Los Angeles - ESPN Puts New Orleans Back Underwater - LA Daily

Blogs

Previous: The Best True Crime Stories of 2007

Next: Anti-gang Founder Marroquin Gets Prison

ESPN Puts New Orleans Back Underwater

by Matthew Fleischer

January 7, 2008 4:24 PM

It's BCS Championship Game time and, two years after Katrina, New Orleanians are no doubt ecstatic to have the Sugar Bowl back in their fair city. They might not be so thrilled, however, to discover that their city is once again under a deluge.

Maybe I'm being a little sensitive, but check out the Sugar Bowl promotional display from ESPN's website. Looks eerily familiar doesn't it?

For those who haven't seen it in person, Bourbon Street isn't supposed to have gentle waves lapping up on its shores. And if the Superdome has any large bodies of water next to it, better call the National Guard because there's a problem. It's supposed to look like this.

I'm sure it's just an honest mistake, but seriously, come on. If Bhopal, India hosts a sporting event will ESPN's graphic designers put a bunch of discolored, floating mist in the background of their promotional images?

Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Trackbacks

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://mt.laweekly.com/mt-tb.cgi/47310

Comments

There are 4 comments posted for this article.

Could this be a rain slicked parking lot? Also it looks like the opposite side of the arena was photographed for the publicity shoot than the night time shot you show (note the bridge with the light strings is in the foreground of the pubshot and in the background of your night time photo).

Posted on January 8, 2008 3:37 PM by CHARLIE MACKENZIE

No, I don't think it's a parking lot. It looks like whoever created the image laid a shot of the Superdome on top of a shot of the Mississippi River. That bridge in the background is the Crescent City Connection, which links New Orleans with the west bank of the river. I'm sure whoever did it meant no offense and was probably charged with trying to insert as many New Orleans icons as possible into the same shot -- that's why they stuck that random, misplaced Bourbon Street sign in the corner -- but the Superdome isn't just a sports arena anymore, it's the quintessential icon of Katrina-related misery and putting a large body of water in front of it strikes me as a pretty boneheaded thing to do. I find it more comical than offensive that they did it though.

Posted on January 8, 2008 4:04 PM by Matthew

The picture looks like a shot of the city across the river with the dome superimposed above it. My guess is that you have never been here, because this type of thing is not what you tend to get sensitive about when you've been through the type of hell that Katrina dealt. Just in case you believe that the four heads flying in the sky are really that big they are not.

Posted on January 19, 2008 6:49 PM by Sonador

Actually, I lived in New Orleans off and on for five years. It's a place I care about deeply. I'm well aware that there are bigger problems going on in the city -- I wrote about them last year.

That said, I'm not angry about this image so much as I find it deeply and darkly comical. Obviously the image is superimposed, but it's superimposed to look like friggin' Katrina floodwaters are still floating around outside the Superdome. Maybe you don't think that noteworthy, but I find it a pretty silly thing to do.

Posted on January 20, 2008 10:50 AM by Matthew