I’ve been a Saints fan for as long as I can remember. And what’s my most vivid memory?
I’m 10 years old watching the Cleveland Browns play; they’ve just been reinstated. They’re 0-7 and the Saints are 1-7 — both pretty dismal. The Saints appear to have the win locked in the final seconds of the game. In a last ditch effort, Tim Couch throws a Hail Mary into the end zone where there’s one Brown receiver and three Saints defenders. We’ve got this. Imagine my shock when Kevin Johnson — the lone Brown receiver — came down with the ball. My tenure as a Saints fan has pretty much been a reflection of that day.
Then, in 2006, something wonderful happened. The Saints drafted Reggie Bush and signed Drew Brees. But our hopes were cut short when the Saints lost the NFC Championship game. The 2007 and 2008 seasons proved to be disappointments as well as we went 7-9 and 8-8, respectively.
The New Orleans Saints began this season with a certain swagger. We knew we already had an explosive offense with Drew Brees as its backbone, but when Sean Payton took a pay cut to secure Gregg Williams as our defensive coordinator, I began to feel optimistic for this season.
As the season progressed, that swagger morphed into mysticism. No one, especially the long-suffering Saints fans, could have ever anticipated our team going 13-0. The Saints began to gain recognition across the country. People were really starting to “believe.”
This became apparent, even at Loyola, as black and gold swept across the campus. Students and faculty from all over the country caught the Saints-fever. They swarmed to local establishments to watch Saint’s games. Loyola’s campus was littered with Saints jerseys every week. Some would go downtown to tailgate even if they did not have tickets to the game.
The number of people who hopped on the Saints bandwagon was astronomical. The same people I was explaining the rules of football to only last year were now strutting their stuff in Saints apparel and claiming Reggie Bush as their one true love. As much as this irked my “long-suffering Saints fan” side, I did kind of like it.
The Cowboys joyfully yanked the rug from beneath us, but we still knew we had a powerful team. Then the Bucs decided to show up against the Saints. How could we have lost to a team that was 3-12?
Other than the obvious consequences, these losses produced accidental results. The number of fans became to drop. Across the nation, the people who once looked at New Orleans and saw the human-interest story no longer cheered for us. Drew Brees proved he was human — this was seen in the MVP vote where he only received 7 ½ votes.
All these bandwagon fans left as soon as they came — especially at Loyola. With three losses under our belt — along with winter break for people to remember their home teams — the pride that once swelled has seriously deflated. People stopped looking at the positives and concentrated solely on the bad. I’m tired of explaining to people how the final game of the regular season shouldn’t be regarded as real loss. Mark Brunell quarterbacked for crying out loud.
So to all of you true Saints fans, get excited for Saturday. We may have some holes on our defense, but our offense should be able to keep up with Warner, Fitzgerald and Breaston.
To the rest of you, I know your faith may have been newly found but I hope you can tap back into it for this game. With the Saints’ luck in past years, we need all the fans we can get, even at Loyola.
Leigh Pechon can be reached at [email protected]
