Sports Column: Saints come marching in, inspire fans nationwide

By • February 11, 2010 • Category: Uncategorized

In 2005 the city of New Orleans experienced the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina, which sent many residents fleeing to the Louisiana Superdome for shelter. Now four and a half years later the stadium that was home to so many displaced New Orleans residents is now home to the Super Bowl champion Saints.

The National Football League Champion Saints are the latest sports story to show us that sports truly can heal, or at least let people forget their problems for three hours every week.

In 2001 the New York Yankees made it to the World Series just over a month after 9/11. The Saints and the Yankees did not make their respective cities’ problems go away, but they did help in allowing people to put their problems aside for a while.

The Yankees were unable to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series, which makes the fact that the underdog Saints were able to beat Peyton Manning and the Colts that much more impressive.

Going into Super Bowl XLIV the Colts were favored and the main reason for that is Peyton Manning. Much of the talk surrounding the two weeks prior to the Super Bowl was centered on what another title would do for Manning’s legacy.

In the end maybe all of the talk about Manning and the Colts helped the Saints by taking all of the pressure off of them and placing it on the Colts.

This Super Bowl was one of the best in recent history and we knew it was going to be before it was even played. This game had the best two teams in the NFL, the best two quarterbacks in the NFL and two defenses that nobody expected to step up with those two quarterbacks guiding two high-octane offenses.

The New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl Champions in their first trip to the big game and it came with improbable plays along the way. Whether it was the three field goals from behind the 40-yard line from New Orleans’ place-kicker, Garrett Hartley, or the onside kick to start the second half, it just seemed as though the Saints were supposed to win that game, and with the entire city of New Orleans behind them, they were able to do it.