What do the Saints mean to you personally?

I was a young man when i watched that first game. I am now an old man and did live to see my Saints in a Super Bowl (Unlike Buddy D and thousands of others)………………One of the higher highs in my life. I have never not watched them since that first game…………..Thats a lot of years and I am on my last nerve for the next game…………….

I was in hi skool when the Saints were born. Went to a few games every year for several years and watched them in the great outdoors, drank Dixie beer before I was 18, they would sell it to anyone with a dollar back then. My dad would get extra tickets for me and my friends, we would sell the extra ones for a couple bucks a piece and use the money to buy more Dixie. Hated the stuff, but was only beer they sold at the games. Then I quit going to the games while I was in college and early married life. But was always a fan, loved the Manning years, every year seemed like it was going to be our year, only to get slapped in da face over & over again. Especially the year we lost to Oakland on MNF after leading by 35 pts, getting knocked out of our 1st winning season and our 1st play-off appearence. Then came all the washed up player years with Bum, and the losing saga continued. On & ON we marched into the abyss of losing, but we were da SAINTS, and we loved our team, the likeable, loveable losers, the 3 Stooges of the football world. We lost every way a team could possibly lose, then always seemed to find another way to lose the next week. The jokes about the tickets, leave 1/2 dozen on your windshield in the parking lot, come back and find another 1/2 dozen with yours, etc etc. We endured, we laffed, we cried, but wait, there was always next year!!!! Lost count of the years, my friends, but there I was again, every year, every weekend, watching & waiting for MY TEAM to win.
WELL FOLKS, IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!!!! We dont have to say it this year, we dont have to pick a team to win it all, because, THIS YEAR IS OUR YEAR TO WIN IT ALL!!!!!
GEAUX SAINTS GEAUX!!!!!

My dad and I historically don’t have the best relationship. He’s not much of a talker, blue collar conservative, and I’m a lily-livered liberal. But when Sunday comes, when the Saints are on, that’s when we can really relate to each other. I’ve said this on a previous post but I’ll say it again: We have a running gag where I’ll say “I’ve been a Saints fan my entire life” and he’ll come back with “I’ve been a Saints fan for their whole life!” But when Hartley made that kick, we just hugged and cried together, sharing the most terrific sense of joy I’d ever experienced.

Although I am pretty new at this they mean a lot. Not that it even comes remotely close to Katrina but we have gone through some difficult times over the past couple months and I can see how this team gives you something to look forward to that’s a little bigger than yourself. Thinking about the game on Sat or Sun has really gotten me through a couple of trying weeks. I also love the heart and class that this team has and the way they push themselves to rise above the cusp no matter how people view or talk about them. They live extraordinary lives and cherish the relationship between the team and fans. Very inspiring in my own life.

When I started watching football (five or six years old) and I saw our team, the team that represented home, I was a diehard fan immediately. I didn’t get to see them often, always showing those damn cowgirls, but when they did, I loved it. The fact that they were not very good back in those days fostered unconditional “love” for the team. Would you turn your back on a family member just because somebody across town was a little better? I was surrounded by cowgirl fans (I was actually closer to dallas than New Orleans geographically) and that always pissed me off too. ‘You don’t live in texas, you live in Louisiana!’ Support home! We are winners! So I have always been a SAINTS fan, and I have loved the people that are SAINTS fans through thick and thin. I hear the Aints crap all the time, and I just tell them ‘Our fans may have showed up with bags on, but we still showed up!’
To me being a SAINTS fan means being loyal, being true blue, and being rewarded with a Super Bowl win in ’10!

‘Our fans may have showed up with bags on, but we still showed up!’

I feel the same way. I have been trying to put my thoughts together to comment, but I will piggy back on everyone else’s….if that’s okay…..WHO DAT

wasn’t in the state in ‘67, and would have been to young to follow them then anyway. I can remember as a kid, with mom and my uncle and aunt, going to Tulane Stadium to watch my team. Sitting at home for away games with mom and grandma, watching and cheering. My grandma cheering and clapping with us, then leaning over to me and asked if we scored.
As an athlete growing up, it didn’t matter to me if they won or loss. Seeing PROFESSIONAL football players was a thrill in and of itself. I, along with every boy growing up, would fantasize growing up and playing for the Saints. We’d watch the games and then go outside afterwards and play football in the street. Dancing the dances the Saints players danced after they scored, throwing the “bomb” that Kilmer or Manning threw in the game we just watched. Then came the 80’s. A teenager now, my time was filled with parties and girls and sports. But come Sunday, it was Saints day. Same for the 90’s..married now…but still watching the Saints. Same as in the “new millennium”, watching the Saints. Bitching and griping, cursing and chastising the team after the losses. Cheering and happy when they won.

This year has been surreal. But Saints fans KNEW this time was coming. Our “next year” is here. Our blood, sweat, tears, disappointment, sadness…has all been rewarded by this team. From Tom Benson all the way down to the most junior equipment manager, we have it all to win. We have the athletes, coaches, love and support this year. And if we don’t..there is always “next year”. But I have a feeling “next year” will be different than the “next year” of years past.

I have a strong bond to the team! I’ve followed them from the beginning, as most here already know. I’ve had the chance to see a few games over the years, but never could afford season tickets. My uncle (dad’s only brother) was an early season ticket holder for quite a few years, until he couldn’t take the losing anymore. Now he is dancing in heaven with Buddy D, after suffering a fatal heart attack in his 60’s a few years ago. Thankfully, my dad is still around to experience the team’s run this year, but he jokes that following the team’s ups and downs contributed to my uncle’s heart issues.

My wife, son, and I left in 2000 for economic reasons, but we all continue to follow the Saints. They give us a connection to our heritage and the city that we know and love, New Orleans. My wife and I are planning to throw a Super Bowl party on Sunday for a group of friends and co-workers in Maryland, and I just spoke to my son in New Jersey via the cell phone last night—he wanted advice on how to properly wash his new Darren Sharper jersey! And the beat goes on…