Something new happened in our household yesterday. We cared about a football game.
Imagine my surprise when, caught in the throngs of fans approaching the Superdome at 4pm, a lump suddenly appeared in my throat. Will and Kate were in the back, watching horsebuggies and foot traffic wind around the waiting cars, everyone decked in gold and black. “Where they going, Mommy?” Will asked. “They are going to a football game Will. A very important and special… football game.” The last two words stuck as I worked to swallow down that lump, blinking away the mist growing in my eyes.
A football game? Important? Could I really feel that way about football? Even in my most nostalgic, home-team supporting, proud-of-my-school moment, I have never really, truly cared about a football game. It’s not that I don’t like football. I have a general respect for how well-loved it is and the importance it holds for others. Still, the armchair quarterback, the shouting living room conversations with the television, the lost Sunday afternoons… these annoy me enough that “does not watch football” was a key characteristic I sought out in potential partners.
But yesterday, as the Superdome reopened for the New Orleans Saints, I found myself caught up in it all. Children came to Abeona in mini-jerseys. Everyone was wearing t-shirts supporting either the City, the Saints, or both, as yesterday the two issues seemed intertwined. The Superdome was completed, ready before schedule and against odds, and the Saints were home. The symbolism seemed clear, it’s message loud: New Orleans is worth it; New Orleans has survived.
Cheered on by local artists (including Theresa Anderson, remember her from the Children’s Museum?) and stars like U2 and Greenday, the Saints won. Even the most diehard Falcon fans had to have a little part of them cheering for the Saints. Yesterday was their day, our day.
Amy Lee | 26-Sep-06 at 6:38 pm | Permalink
And they say the Dallas Cowboys are “America’s Team?” Not anymore….Go Saints!
Plastic Mile | 27-Sep-06 at 7:12 pm | Permalink
Holly … I could never marry you. “Does not watch football?” Here’s your membership to the Lenin Society, hon.
Seriously … watching New Orleans in their return to the Superdome was as satisfying a thing as I’ve seen in sports in quite some time. Sports do have meaning and a useful place in society, to unify us as people, if nothing else. When young kids play sports, for instance, they learn sportsmanship, teamwork, respect for the rules, respect for different people, persistence and how to bounce back from failure. We hear a lot in the news, understandibly, about the athletes who are true knuckleheads, but we don’t hear enough about the athletes who are doing good things in the community — like the ex-college softball player who used her scholarship to become a doctor or a lawyer, or the NBA players who set up foundations to give out scholarships, or fight cancer, or rebuild homes.
I hope you all down there will continue to support the Saints, and certainly please fight any effort to move them to Los Angeles, as has been rumored/planned since Katrina. I live in L.A., and I would NEVER root for a team that was ripped from people who have suffered so much.
The Saints are not America’s Team … there is only one America’s Team, my Dallas Cowboys … but the Saints are New Orleans’ team, and you know what? That’s pretty dang special.
I did almost cheer, “Who dat? Who dat? Who dat think they gon’ beat the Saints?” (The answer, of course, according to my schedule, would be my Cowboys this Dec. 10, and that’s a fact, but I’m trying to keep it friendly. *Grin*)
Holly | 27-Sep-06 at 8:04 pm | Permalink
I was wondering when you were going to get all over this, TPM.
You know I’m not anti-athletics — not in the slightest! And I’m not anti-football (although I truly hope in my heart that this is not a sport either of my kids pick up… but if they do, I’ll be president of the booster club, attend every game, and be the biggest fan… goodness help me.) I’m not even against watching it, I just don’t particularly like it and there are a least a hundred other things I’d rather do instead.
Yes, we will continue to cheer on the Saints. Considering the season was sold out — and to season ticket holders only — I feel pretty confident that they are here to stay.
Okay, I’ll bite. Dallas? Who DAT!?
Plastic Mile | 27-Sep-06 at 8:38 pm | Permalink
Ha ha. We may have to put a friendly wager on the Dallas game. Nah, I feel ya. Long gone are the days were I’d sit in front of the TV all day watching the NFL … to many other things going on, too.
But please, yeah, do keep rooting on the Saints, because your owner is 100% flat out shady in a Ray Nagin sorta way. That dude said he loved N.O. in one breath and tried to sell-out to L.A. in the next, until the NFL basically stepped in and said, “Wait a minute, padner … you ain’t going nowhere.”