The Saints Are Coming

Sometimes, you just gotta root for the story. That's my advice to football fans like myself who have no "dog in the hunt" for tonight's Super Bowl. If you're not a Colts backer or a member of "Who Dat?" nation, the story is all you have.

The tale of the Saints is a highly improbable one. The Saints became an NFL expansion team in 1967. The 43 years that followed have established the Saints as one of the worst franchises in the history of sports.

It took the Saints twelve years to have a non-losing season (8-8 in 1979). The hope and promise of that season was quickly dashed by one of the most embarrassing years that any sports team has ever experienced. The 1980 version of of the Saints went 1-15, and it's hard to figure out how they won the one (a 21-20 squeaker over the poor New York Jets in the next to last game of the season). The team was re-christened the Ain'ts by the media (as in ain't gonna win), and fans took to the stadium with bags over their heads. I was only ten years old that year, but even I knew the Saints were dreadful. When we were chucking the pig skin around the playground, you didn't want to be on the losing side when you came back in from recess, because the losers were referred to as the Saints. And nobody wanted to be a Saint.

Eight more years (and 20 since their inception) had to pass before the Saints even made the playoffs. 1987 kicked off a seven year stretch where the Jim Mora led Saints finished .500 or better every year and made the playoffs four times. Still, it was another seven years before the Saints won their first playoff game in 2000. 33 years without a single playoff win--mind boggling.

However, little did the franchise and their fans know that the worst was yet to come. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall, leaving the city of New Orleans underwater. The city was decimated by faulty levees built by the Army Corps of Engineers, piss-poor planning by local officials (Mayor Nagin--dear God), and a pathetic post disaster response by the state and federal government.

In the aftermath of the worst national disaster in the history of the United States, much of the remaining local population made their way to the only shelter they could find--the New Orleans Super Dome, the home of the Saints. There, the refugees (and that's what they were) waited days for food, for water, and for rescue. They were left to their own devices in a roofless football stadium with no working plumbing or basic necessities. Surrounded by the stench of dead bodies baking in the summer sun and overrun toilets, it had to have been hell on Earth.

After the recovery began, there was much discussion over where the Saints would play. With the stadium in a state of dis-repair, and a displaced population, there was even a question of whether the Saints would ever return to New Orleans. Owner Tom Benson was in serious negotiations to move the team to San Antonio. While it's difficult to blame Benson for considering a viable opportunity for his franchise, one had to wonder how much more the city of New Orleans had to lose.

The Saints spent the 2005 season playing the bulk of their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. After considerable hand wringing, and significant support from the NFL, the Saints returned to New Orleans for the 2006 season.

Led by new coach Sean Payton, and free agent quarterback Drew Brees, the Saints enjoyed a near storybook season that ended with a loss in the NFC championship against the Chicago Bears. Many thought the Saints were headed for a new era of prosperity, but the next two years that followed brought 7-9 and 8-8 seasons. The Saints were mediocre once again. However, this year, the promise of the 2006 season has been fulfilled. The 2009 Saints roared through the regular season and squeezed by the Minnesota Vikings in an overtime thriller to win the NFC championship.

If you contrast the Saints history with that of the Colts, it's a no-contest. The Colts are among the most storied franchises in the history of professional football.

Beginning in 1953 until their move to Indianapolis in 1984, the Baltimore Colts were the franchise of Hall of Fame coaches Weeb Ewbank and Don Shula. Led by Johnny Unitas--the best quarterback of his era--the Colts won two NFL championships (in the pre-Super Bowl era). They lost the 1968 Super Bowl to Joe Namath and the New York Jets, but returned two years later to defeat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl 5.

The Colts had a long fallow period after the Unitas years, and a scabrous relationship between owner Robert Irsay and the city of Baltimore facilitated the exodus of the team to Indianapolis under the cover of darkness in 1984.

The Indianapolis Colts were a mediocre franchise until coach Tony Dungy joined quarterback Peyton Manning in 2002. The Colts have won 10 games or more every season since, peaking with a Super Bowl victory over the Bears in 2006.

This year's Colts team won 14 consecutive games before giving away the last two games of the regular season while resting their starters. In typical workmanlike fashion, the Colts took out the Ravens and the Jets in the playoffs to reach their second Super Bowl in four years.

These two franchises couldn't be more dis-similar. The oft-wretched Saints and the legendary Colts. The wild-eyed colorful fans of New Orleans, and the mid-western, vanilla fans of Indianapolis. The Colts have won 4 championships to the Saints none, and have 11 Hall of Famers to the Saints one (congrats, Rickey Jackson!). One team has history, experience, and one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. The other has Drew Brees, the "Who Dat?" nation, and a background of failure.

But here's what you also have: A team who's city had drowned, who's fans had scattered across the country, and who's government nearly forgot them while they fended for themselves in a damaged football stadium. A stadium that was once a house of horrors is now a symbol of pride. Only four short years later in a city still recovering from disaster and neglect, has come a team of unlikely heroes who rose out of filth infested waters to carry the hopes of an entire city on their backs.

So tonight, I'm rooting for the story, I'm rooting for the Saints. And to my own surprise, I'll be rooting quite hard. Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?! Who Dat?!

Sumo-Pop
February 7, 2010