The national news media is doing a better job of covering the Saints.  I think they are starting to understand that it's not about some fancy players.  It's not about the market.  It's not even about the hurricanes.  It's not even about the 13-0 record, although that helps.  

It's about the people and the soul of New Orleans.  We love the Saints.  Who dat!

After Hurrican Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding region I Emailed PTI on ESPN to energize discussion of the Saints.  This was at the time when the Saints were being rumored to move to San Antonio, Los Angeles, pretty much anywhere that would build a new stadium.  It was during that time when the team was practicing in San Antonio.  The media attempted to find direction by interviewing Aaron Brooks and Jim Haslett and you could just see how lost they were.  The cameras would linger after an answer as though the answers weren't enough.    

I knew that Mike and Tony wouldn't take kindly to me putting politically charged rhetoric in my question, so I just stumbled around with the following rhetoric:  "In the wake devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Tom Benson is thinking about moving the Saints from New Orleans. This could be construed as looting the city of New Orleans of its beloved NFL franchise.  Under the circumstances, no one else is willing to address this topic.  Can you?"  

Tony and Mike didn't say much one way or another.  Essentially they just said that New Orleans has bigger things to deal with than it's NFL franchise right now.  But to their credit they brought it up.  Not long after, Mike Lupica wrote an article about what the Saints mean to New Orleans.  Eventually Bill Simmons picked it up.  Tom Benson and the NFL decided, for no real financial incentive, to stick with New Orleans.  And here we are today with a phenomenal article by Wright Thompson.  

I don't know Wright by name, but damn if I don't love the guy.   New Orleans is a special city.  It means something different to everyone who enjoys what it has to offer.  Wright shares his personal soul felt journey through the Big Easy.  Enjoy.

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NEW ORLEANS -- The soul of New Orleans is in a trumpet and a low-ceilinged bar. It's in the free red beans in the back. It's in the art hanging near the food that has two dogs howling at a New Orleans Saints moon. It's in the voice of Kermit Ruffins, two hours into his standing Thursday night gig at a packed club hidden in the neighborhood behind the French Quarter, the place weathered and peeling like the side of a workingman's boat.

He plays a song he wrote, "All I Want for Christmas Is the Saints in the Super Bowl," and the crowd dances and sings all the words. When he takes a break, he calls me in closer. There's something he wants to show me. He undoes his thin black tie, and the top two buttons, then pulls both his collared shirt and T-shirt down just enough so I can see. I notice the top point first, and slowly, the entire tattoo comes into view, a month old, enormous, covering his entire chest. I start laughing, and so does he. A symbol of the city adorned with a symbol of the city. Kermit Ruffins has gotten an enormous fleur-de-lis, the Saints' helmet logo, tattooed on his chest.

"Only in New Orleans," he says, winking. "I'm killing 'em when I take off my shirt at the beach. Especially at the Super Bowl."

Read the rest...http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?page=hotread14/Saints