We thank the NFL for giving us a home game in New York and raising all the money they did. But when it comes down to it, we have to play football.

It doesn't matter where we are or what's easier or best for us. It doesn't matter where we play or who we play. Your job is your job. No one is going to feel sorry for you out there, so why feel sorry for yourself?

I was sitting in my new home in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, horrified like everyone else. I knew which neighborhoods were being hardest hit because I've spent over 25 years going down there, first as a reporter covering Jazz Fest for Billboard and then developing friendships there. As those waters rose, a lot of people knew I had close relationships in New Orleans and started e-mailing me about what was happening there. I couldn't believe it.

If he missed, we were going home, and the whole thing about New York probably would have changed. He had the guts to take it, and that wasn't the only big shot he took. When coach (Don) Chaney was here, we used to run isolation plays for him at the end of the game to catch the ball and go one-on-one. Do you know how tough that is? And he would make shots. He was tough.

A friend of mine who lives in New York said where the West Side Home was is now Madison Square Garden!

Those four districts hold the key on whether more money would come to New York City. They are the ones who should be out front saying we want our proper share. They are the bloc that could force it to happen.