When the Saints go marching in
Reggie Bush of the New Orleans Saints screams as he takes the field prior to the game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 25, 2006 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Credit: Getty Images
In some ways, this is a story about a lost fingernail clipper.
And to understand what a missing nail clipper has to do with this weekend's Super Bowl XLIV you have to go back 1,622 days to when the levees collapsed in New Orleans, spilling billions of gallons of water into the city.
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But before we go there, allow me a moment to savor it: The Saints are in the Super Bowl!
The Saints have played in New Orleans since 1967, and this is their first trip to the big game. For any other city, that would be a terrific sports story. But New Orleans isn't any other city.
So instead, this is a story about loss and pain and disbelief. About tears and anger and frustration. About never-ending, backbreaking, heart-wrenching work.
And this is a story about waking up day after day to the realization that what you had is gone and the city that you love has been changed forever.
On Sept. 24, 2006 - a year and a few weeks after the storm - the Saints ran onto the field of the newly refurbished Louisiana Superdome. The very place that had come to represent the failures of the federal and local governments' response to Katrina was about to become the symbol of the city's rebirth.
Green Day and U2 brought the house to tears before the game when they sang "The Saints are coming":
"There is a house in New Orleans.
"They call the Superdome.
"It's been the ruin of many a poor boy.
"And God, I know I'm one."
The Saints went on to defeat their rival Atlanta Falcons that Monday night and sent an unmistakable message to the city: New Orleans is not going anywhere. It can rebuild. Don't give up hope. Draw strength from us, and we'll draw strength from you.
Those who think this story is just about football, just about a game, are wrong. From the moment of their arrival in New Orleans in early 2006, coach Sean Payton, quarterback Drew Brees and running back Reggie Bush embraced the city. Their unabashed enthusiasm for New Orleans added new life to a city looking for, well, a new life.
For these people, football has been a gift. For three hours each week, they could take a break from Katrina recovery, pop open an Abita beer, bust out a bag of Zapp's potato chips, take a bite of a fried oyster po' boy and watch the Saints play.
For the 13 years we lived in New Orleans, my wife and I spent Sundays during football season with fellow Times-Picayune journalists Mark Schlefstein and James O'Byrne watching the Saints from high above the field in section 610. We danced, laughed and made up cheers when the Saints were winning. We danced, laughed and made up cheers when they were losing.
As with other fans, "Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?!" was our rallying cry. We were a part of Who Dat Nation - loud, proud and strong.
But about that fingernail clipper . . .
"At some point after Katrina, I realized I needed to clip my fingernails," O'Byrne told me. "Then it hit me; I don't even have a fingernail clipper. We're talking about what it was like to lose everything. All my fingernail clippers are at home. I don't have a home anymore. . . . The 10th time I went to get some small, mundane item and realized I didn't have it any more, it truly sunk in. The thousands of people that lost houses to Katrina went through that."
Upon arriving back in New Orleans after the storm, Schlefstein crawled into his house and couldn't believe what he found. "I crawled right back out and just sat on my front steps. I really couldn't process what I was seeing. Everything was covered in mold, turned upside down. . . . Gone.
"Pictures, keepsakes, important files, even some paintings my dad had done were gone. . . . They had to be put to the curb. Even now - years later - I'll go to look for something and realize, it's at the curb."
O'Byrne, Schlefstein and thousands of other Who Dats remained loyal fans after Katrina. After the trauma of losing everything - from a house on down to a nail clipper - the Saints represented normalcy to them.
But this year, of course, has been anything but normal. It has been spectacular. This would be an amazing year for any NFL franchise. But to New Orleans and Saints fans everywhere, it's even bigger.
"After Katrina, New Orleanians were spread around like an anthill that had been kicked," says Tom Nalley, another Times-Picayune co-worker and fellow Saints fan who'll be in Miami for Sunday's game. "The Saints have been one of those things that have kept us together."
For those who love New Orleans, this is the ultimate payoff. "This is proof that we are coming back," Schlefstein says. "This incredible Saints winning season is recognition that despite everything, New Orleans will survive. This is a small spot along the timeline of rebuilding, but it's a big help."
So this Sunday, once Drew Brees and the Saints have suited up and strapped on their shoulder pads, they'll lean down and pull the entire city onto their backs.
Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Regardless of the outcome of this year's Super Bowl, the answer for New Orleans is clear: Nobody.
Walt Handelsman, Newsday's Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, lived in New Orleans from 1989 to 2001.
