You're In Saints Country
YOU’RE IN SAINTS COUNTRY
It took the New Orleans Saints more than four decades to reach the Super Bowl for the first time. They won. I was fortunate enough while working with NewOrleans.Com to have access to the team that requited unbridled faith back to a city that waited forty-three years for a sublime moment, true in deed, chiseled in language: 00:00 on a scoreboard—Sunday, February 7, 2010—that read: New Orleans Saints 31, Indianapolis Colts 17.
This gallery is an affirmation of the year they owned.
Their success was so great that it prompted the NFL to attempt to claim copyright to the phrase, “Who Dat!”, the commanding vanguard of the Saints’ fans’ battle cry: “Who dat say they gonna beat ‘dem Saints? Who dat?! Who dat?!” The public outrage was intense, prompting the quip, “Sesame Street called. They’re taking back the letters N, F and L.” And the National Football League retreated with their jive-ass tail between their jive-ass legs. The whole episode a tragedy when an entity reduces all that emotion and longing and hope and love to the bottom line.
The Saints lost their three final games of the season after a 13-0 start. It had been coveted in the heart of every ‘Who Dat’ that the Saints would be the only team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to have an undefeated season and go on to win the Super Bowl. No matter. It’s neat and tidy to win every battle and win the war, but few armies are ever so fortunate. The 2009 New Orleans Saints had been miraculous: they wiped the field with a blade honed on forty-plus years of disappointment and the blood of every nay-sayer. They are the victorious heroes of a city that knows heartbreak but never defeat. Experience being the cruelest of lovers.
After we won the Title, I received emails of congratulations from friends across the world, many of whom could not care less about football. Who don’t understand it. But what is there to know? Our win was larger than the game itself. And they knew it. This gallery is for all the Who Dat’s out there, football aficionados, and all my friends who don’t understand a game but appreciate matters of the heart.
There are close to 300 images here. It begins with Draft Fest and ends with the shrine of thanks that was built outside quarterback Drew Brees’ (Number 9) house by the fans. There are pics from practices and games, the celebration in the French Quarter after the Super Bowl win, the victory parade in New Orleans attended by more than 800,000 Who Dats, the shrine.
But perhaps the final image says it best.
What follows is a page reference to where each of these ‘chapters’ begin. You will see Brees and Shockey and Bush and Porter and Hartley and many others, all of whom are the revolutionaries that took part in the revolution of the season that eclipsed them all.
Revolution Number 9.
PAGE REFERENCE
Draft Fest: Page 1.
Practice: Page 1.
Black and Gold Scrimmage, Indoor Facility: Page 1.
Pre-Season: New Orleans Saints vs. Cincinnati Bengals, 8/14/09: Page 2. (Win: 17-7)
Pre-Season: New Orleans Saints vs. Miami Dolphins, 9/3/10: Page 4. (Loss: 10-7)
Super Bowl Celebration, French Quarter, 2/7/10: Page 5.
Super Bowl Victory Parade, 2/9/10: Page 6.
Fans Thank You Shrine, Drew Brees’ House: Page 8.
Read MoreIt took the New Orleans Saints more than four decades to reach the Super Bowl for the first time. They won. I was fortunate enough while working with NewOrleans.Com to have access to the team that requited unbridled faith back to a city that waited forty-three years for a sublime moment, true in deed, chiseled in language: 00:00 on a scoreboard—Sunday, February 7, 2010—that read: New Orleans Saints 31, Indianapolis Colts 17.
This gallery is an affirmation of the year they owned.
Their success was so great that it prompted the NFL to attempt to claim copyright to the phrase, “Who Dat!”, the commanding vanguard of the Saints’ fans’ battle cry: “Who dat say they gonna beat ‘dem Saints? Who dat?! Who dat?!” The public outrage was intense, prompting the quip, “Sesame Street called. They’re taking back the letters N, F and L.” And the National Football League retreated with their jive-ass tail between their jive-ass legs. The whole episode a tragedy when an entity reduces all that emotion and longing and hope and love to the bottom line.
The Saints lost their three final games of the season after a 13-0 start. It had been coveted in the heart of every ‘Who Dat’ that the Saints would be the only team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to have an undefeated season and go on to win the Super Bowl. No matter. It’s neat and tidy to win every battle and win the war, but few armies are ever so fortunate. The 2009 New Orleans Saints had been miraculous: they wiped the field with a blade honed on forty-plus years of disappointment and the blood of every nay-sayer. They are the victorious heroes of a city that knows heartbreak but never defeat. Experience being the cruelest of lovers.
After we won the Title, I received emails of congratulations from friends across the world, many of whom could not care less about football. Who don’t understand it. But what is there to know? Our win was larger than the game itself. And they knew it. This gallery is for all the Who Dat’s out there, football aficionados, and all my friends who don’t understand a game but appreciate matters of the heart.
There are close to 300 images here. It begins with Draft Fest and ends with the shrine of thanks that was built outside quarterback Drew Brees’ (Number 9) house by the fans. There are pics from practices and games, the celebration in the French Quarter after the Super Bowl win, the victory parade in New Orleans attended by more than 800,000 Who Dats, the shrine.
But perhaps the final image says it best.
What follows is a page reference to where each of these ‘chapters’ begin. You will see Brees and Shockey and Bush and Porter and Hartley and many others, all of whom are the revolutionaries that took part in the revolution of the season that eclipsed them all.
Revolution Number 9.
PAGE REFERENCE
Draft Fest: Page 1.
Practice: Page 1.
Black and Gold Scrimmage, Indoor Facility: Page 1.
Pre-Season: New Orleans Saints vs. Cincinnati Bengals, 8/14/09: Page 2. (Win: 17-7)
Pre-Season: New Orleans Saints vs. Miami Dolphins, 9/3/10: Page 4. (Loss: 10-7)
Super Bowl Celebration, French Quarter, 2/7/10: Page 5.
Super Bowl Victory Parade, 2/9/10: Page 6.
Fans Thank You Shrine, Drew Brees’ House: Page 8.
