A message from Quentin L. Messer, Jr. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a serious sports fan, and football is my favorite. So, it should be no surprise that the recent NFC Championship between the Saints and the Rams was one of the toughest games I ever viewed.

Who Dat Nation rightfully feels robbed of a second Super Bowl appearance on a blown no-call.

Nationally, there is near universal support for our plight. Sports radio and regular news shows still comment on the need for replay rules changes.

Attorneys, an underrated entrepreneurial lot, have filed lawsuits seeking gridiron justice.

However, I am beginning to hear sports radio hosts and friends in other cities say things like, “Can’t folks just get over it, it was a football game. Isn’t there more happening in New Orleans?”

For those who do not understand the deep relationship between the Saints and the residents of their namesake city, know that New Orleanians can express righteous indignation while working to accelerate the diversification of one of the most resilient economies in the nation.

Did you know that Who Dat Nation is one of 17 American cities that can boast having two medical schools? That’s more than Boston proper and the same number as Los Angeles.

Did you know that New Orleans is home to DXC Technology’s only U.S.-based Digital Transformation Center, and remains a critical innovation hub for GE Digital? 

Did you know that New Orleans is home to 10 institutions of higher education that grant Associate’s and/or Bachelor’s degrees? On any given day during the academic year, there are more university and college students seeking new knowledge and skills in classrooms and laboratories (~30,000) than visitors enjoying Bourbon Street.

Yes, we are a proud Who Dat Nation! We also are Digital Health as embodied in AxoSim and the nation’s best new tech hub – Silicon Valley of the South.

Yes, we loudly cheer the future first ballot Hall of Famer Drew Brees, Can’t Guard Mike Thomas and Can’t Tackle Alvin Kamara. Equally, we amp up the volume on innovative home-grown companies like Laitram, Lucid, zLien, Torsh.co and Reily Foods to list a few.

Yes, we bleed black and gold and love our Saints deeply. However, to reduce New Orleanians to being fixated on a football game because we don’t have anything else to do misses what makes New Orleans a global favorite. 

No group of referees, no silence from the Commissioner nor misreading from others nationally will reduce Dome Field Advantage on the football field, or New Orleans’ continued emergence on the national economic landscape.

It takes more than a blown call to vanquish the inexhaustible spirit that courses through the veins of our community.  

Life goes on, business continues and it all tastes a lot better in New Orleans.

With greater expectations for a brighter shared economic future,