Who dat! New Orleans Saints fans are ready to finish strong.

Like the Saints, the city has, and continues to, reverse its fortunes. I will never forget driving my pickup truck into the city after the storm, hands trembling as I clutched the steering wheel. I could not believe my eyes. Entire neighborhoods ruined. Mounds of trash everywhere. But it was the smell of rot loitering in the air that I found most disturbing. At that time I thought New Orleans was finished. I couldn’t have been more wrong. If anything, the storm shored up the city’s determination, making folks who were able to stay love New Orleans more than ever.

The city is not depressed. In fact, a recent study found that Louisiana residents – an eccentric, fun-loving, and loyal-to-the-bone bunch – were the happiest in America. 

New Orleans folks are finally witnessing the fruits of progress. Homes, churches, roads, businesses, schools, and relationships have been reestablished with deep roots and firm foundations. Now, like the Saints, the city’s residents are eager to showcase their own victories. Book a trip – you’ll see. 

All across the Gulf Coast, people feel a soulful connection with the team because many of its marquee players remind them of themselves: survivors, misfits, and castoffs. There are too many back stories to delve into, but take team captain and quarterback Drew Brees, whose bum shoulder led him to be discarded by the San Diego Chargers. Other teams passed on him, too, but not the Saints. They embraced him and he embraced New Orleans, its culture and people.

“I think you can draw so many parallels between our team and city, but in reality, we kind of leaned on each other in order to survive and in order to get to where we are now,” Brees said after his team defeated Brett Favre’s Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship. “It hasn’t always been easy and we’ve had to fight through plenty of adversity just like this city has.”

The Saints go into the Super Bowl as 5-1/2-point underdogs. Of course this is familiar territory, as they have been in that position since the team was founded in 1966. If, however, the team puts forth the kind of effort that New Orleans residents have seen since Katrina’s waters rolled back, it won’t matter what the Colts throw at them. As Saints fans would say, “Who dat!” 

John Christian Hoyle, a lifelong Saints fan, will watch the Super Bowl with his family at his sister’s home in New Orleans. 

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