Super Bowl a heavenly culmination of events for New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS -- As Garrett Hartley's 40-yard field goal sailed through the uprights and four decades of pent-up confetti rained down, the people of New Orleans celebrated, wept and made immediate plans.
But which plans? To buy packages for the Super Bowl at $4,500, including a ticket to the game? Packages for just a Miami hotel and a Saints tailgate party for $1,500? Or stay home and party in the French Quarter with friends and friends-to-be, all of whom who survived the city being leveled by Hurricane Katrina four-and-a-half years ago.
"People just can't understand what this team means to this city," said author Alan Donnes, who wrote a book called Patron Saints, a collection of interviews with players who lived through the devastation of Katrina and told stories of the Crescent City's resilience.
"Even the FEMA trucks had Saints banners."
At Sean Payton's party following the dramatic 31-28 overtime victory, the players, coaches and their families talked about what the triumph means to New Orleans. After the game, most of them sat in joyous traffic for more than an hour, as Who Dat Nation erupted in music and dance.
"I'd never seen anything like it," safety Darren Sharper said. "We all feel we're involved in something bigger than football."
"The people here deserve it as much, maybe more, than we do," wide receiver Lance Moore said.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Sedrick Ellis, who played his college ball at USC. "You totally get the feeling that we're all in this together."
The local paper, with a wrap-around banner proclaiming "Super Saints", sold out by 10 a.m. and shop-keepers were being offered $50 for their copy. One of the most famous monuments, the Robert E. Lee statue, has been decorated with "Geaux Saints" banners and rechristened the Fleur-de-lis monument in honor of the city's French lily symbol. There's humor, passion and pride here, and the 63.2 television rating (which doesn't include bars, restaurants or hotels) was the highest ever for an NFL postseason game.
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| After years of mostly bad news, there has been a break in the gloom for Saints fans. (US Presswire) |
At Payton's celebration party, the coach played a video he had shown the night before the championship, when Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott spoke to the team about "Smelling Greatness." Lott told them this was their time "to deliver, to be a part of greatness, to seize the moment."
The video was a tribute to greatness in all sports, from shots of Bear Bryant, Martina Navratilova, John Havlicek stealing the ball and Jack Nicklaus winning the Masters. There were scenes of Muhammad Ali and Magic Johnson and Carlton Fisk's iconic home run in Game 6 in 1975, John Elway, Ozzie Smith, Mary Lou Retton, Doug Flutie, Michael Jordan and Jackie Robinson. Aerosmith's Dream On played in the background and the video ended with Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks telling the 1980 Olympic hockey team, "This is your time!"
"I'm humbled to think what this means to our team and the people of New Orleans," said Payton, who started the Pay It Forward Foundation with his wife for the disadvantaged families of the Gulf Coast. "When I came, the Superdome was torn apart, people living in there for weeks.
"I've coached in the Super Bowl before [with the Giants as offensive coordinator], but it won't be anything like this."
The Saints had a rocky start. Before 1966, Louisiana Law required that all public gatherings be separated by race, and the NFL wouldn't even listen to the idea of a team in the segregated South.
The Federal Civil Rights laws, passed in 1966, changed everything and Atlanta was awarded a team. In New Orleans, wealthy businessman Dave Dixon, with the support of people like George Halas, lobbied the NFL. Dixon convinced Pete Rozelle and the owners that the Big Easy deserved a football team. The city received their team in 1967 and Dixon came up with the name.
"I had been in Rome and seen some nuns singing a beautiful version of When the Saints Go Marching In," Dixon said. "I thought it would be perfect."
Dixon pushed hard for the name -- some thought it was inappropriate -- and when it was accepted, he convinced the city to announce the new name on Nov. 1 -- All Saints Day. Dixon knew the marketing opportunities would be enormous and that "every time the song played anywhere, it would be free publicity."
So will Dixon, who has seen or watched every game the Saints have ever played, go to the Super Bowl? Saints, no!
"I'm going to watch it right here with the people of New Orleans," the 87-year-old fan said. "Look for me in a restaurant or a bar."
