http://www.al.com/sports/mobileregister/thicks.ssf?/base/sports/1220865322120520.xml&coll=3
NEW ORLEANS — Normalcy isn’t a word that has been used around here very often since Hurricane Katrina made it’s way to the city and rearranged its landscape and the lives of its citizens. Yet there has been a constant, a source of energy, a rallying point, for the people here.
They have the Saints.
Once again, the team was there for them — just as they have always been there for the black and gold — when they desperately needed a reason to cheer. The New Orleans Saints, their New Orleans Saints, gave them just what they needed.
Saints 24, Tampa Bay Bucs 20.
Just a few days ago, Hurricane Gustav threatened to present an awful reminder of Katrina’s devastating arrival in 2005, but fortunately it’s effects, while indeed damaging, were not what had originally been projected for the city.
The threat was enough. With memories of Katrina still fresh, the people of New Orleans and surrounding areas packed up, two million strong, and headed out of town in advance of Gustav. The past two days, the majority of those people made their way back to New Orleans, back to the reconstruction of their lives and property.
Sunday, they came back for the Saints. Their Saints.
It was the perfect homecoming for team and city, for the franchise and the disenfranchised.
The Superdome, the site of such misery in Katrina’s aftermath, was the source once again of great celebration. The Saints had won, starting the new season in victory. And for a few hours, the fans didn’t worry about lines at gas stations or power outages or empty grocery store shelves. This was their power source. This was what they wanted. This is what they needed.
al.com
9/8/08
