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thatcrazycajunThose who live in cities outside the US where "football" to them is what we Murkins call "soccer," or those in US cities whose teams have been talented and hard-working enough (and blessed with enough luck) to actually have made at least one appearance in the biggest game not only in pro football but in sports generally, may be a tad bemused today at the almost incoherent excited glee exhibited by Your Humble Correspondent and others on his friend list following the outcome of yesterday's NFC championship game.
If so, a little explanation is in order. For us New Orleanians and Louisianans in general, the Saints' finally making it to the Big Show goes way, WAY beyond simple hometown pride. This is history in the making, folks, akin to Boston's Red Sox breaking the Curse of the Bambino a few years back and making the World Series, or Chicago's Cubs doing the same (which still has yet to happen).
You need to understand that this is a team which for all of its 43 years in existence, has never—ever—even made it as far as the conference championship, let alone the Super Bowl.
This is a team whose fans for years used to show up for games with brown paper bags over their heads, to demonstrate their embarrassment at their team's perennial piss-poor performance.
This is a team that used to go through head coaches the way a hooker goes through boxes of condoms (if she's smart)...or Rush Limbaugh goes through belts.
This is a team that used to be nicknamed "the Ain'ts"—as in "ain't winning," "ain't goin' nowhere" or "ain't worth s#!+."
This is a team that has had exactly three—count 'em, three—winning seasons in that four decades and change of play, counting the current one...and in the previous two instances got as far as one or two playoff games and choked.
So for us, this is the end of a ridiculously long drought, a dream many of us (YHC most certainly included) never believed they'd live to see come true...but have nonetheless held out the faintest of hopes for each August as preseason play begins, only to see those hopes crushed, as the late Steve Goodman so eloquently put it, "like so many paper beer cups, year after year after year." Now that faith is at long, long last vindicated. You'd have thought a team named for the holiest figures in the oldest religion in Christendom, in a city where that religion is dominant in both churches and schools, would have had the Man Upstairs smile on them long before this and far more often...but hey, better late than never.
So please be patient with us southern folk, and especially those of us who call (or have called) the Crescent City home. For the next couple of weeks, we're gonna be pretty damn near insufferably smug. And if the Saints should beat the Colts on the night of February 7th...look the bloody hell out, 'cause you're gonna see a citywide (possibly even statewide) party that will make the biggest New Orleans Mardi Gras Day look like a picnic at the old folks' home.
And somewhere up in sportscaster heaven, the late Bernard S. "Buddy D" Diliberto of WDSU-TV Channel 6 fame will be grinning like a maniac (if he's not already)...and he'll be far from the only one.
If so, a little explanation is in order. For us New Orleanians and Louisianans in general, the Saints' finally making it to the Big Show goes way, WAY beyond simple hometown pride. This is history in the making, folks, akin to Boston's Red Sox breaking the Curse of the Bambino a few years back and making the World Series, or Chicago's Cubs doing the same (which still has yet to happen).
You need to understand that this is a team which for all of its 43 years in existence, has never—ever—even made it as far as the conference championship, let alone the Super Bowl.
This is a team whose fans for years used to show up for games with brown paper bags over their heads, to demonstrate their embarrassment at their team's perennial piss-poor performance.
This is a team that used to go through head coaches the way a hooker goes through boxes of condoms (if she's smart)...or Rush Limbaugh goes through belts.
This is a team that used to be nicknamed "the Ain'ts"—as in "ain't winning," "ain't goin' nowhere" or "ain't worth s#!+."
This is a team that has had exactly three—count 'em, three—winning seasons in that four decades and change of play, counting the current one...and in the previous two instances got as far as one or two playoff games and choked.
So for us, this is the end of a ridiculously long drought, a dream many of us (YHC most certainly included) never believed they'd live to see come true...but have nonetheless held out the faintest of hopes for each August as preseason play begins, only to see those hopes crushed, as the late Steve Goodman so eloquently put it, "like so many paper beer cups, year after year after year." Now that faith is at long, long last vindicated. You'd have thought a team named for the holiest figures in the oldest religion in Christendom, in a city where that religion is dominant in both churches and schools, would have had the Man Upstairs smile on them long before this and far more often...but hey, better late than never.
So please be patient with us southern folk, and especially those of us who call (or have called) the Crescent City home. For the next couple of weeks, we're gonna be pretty damn near insufferably smug. And if the Saints should beat the Colts on the night of February 7th...look the bloody hell out, 'cause you're gonna see a citywide (possibly even statewide) party that will make the biggest New Orleans Mardi Gras Day look like a picnic at the old folks' home.
And somewhere up in sportscaster heaven, the late Bernard S. "Buddy D" Diliberto of WDSU-TV Channel 6 fame will be grinning like a maniac (if he's not already)...and he'll be far from the only one.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 10:25 pm (UTC)1. Congratulations to the Aints and their fans. It's about time.
2. Pity poor Archie Manning. He has to choose between rooting for his old team or for his son. And he has to do it in public.
3. As a Giants fan and a Jets-fan-in-passing, I held off until yesterday. But, dude: Pitchers and catchers report in less than three weeks! :-)
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Date: 2010-01-25 10:40 pm (UTC)I have the same dilemma - I'm a Tennessee fan. Been rooting for the Colts (and the Giants, for Eli) lately, but I'm also a big fan of the Underdog, which - along with an alumni connection (Jason Varitek and I both went to Georgia Tech) - was how I got to be a Red Sox fan.... and, well, if anyone is "due", it's the Saints. Besides, if the Colts win *again*, big deal. If the Saints win, you'll hear the cheers in Knoxville. And I don't mean from the locals. :)
So.
I think Our Humble Correspondent has every *right* to be insufferably smug. Whether this will be the beginning of a Manning quasi-dynasty, or the ultimate Cinderella story... remains to be seen. Either way, I think it will be interesting.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 11:28 pm (UTC)Saints fans have every right to be proud ("smug" is something I recommend against almost always, just because it tends to come back and bite one on the gluteus maximus). I hope they play a terrific game; they're going to need to. (I heard sports talk guys this morning suggesting that they're up against the greatest QB ever in the NFL. I might disagree, but he certainly has a legitimate case.)
And, as a Yankees fan, you have my sincere hope that your baseball team (along with the Dallas Cowboys) never wins another game. Courteously </Lewis Morris in 1776> :-D
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Date: 2010-01-25 11:42 pm (UTC)Right back at you. Courteously, of course. (Damnyankees. It's one word, dontchaknow. :) (I liked Dallas as long as Landry was coach. I have to share your sentiment about them these days.)
'course, one reason I cheer for the Red Sox is because they *can* beat hell out of the Yankees, which is... difficult at best for my current home team, the Mariners... but maybe with Felix and Cliff Lee, this'll be the year we can at least give the Pinstripes some of their own back...
And it's root, root root for the Mar-in-ers
if they don't win there's next year!
'cause it's one, two, sushi and beer at the old ball game!
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Date: 2010-01-25 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 11:41 pm (UTC)Still, any baseball is better than none at all, and I have the Off-Broadway Hits (my roto team) to console me.
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Date: 2010-02-01 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-25 11:34 pm (UTC)(Always the bridesmaid, never the bride)
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Date: 2010-01-25 11:40 pm (UTC)Beyond that, though, Batya's recently deceased grandmother was a Saints fans (like most of the family from the Big Easy). So I have a family connection to the team as well as the city. And a reason to think that the Saints have a bit more help in their heavenly corner this year.
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Date: 2010-01-26 01:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-26 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 02:48 am (UTC)Go right ahead. We'll be pulling for the Saints here too! (Hmm...should see if I can score a six-pack of Abita *grin*)
I'll admit I would have been happy either way the NFC turned out. I've long had a soft spot for the Vikings too. That dates back to the mid-80's when I used to despise 'Da Bears for various demolitions of the 'Skins, including the famous 73-0 championship back in the 30's. Although I finally forgave Chicago after we twice wiped the grin off Jim McMahon's face in playoff games.
But definitely the next couple of weeks will be a well-deserved shot in the arm for a city that still badly needs it. Laissez les bon temps rouler! 8-)