost.

This morning, Monday, any fans who want more analysis about yesterday's thriller against Tampa Bay will feel the same slight.

Fortunately there is the daily New Orleans Advocate which is on front steps on Monday mornings and can provide analysis. Even before the merger within the paper, if there was something that guys from Baton Rouge were especially proficient at it was covering football. Now with the addition of former T-P reporters and the link with WWL-TV, the Saints coverage is even stronger.

Meanwhile Steve Newhouse can sip his morning coffee over the sports sections of The New York Times or The Post to read about the Giants' loss to Denver, a game in which both of the sibling quarterbacks grew up reading about the big games on Monday mornings in The Times-Picayune.

Maybe, out of fairness to us, Newhouse should cancel the Monday delivery of his newspapers. He can always get them at the newsstand.

 

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BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Errol’s Laborde’s new book, Mardi Gras: Chronicles of the New Orleans Carnival (Pelican Publishing Company, 2013), is due to be released Oct. 31. It is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

 


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