WHO DAT!!!
Oh my God. The Saints are in the Super Bowl.
I never thought I’d live to say those words.
Thing is, I don’t give a half a crap about football. I don’t follow sports. I couldn’t be any less interested. But the Saints are different. They’re not just a sports team — they’re part of the soul of the city.
We’ve been through a lot. Losing seasons in which we only won a single game all year, the “Aints” and paper bags, contentious team owners, threats to move the team out of the city, then a glancing blow from a hurricane, the failure of the levees and all that came after. Now the Saints are in the Super Bowl. It’s been such a long road, and will be so great for the city no matter what. I’m in tears here, and I don’t even give half a crap about football. 🙂
You want to see some unbridled joy? Have a look at the moment the game was won, and the reaction from one of my favorite writers and her husband, one of my favorite chefs.
Pessimists said they’d believe the Saints would get into the Super Bowl when pigs could fly. I think I just say a pig fly by my window … on its way to be turned into cochon de lait and fed to a WHO DAT NATION!
Here’s a great piece about the city and its team that ran on ESPN — you’ll have to click to watch it in another window, since for some reason they won’t let us embed it.
The Saints are in the Super Bowl. Yes, these are strange and beautiful days.
laurat said:
Jan 25, 10 at 5:48 pmlove that you made a special blog just for the Saints advancement to the Superbowl. and love this line especially “Pessimists said they’d believe the Saints would get into the Super Bowl when pigs could fly. I think I just say a pig fly by my window … on its way to be turned into cochon de lait and fed to a WHO DAT NATION.” Wish you could be here to celebrate this momentous occasion.
billm said:
Jan 26, 10 at 12:09 amWho Dat! I too couldn’t care less about football. I grew up in Louisiana doing my best to ignore it, which is nigh impossible. But this year I’ve watched almost every Saints game. It’s so incredible. I actually just changed my flight for Mardi Gras to arrive on the Saturday before the Super Bowl so that I can watch the Saints from a bar in the Quarter. It’s gonna be the best party New Orleans has ever seen and that is saying something.
DebraDoherty said:
Jan 26, 10 at 2:20 amAs I said on my facebook page “the Saints at the Super Bowl? Whatever next, me enjoying televised sport?!” I watched as many games as I could, which considering the time difference hasn’t been easy! And I hate sport!
Now I just wish that I could be in New Orleans for the big day 🙁
Mike S. said:
Jan 26, 10 at 7:08 pmI do follow sports and I care a lot about football, and that’s true almost entirely because of my time in New Orleans during college when I became (essentially by operation of law, I think) a Saints fan. That was the early ’90s, and I’ve been a confirmed Who Dat ever since. Of course compared to my extended family down there, all of whom have been rabid Saints fans since the expansion franchise was founded in 1967, I still very much qualify as a “New Dat”. I’ll own that one with pride!
But all of that is largely irrelevant. This thing of ours with the Saints and the City goes way beyond football. The video you linked to really does capture it perfectly: In all of American professional sports, there is arguably no team more associated with, and more a core part of, the heart and soul of their home town than the New Orleans Saints. (I’m sure that if I made that statement on a sports blog I’d get a lot of claims to the contrary, mostly by Boston Red Sox fans, but I’d also get a fair amount of agreement even among people who have no affinity at all with the Saints or New Orleans.)
I love what’s happening now because I’m a football fan, and specifically a Saints fan. I love it because I consider myself lucky to have two homes in this world, the State of California and the City of New Orleans (thank goodness New Orleans does not have a professional baseball team). But more — much more — than any of that, I love it because of what it means to my New Orleans family and everyone else fortunate enough to call that amazing insane city home, whether they live there or not.
Geaux Saints!
Miz.Trixie said:
Jan 28, 10 at 10:58 amNFL orders shops to stop selling ‘Who Dat’ gear
http://www.wwltv.com/news/Whoownswhodat-82841572.html
Chuck said:
Jan 30, 10 at 9:08 amThe NFL can suck it. How many years have we been yelling “WHO DAT!” through losing seasons and hurricanes and paper bags on the head, and now that the Saints are in the Super Bowl they hurriedly file for a trademark for Who Dat in the state where the game is being played? Assholes.
In a rare show of actually being useful and not an asshat, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter wrote to the Commissioner of the NFL telling them to “back off or sue me.”
DebraDoherty said:
Feb 02, 10 at 3:33 amHey Chuck, I had no idea you were a Poppy Z Brite fan! My husband told me who the 2 people in the photo were. We have been reading her stuff for years now. I just finished ‘Second Line’.
Drawing Blood is still my favourite though, it always has such an effect on me. How about you?
Chuck said:
Feb 02, 10 at 8:26 amI enjoyed her horror genre writing, but for me (and for her as well) the best writing she’s ever done has been the “Liquor” series — four novels, a novella and a number of short stories set in the New Orleans restaurant scene and featuring two chefs, Rickey and G-Man, who are also a couple. Fantastic stuff.
Although Poppy says you don’t really have to start with this one (it’s kind of a prequel), start with The Value of X, then read Liquor, Prime and Soul KItchen.
inalee said:
Feb 02, 10 at 10:46 amNever mind that lots of us were never football fans! This event has inspired our local high school sports teams (not only the football teams!) teams to strive to do better! I talked to two high school basketball players (from a small local town) and they both said they felt the SAINTS WIN made them play better! So suddenly we are all SAINTS fans!! We all are inspired to do better, in our lives, in our jobs, etc. GO SAINTS!!
DebraDoherty said:
Feb 03, 10 at 2:54 amI think I’ve read them all now, even Exquisite Corpse (which made me feel a bit queasy!)
I do hope Poppy writes more Rickey and G-Man books, I love those guys!
Back to the football – I’m stuck at a trade fair on Sunday with work colleagues. I haven’t got a chance of catching the game 🙁
What sucks is that i’m also going to miss the Wales vs England rugby match on Saturday for the same reason!