New Orleans Bakery's "No-Ref" Cookies Soften Blow Of Saints Loss With Icing
I'm not much of a sports fan, but even I know that the failure of the refs to call pass interference in that now-infamous recent Saints-Rams playoff game was bullshit. And now, the L.A. Rams are in Atlanta for the Super Bowl while the the Saints are home eating gumbo and complaining—justifiably so—that they were robbed.
Fortunately, New Orleans residents have a way to deal with their anger, thanks to local Haydel's Bakery. The bakery has a history of sports-related baked goods, with "No Nick" cookies in (dis)honor of Alabama coach Nick Saban, and recent goat-shaped cookies with a number 9 on them, in honor of "greatest-of-all-time" Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
"After the Saints got robbed on Sunday," says Haydel's co-owner David Haydel relays over the phone, "we were like, 'well, we can't make those anymore, what are we gonna do?'" So they picked up their "No Nick" template and added a photo of Bill Vinovich, head referee of Sunday's playoff game, to make the "No Ref" cookie.
The reaction, says Haydel, has been "kind of been overwhelming." Once the bakery posted the cookie on Facebook "it just went nuts. Every local TV and news station was in here yesterday. I think we were on the Today show today."
As a result, says Haydel, the cookies are selling like the proverbial hotcakes. "We can't keep up with them," says Haydel. "We're making as many cookies as we possibly can. Every time we send a pan out to the front shop, they're gone in two minutes." The cookies are currently selling for $1.99, but when a mercenary reporter suggested hiking the price due to sales, Haydel scoffed. "Naw," he said, "we don't want to rip anybody off."
Basically, these cookies are filing a double need for New Orleans football fans right now. "When people are depressed," explains Haydel, "They eat. What better way to get over that depression than to eat the face of the guy you're depressed because of?" Perfect. We think Haydel's might just have created an ideal grudge market for divorce parties and the like. In the meantime: Just wait 'til next year, Saints fans.