In their last season or two as the Montreal Expos, the now-Washington Nationals played at a few locations, becoming Major League Baseball's first vagabond team. Unless one counts the Oilers/Titans 1-year stint in Memphis, the New Orleans Saints may be becoming the first vagabond football team:

While the Saints and NFL officials have been discussing a variety of alternatives, they haven't talked yet with many of the people at the proposed sites.

``We can say is LSU an option, yeah, but is it an option with them?'' Saints spokesman Greg Bensel said Wednesday by phone from San Jose. ``That's the next hurdle. We haven't crossed that hurdle yet.''

Only one hurdle has been crossed.

Following the Raiders game, the Saints will go to San Antonio, where they will stay at the same hotel they stayed at last season when Hurricane Ivan chased them out of New Orleans in the second week of the regular season.

The Saints will also use the same practice facilities at Trinity University, so they will have, as Bensel put it, ``a certain comfort level with where we are.''

That would seem to make the Alamodome, which holds 65,000 for football, a logical alternative, although it's about 550 miles from New Orleans, farther than the NFL would like.

Someone in San Antonio has to be looking at this from a Machiavellian standpoint. Someone in Birmingham, too. I think the chances that there will be a New Orleans Saints a decade from now to be 2-1 against. It's possible, but they are a bubble city to begin with and I have my doubts that the city will ever again be as it was. San Antonio is also a bubble city and one unlikely to get a team while Los Angeles remains vacant unless they can demonstrate a whole lot of fan interest and LA demonstrates more apathy, but even if not the Saints, perhaps the Cheifs or another relocating team. Taking the Saints for a year would give them an opportunity to do that. And Birmingham isn't a bubble city, though it seems to believe itself to be.

To the extent that they've thought about it - and they probably have not since they have much more dire concerns at the moment - New Orleans has got to be pulling for Baton Rouge. It's in Louisiana, drive-able, and cannnot hold an NFL team of its own and so it would clearly be a placeholding rather than auditioning. The problem is that Baton Rouge was slammed pretty hard, too.

My money says that Baton Rouge will get the team or that they'll tour from one city to the next. But it'll be quite interesting to see.