I Guess Football Isn't So Bad

Hey friends,

There's another little bit of New Orleans culture that I've come to appreciate and that I don't think has gotten much attention. That would be football. And by "football," I mean the Saints. You can't forget about LSU, but my oh my does this town love the Saints. Black and gold American flags (with a fleur de lis in place of each star, of course) are probably more common than the red, white and blue ones 'round here, and game day or not you won't have to go far to see mini Saints flags attached to car windows. Every Friday at work, Saints tshirts are all over the place, and all season long the blood bank's donor tshirts are Saints-themed. And don't you dare schedule anything for a Sunday afternoon without checking the Saints schedule first. It's everywhere.

Any of you who know me will know that sports have never been high on my list of interests. For better or worse, my main motivation for going to football games at Furman was that I liked being in the stands with my friends (at least I was still there?). But, anyway, I was advised the following before I moved to New Orleans: "Just get a Saints shirt as soon as you get there, and you'll fit right in." I followed instructions, but continue to be amazed at how thoroughly engrained the Saints are in what seems like every New Orleanian's life. And these people aren't fair weather fans. Win or lose, they love their Saints. (But that doesn't mean a loss won't put everybody in a foul mood that Monday...) For a long time the Saints weren't exactly a winning team, and not many people thought they'd turn into anything. Not unlike the fact that for a while, a lot of people wondered if New Orleans would recover from Katrina and the levees breaking. But just as New Orleanians didn't give up on their city, they won't give up on their team. That Super Bowl win in 2009 probably helped fuel the fire a bit too...

Now I know there are plenty of sports fans out there that check schedules and change moods depending on their team's success or lack thereof. But it's been a new thing for me. And I have to say, I've kind of enjoyed it! Obviously there'll always be a place in my heart for Furman sports, but I think the Saints are at least the first pro team that I've really, truly cared about. (Well, I did enjoy following the Preds last year in Nashville. But, back to football...) No, I can't name every player, but I can name a few and that's more than I can say for most other sports teams I've had connections to. And yes, I still only have one Saints tshirt, but I've sure gotten some good use out of it. I've also been told that the heartbreak I experienced following the Saints' tragic loss to the 49ers this past Saturday just means that I'm doing this whole sports fan thing right. Sigh...

And there you have it, folks. Allison Wehrung blogging about sports. Who would've thought?!

Love,
Allison