When I tell you I was born and raised a Saints fan, I was born and raised to cheer for the Black & Gold. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of watching Saints games with my family on Sundays.

During Hurricane Katrina, my family and I lived in a hotel by Bush International Airport in Houston for three and a half months. There were as many as 11 people spread through three rooms.

The Saints were my getaway.

In fact, when my dad, my grandfather and I snuck back into the city when no one else could, we made sure we left by 1 p.m. Why?

The Saints were playing their big Monday night “home” game in New York.

We made it in time for kickoff.

When the Saints played some home games in San Antonio, my cousin Steve (who is as diehard as they come) and I bought tickets and drove to watch OUR Saints – not San Antonio’s – beat Buffalo 19-7.

On a personal level, we needed that game tremendously. It was a sense of normalcy. I still remember leaving Houston at 10 a.m. and making it to San Antonio for a noon kickoff.

So maybe we broke some speed limits, but we saw the Saints, and that’s what mattered. And that’s why last Monday meant so much to me.

When I watched my Saints get stomped by the Green Bay Packers 52-3, I couldn’t have been happier because I had the opportunity to watch the game with other members of my family at the Louisiana Lions Camp in Leesville, La., where they had evacuated to.

Throughout last year, my hate for Saint owner Tom Benson grew. I don’t care for him and that’s putting it nicely.

Benson, a native New Orleanian whose boyhood neighborhood in the 7th Ward was destroyed as a result of Katrina, threatened to move the team to San Antonio because he wasn’t sure if New Orleans could support a team.

I still cannot forgive him for even thinking of taking away my team.

This city depends on that team whether you want to believe it or not. That’s why this city can spend $185 million on the Superdome and say nothing negative about it.

We need this team. And we proved it Monday night.

I watched – from section 612, row 20, seat 14 – my team defeat the hated Atlanta Falcons 23-3 in the greatest sporting event New Orleans has ever seen.

Why? It was so much more than just a football game. It told the country, we can come back – we can do this.

When Steve Gleason blocked Michael Koenen’s punt after Atlanta’s first drive and Curtis Deloatch recovered it to give the Saints an early lead, the Superdome was deafening.

I couldn’t say a word. But I couldn’t have been happier.

To understand how I feel, realize how much this team means to me.

Because as of Sept. 25, my Saints are home. And there ain’t a damn thing nobody, including Benson, can do about it.