Hey all. I'm just beginning to recover from the weekend's brilliant festivities here in New Orleans. Our New Orleans Saints are one game away from possibly going to the Super Bowl. I wanted to talk a little bit about what that could mean to our city. So follow me below the fold.....
First off i wanted to mention Haiti and hope you've had a chance to give to an organization that can help these people in a time of need. I've already donated through texting. I know they will appreciate the help. I certainly did after Hurricane Katrina when i recieved help from the Red Cross. These people are going through a rough time. The road to recovery is going to take some time, dedication and effort. This leads me to our beloved New Orleans Saints and our road to recovery in New Orleans, and the healing power of sports.
It's been a magical season so far and an exciting ride. I really don't want it to end. But it wasn't always like this. At one point shortly after Katrina there was talk of the Saints not coming back to the city. We had a dismal 3-13 season in 2005 where most of the home games where in Baton Rouge or San Antonio due to the damage the Superdome incurred during Katrina. We even had one home game in New York! After the season the coach was fired and things looked bleak. Kind of felt like how people on the outside were looking at the city of New Orleans at the time. Should we rebuild the city? Is it safe? What if it happens again?
But then the road to recovery for the Saints began in January of 2006. They hired a young offensive-minded coach named Sean Payton from the school of Bill Parcels. A couple months later they signed a quarterback named Drew Brees. And i want to thank those guys immensely! They committed to the city of New Orleans at a time when the look of the city on the ground wasn't pretty. There is a funny story at the time of how Sean Payton got lost trying to show Drew Brees around the city. It was a time when we were definitely down in the dumps here in New Orleans. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for committing to our city!
As we slowly started to recover here in New Orleans some things began to return to normal. Football returned to the city. Any fan of the New Orleans Saints can tell you where they were the monday night the Saints returned to the Superdome. Then they will tell you what they were doing when the Saints blocked the Atlanta Falcons punt. It was a citywide moment of joy! We hadn't had a lot of good things happen up until then. What a great feeling. I still tear up thinking about that moment. That was the beginning of something special with these New Orleans Saints. The season finished in Chicago at the Championship game. A disappointing loss for sure(And the beginning of a new rivalry because of the way our fans were treated there). But we felt good about our team, our city.
Flash forward past two seasons of living and dieing with our Saints every sunday hoping for a repeat performance. Expecting it. These were the new New Orleans Saints. What a frustrating two years its been. But we had faith. Thank goodness we finally got a defense to compliment our high-powered offense!
I wonder how many people here have seen Invictus? Brilliant film about how Nelson Mandela used the healing power of sports to overcome the divided sides of South Africa when he was President there. I highly recommend that you see the film. As i watched it a few weeks ago i couldn't help but see parallels between the Springboks and the Saints. The Saints are such a part of the community here. Besides the effort they put on the playing field they also put a lot of effort into our community. That's the healing power of sports when one team can help make a city feel proud of itself. Feel good about ourselves.
They inspire us,
"The Saints have made me realize how important teamwork is and how sometimes you have to work really hard for a long long long time to get what you want," she wrote. "Drew Brees and the Saints have made me and my friends want to play outside with each other and enjoy our beautiful city."
They support our troops,
http://www.nola.com/...
They rebuild us,
http://www.rs.af.mil/...
http://www.drewbrees.com/...
They excite us,
And here's where i personally think the Saints can have the greatest impact on us as a city since Katrina. Let me tell you a story..... what had happened was..... I was sitting in one of my favorite bars when my friend Lulu said something prophetic a couple weeks ago, "Wouldn't it be great if the Saints won the Superbowl and instead of saying 'Before' and 'After" the Storm(Katrina) we could say 'Before' and 'After' the Saints won the Superbowl?". If you're not from around here you might not quite understand. A lot of the language we use in our conversations are marked with that phrase. "Before the Storm/Katrina i lived here. After the Storm i moved there." We mark time in our language with the major event that Hurricane Katrina was for us. It has become the fabric of our conversations here. The New Orleans Saints have a chance to impact our lives, our language, in such a positive way. I do hope y'all get on our bandwagon and support our beloved Saints. We would really appreciate that. It would help us just a little bit more on our continued road to recovery, our rebirth! Who Dat!?!