Watching the Oakland Raiders/New Orleans Saints preseason game this past Sunday, the crew working the NBC broadcasting booth brought up an interesting debate topic. They made a mention of how the New Orleans Saints are now ‘America’s Team.’
For the longest time that prestigious title belonged to the Dallas Cowboys, and to many fans it probably still does belong to the ‘Boys. But let us for a second think about the idea of the Saints as a candidate for ‘America’s Team.’
Now most of you are wondering, this is supposed to be a New York Sports page-so why no love for the Giants or the Jets. I as a fan must confess to you all that I am still learning the sport of football. For me growing up it was always baseball, with many of these sports I am watching-I am now learning later on in my life.
One may wonder-how do I know about the New Orleans Saints to begin with. Well at one point in time in my life, I lived in Jackson, Mississippi-where the Black and Gold were holding their training camp. This fan was even able to travel to New Orleans to see the Superdome and the Saints in person.
Here are my thoughts on why; I personally enjoy watching the Saints. They are a hard hitting, fast paced football team. They don’t spend a whole heck of a lot of time on the ground, which slows the game down tremendously.
The balance the Saints have on offense between their rushing and passing game, is enough to keep any fan on their toes. Oh yeah and let us not forget about the experience as a fan in the Superdome. If you have never been to a Saints game before-I’d recommend making a stop in New Orleans sometime soon.
There is something magical about being in an enclosed stadium and watching a sporting event, even though I was perched in the top of the arena-I felt the energy, passion and love of those fans. Saints fans know how to throw a party, as the night I was there-there wasn’t a moment I wasn’t dancing in my seat.
Let us not forget everything the people down in New Orleans have been through, between Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Oil Spill-the sport of football has helped rejuvenate and given hope to a whole nation.
To think at one point in time, I was sitting in a place that held countless numbers of New Orleans-natives during Hurricane Katrina, was a surreal experience. Even more amazing was the idea that they picked themselves up and rebuild.
As a whole the Saints organization does not forget everything that they have been through, as all of their players have tirelessly given back to their community. Led by one of the most inspirational quarterbacks and captains Drew Breese; who lives in the Downtown area of New Orleans and has his own charily website seen here:
I’m sure the many Cowboys fans though can make an argument, as to why their team still holds the title of ‘America’s Team.’ So this is where you the NFL fan comes in, do the Saints have a legit claim, or are they just dreamers? Feel free to leave your thoughts!
Written on August 30, 2011