A different team, a different time

Why Saints fans rule:

A few Eagles jersey cropped up in the sea of black and gold, and reported the nicest and most congenial atmosphere in recent memory.

"A lot of people have come up and they shake your hand and say: Thanks for coming to New Orleans," David McCloskey, Sr. said. "I kind of expected them to say something smart, but they're not. Everybody's so happy, and they're just not as hard as some other places."

And another:

"We really enjoyed ourselves in New Orleans last time, even though we lost. Everybody was so nice to us -- they were just happy we were visiting their town after the hurricane [Katrina]. I've been to a lot of cities with the Eagles, but nobody has ever treated us better than the people in New Orleans."

Why Eagles fans don't:

I actually had someone tell me that, because of this passionate waif, "The team may win but she shows what a loser they all are".

This, coming from the team that threw batteries and urine at opposing fans and players, and cheered incessantly when they thought an opponent was paralyzed.

Must be something about having a bird for a mascot.

Saintseester has some great photos from the game, including the mysterious Lee DeFleur, and a teary-eyed Dr. Morris (crying wreaks havoc on your eye black). Nice hanging out with people who get it.

Man, does that circa 1998 jersey need to be retired, or what. Look behind me: SAINTS 27 EAGLES 24.

Oh, Tuesday is tattoo day for me. Yep. I'm thinking the place next door to Cooter Brown's, so I can drink heavily before and after...or the place across from Bon Temps, so I can drink heavily before and after. And one caveat: vicodin is our friend.

Mike Lupica, of all people, said that the Saints weren't a good sports story for this year; they weren't a good NFL story. He said this year's Saints are the GREATEST SPORTS STORY EVER.

Greatest sports story ever. Hear that Barack Obama? You just alienated a region. Mook. Edwards gets it, you don't.

---

Here was my little stab at leadership on Saturday night:

I look at the clock, and there was 8:20 remaining. I'm thinking it's going to be exactly like last time, when we had 8:26 remaining.

It wasn't. The pitch from birthday boy (have some cheeseless pizza to celebrate) to baby matrix didn't go as planned, and a former Saint jumped on the ball.

Now, this was the loudest indoor sporting crowd of all time, but everyone got silent. Somebody said "they weren't yelling, they were screaming like homicidal maniacs". Personally, I think I popped a couple of blood vessels.

Oh, and Aaron, I can probably use the hearing aid.

I was silent, too. I saw the past 40 years flash before my eyes. Deion. Big ben right. Hebert forgetting what color his own team was.

But "a lot has changed around here. This is a different team, a different time."

When I realized that, and I saw our defense come on the field, I turned and faced the rest of section 635.

In the loudest, most passionate, murderous voice I posess, I screamed at our still silent section: "IT'S NOT OVER!!!"

Then, I turned and shouted my bleeping lungs out.

The rest of 635 joined in, the noise spread, and the crowd remembered that we have to do our job.

The dB level stayed at about the same raucous level, until fourth down.

Then, well, these fans go to eleven.

And a second-string guard, who hadn't had a single rep with the silent count all year, flinched.

And victory was ours.

And the fans played an integral part.

Who dat?

This is the way we live...

Comments

[Mr. Clio]

Damn right you led.

You showed us: we weren't getting killed. We were getting mad.

[Scott Harney]

"Oh, Tuesday is tattoo day for me. Yep. I'm thinking the place next door to Cooter Brown's, so I can drink heavily before and after...or the place across from Bon Temps, so I can drink heavily before and after."

Don't drink before getting a tattoo. It will make you bleed more and it will hurt more. Ask a tattoo artist, they will tell you its so. Be kind to your artist and don't drink.

[Lisa]

Drink afterwards. It doesnt hurt that bad. I'm getting my 4th at Mardi Gras...Electric Ladyland...

[karen]

Another one joins the club! Gettin a tattoo, not as bad as you think. Waiting for the needle to start its work is worse than the actual needle. I have a lotus on lower back with the cathedral in the center. Not as bad as I thought. Just grit your teeth and do it.

[Paul]

"Oh, Tuesday is tattoo day for me."

You're a little old for that, aren't you?

[saintseester]

I was crying too, at the end of that game. OMG - my blood pressure still won't come down.

And let me know how the tattoo goes, because I gotta figure out what I'm doing and where. SaintseesterMAN even said he may join me.

[Aaron]

Whodat?! No really, that'd be a great tat, maybe with a fleur de lis in place of the "t," stylized to look "t"-like. I've never seen it, and that's saying something about fleur de lis tats in this city.

[bigshot]

Great seeing you after the game with Dillyberto and Lee de Fleur. I was a little too emotional to make any sense, but it was nice saying hello nonetheless.

I agree with Lupica. This is the greatest sports story ever told. The win over the Falcons was the most triumphant moment in the history of American sports; a Saints Superbowl will be the greatest sports story. Period.

As for Barack Hussein O'Bama, he should know the Saints season is no fairy tale. The team is so interwined with the story of the city, which we all know is more like a Dickens novel.

[Puddinhead]

"He said this year's Saints are the GREATEST SPORTS STORY EVER."

Which brings to mind....who plays Sean Payton when the major motion picture of this story is cast?

[Puddinhead]

And no.....Frankie Muniz isn't old enough yet.....

[ashley]

Sure he is. We can age him like Irene Ryan.

I just like the idea of Will Smith playing Will Smith.

OK everybody, I won't "pre-medicate" before the inking.

Aaron, I've decided to just get a plain old FdL.

Yes, Paul, I am too old for this. But there's no better way for me to show allegiance to my city and my team. As if there's a difference between the two at this point...

[Varg]

I love this quote from SI. This TD was such a beautiful moment. The helmetless Deuce carryinga whole team into the end-zone...

"But then McAllister, playing in the first postseason game of his six-year career, took over. After Westbrook's 62-yard run, McAllister finished off a 63-yard drive with a brutally beautiful five-yard touchdown run in which he was hit at the five, the three and then bulled his way through a flock of Eagles for the score. On the bottom of the pile, you could actually see Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter behind pulled, backward, toward the goal line."

[Varg]

Forgot the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycwmbT06WoQ

[ashley]

Ray in aust..er...Ray in uptown is accompanying me to the inking. Anybody else wanna point and laugh while I suffer?

[Mr. Clio]

Thanks for pointing that out, Varg. I hadn't noticed Trotter getting punked on the bottom of the pile. Maybe that's why he got faked out of his jock on Deuce's 2nd TD.

[Aaron]

My little brother has the water cover tat'd on his forearm - the stars curving around - just the graphic in the middle, not the encircling cover. He got it 4 years ago, and now it's the trendy thing to get tat'd - that and the fact that his tat place used the stencil he created for his tattoo as the model. Great looking tattoo, people from outside the 504 do not understand.

[ashley]

I thought about getting 504 on their somewhere, but that's too gangsta for da goober.

I'm not getting the tears tattooed under my eyes, either.

[ashley]

Didn't see this one before: "It was likely noise from the sellout crowd of 70,001 caused the penalty." http://www.mcall.com/sports/football/eagles/all-eaglesjan14,0,4044053.story?coll=all-sportsmorefootball-hed

[jeffrey]

I like the jersey

[Ray]

How's your arm feel this morning? I'm waiting on those pictures.

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[North Face Sale]

Well it was a pleasure to read such a wonderful story.I must say Great story and epic journey.

[Sagar]

Dana,Thanks for your comment. Sometimes this may hppaen for various reasons. It all checks out OK on our side. Can you give me a bit more information in case this hppaens again? Which web browser were you using? What error message if any did you get? Can you describe exactly what hppaened when you tried to download? Have you been able to successfully download ESN before? Can you download files OK from other sites? Are you using a relatively current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader? The answers to these questions can help me solve you problem.Blessings,Chuck Gianotti, editor of ESN

[David]

Hmm, I attempted to vote for #20, but the Share link did not cornifm my vote, or take me to another page I did not see another option on which to click in order to submit my vote Perhaps I am doing something wrong? Great work Stacy <3 all of these images