Good, clean hate to visit the dome or the invasion of the “who dats”

This past weekend we had good, clean hate when Georgia played Georgia Tech while Florida played Florida State and Alabama faced Auburn.

The NFL version of rivalry weekend visits our conscience as several games will involve teams that just don’t like other.

The one rivalry that has the local or regional feel to it is the Thursday night contest between the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints.

Over the past 45 years there have been Saints who became Falcons and vice versa.

At one time, the Falcons quarterback (Bobby Hebert), fullback (Craig “Ironhead” Heyward) and kicker (Morten Anderson) were members of the Saints before moving to Georgia and only a few years ago the son of a former Saints head coach was the head Falcon.

This year linebacker Chris Lofton is the player who switched jerseys as he was released by the Falcons and signed by the Saints.

In the meeting on November 11 in New Orleans that saw the Saints come out with a one-point win that ended the Falcons eight-game winning streak, the Saints players were talking to anybody who would listen about the conduct of the Atlanta contingent.

Terms like “classless”, “losers” and “little brothers” were uttered from several players including Loftin who was signed by the rival Saints after the “bountygate” scandal saw teammate Jonathan Vilma suspended.

It seems to me that Mr. Lofton drank the koolaid or brew taken out of the Mississippi River or Lake Pontchartrain in which you become a Saints player and utter almost anything possible whether it is thought out or not.

Then we have Saints linebacker Scott Shanle who called the Falcons their “little brothers” after the game a couple of weeks ago.

My question is who in the devil is Scott Shanle?

According to his bio on NFL.COM, Shanle is a 10-year pro from Nebraska who has started half of the team’s games this year and has 564 total tackles in his career.

Outside of that Mr Shanle doesn’t really have that “wow” factor and last I looked he and his buddies are among the worst defenses in the NFL so if he was looking for a way to make a name for himself I doubt this statement worked.

This “shoot from mouth” mentality in the Crescent City goes back years when the Saints had players like Rickey Jackson, Pat Swilling and others in the 1980s who bashed everyone including the guy who signed the checks.

I grant you that since the days of the Aint’s, the club has played a lot better and have been to the playoffs and own a Lombardi Trophy, but I can’t root for this team.

They have been a media darling too long after the Hurricane Katrina tragedy and it can be quite annoying.

Besides I have been a fan of the birds way too long and I will be watching them in the playoffs while the “big brothers” will miss the dance.

I would go on but one must try to be calm when demonstrating good clean hate.