Geaux Saints!

I rarely write about sports here on the blog, but I'm faced with something I truly never thought would happen: The New Orleans Saints going to the Super Bowl. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for them, you might even say delighted. When I was growing up in Mississippi, the Saints were the nearest NFL team, so we saw their games every painful, excruciating week. And they were awful. I mean really bad. If you didn't grow up watching them every week, I'm not sure you can truly appreciate the depth of atrociousness that was the Saints.

They really sucked.



Yet there were glimmers. There was Tom Dempsey (a man with half a left foot) kicking a 63-yard field goal in 1970, a record that still stands today (although Jason Elam tied the record a few years ago). And of course, there was Archie Manning. I remember watching the Saints on TV and going to a couple of games. At the time, I didn't know a lot about football, yet I did know that quarterback Manning was clearly talented, but he couldn't do it all by himself. As a whole, the team just never seemed to be able to put it all together. Manning's last season was in 1982, about halfway thorough my college days. I still watched, still hoped, but to no avail. It really boggled the mind how the Saints would have a game all but locked up and lose in the closing seconds due to either a bonehead play or a freak sequence of events that no one could have predicted. When Ken Stabler went to the Saints for three seasons in the 80s, there was hope, but those hopes never materialized. I remember the "Aints," the bags over the heads and everything.

Then came a real turnaround in 1979. The Saints won 8 games and lost 8 games that season. It was a really, really big deal: the first time they weren't losers. If you don't know the rest of their history, you will. Just turn on any sports station or watch ESPN for the next two weeks. You'll hear all about it.

Again, I'm delighted for them. It's hard to describe, but there's almost a sense of relief in last night's Championship Game. There was something about growing up, watching the Saints lose week after week, year after year, even decade after decade that really got to me. I'm not sure why. I never played organized football and my favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys (perhaps because they did win a lot?), but something about all those Saints losses really hurt. Maybe it caused me to want to strive for something bigger, not just to not lose, but to win, to excel. Maybe watching those Saints games made me work a little harder to achieve my goals as a musician, a teacher, a writer, a person.

Or maybe I just like to see the underdog win sometimes. I don't know.

But I'm glad for the Saints. Best of luck in the Super Bowl. Enjoy!