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February 08,
2010
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Super Bowl Champions -
New Orleans Saints
Super Bowl Champions -
New Orleans Saints
Super Bowl Champions -
New Orleans Saints
Super Bowl Champions -
New Orleans Saints
I just had to say it more than once.
Who can believe it?
After 43 years the New
Orleans Saints have won it all.
They are the Champions!
I will leave it up to the “pros” to analyze the
game.
I really don't care how
the Saints won it.
The fact that they won
it is the only thing that matters.
I spent all afternoon like most people in these
parts in front of my television taking in every
moment possible.
I know a lot of people
probably got tired of all of the mushy stuff about
the Saints and how they represent the comeback of
the city of New Orleans and the entire Gulf region.
However, as someone who
has lived their entire life around here and who
experienced the tragedy of hurricane Katrina, I
thought it represented the emotions fairly well.
I especially liked the
musical commentary by Wynton Marsalius.
In my opinion the Saints represent this area well.
They show that you can
be down but not out.
You can be left for dead
but come back, whether a football team or a city.
We all know the story of New Orleans.
But do you really
realize who the players are that make up the New
Orleans Saints?
Drew Brees came to the Saints after suffering a
possible career ending injury to his throwing
shoulder.
The doctors for the
Dolphins said don't take a chance on him.
Marques Colston was taken in the last round of the
draft.
Lance Moore wasn't taken in the draft.
Jermon Bushrod replaced an all-pro tackle and hadn't
played a down the previous two years with the
Saints.
The Saints offensive
line was voted the best in the NFL this year.
Jonathan
Goodwin came to the Saints as a free agent in '06
when the Saints were at rock bottom.
Jeremy Shockey was no longer wanted by the Giants
and was traded to the Saints.
Robert Mechem didn't do anything his first two years
with the Saints.
Anthony Hargrove was suspended, not once, but twice
by the NFL for illegal drug use.
Sean Peyton took a
chance on him and he has been the most appreciative
Saint of all and has turned his life around.
Will Smith and Charles Grant were supposed to miss
four games for use of a baned substance.
They appealed and a
court allowed them to play this season.
Darren Sharper was thought to be over the hill by
the Vikings, and therefore they let him walk as a
free agent.
Roman Harper came back from a serious knee injury.
Thomas Morstead has never kicked off until the first
game of this NFL season.
Garrett Hartley was suspended for the first four
games of the season for using a banned substance to
help him stay awake as he drove from Texas to
training camp.
He also came back from
missing the game-winning field goal against Tampa
Bay that would have clinched the # 1 seed for the
Saints.
Those are just some of the stories of the Saints'
players that brought themselves up off the bottom to
the pinnacle of success.
So you wonder why there is such an emotional
attachment to this team and its city?
One final thought.
Right after the game my sister called me from
Maryland. She
asked me what I thought.
I told her I was trying to hold back the
tears. I told
her I was thinking of those people I met at the PMAC
after Katrina ( I told y'all about that a couple of
weeks ago).
But I was also thinking about the first time I went
back into New Orleans after the storm.
It was one month to the day after Katrina.
I'll always remember seeing that torn roof of
the Super Dome.
I'll always remember seeing the water mark of
about five feet on Jesuit High School.
I'll remember the water marks on the houses
where my grandparents and aunts and uncles used to
live and I played as a child.
I'll also remember going down St. Charles
Ave. with no street cars, but National Guard Tents
instead. I'll
remember crossing Canal Street with no traffic and
no traffic lights.
I'll remember a lot.
But now I'll also remember seeing a band of castoffs
and a coach that molded them into a championship
team.
I'll remember:
Super Bowl Champions - New Orleans Saints!
Thee is one other person we need to remember, Paul
Tagliabue.
Without him there would be no New Orleans Saints.
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