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I don't dislike professional sports, I just have very little interest in them. Yes, as a kid I had "my" teams... the Los Angeles Dodgers, The LA Rams, USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins (can you guess where I grew up?) But I really didn't follow the sports. Many an an evening was spent with my father listening to Vin Scully call the Dodger games on KFI AM. But when we drove the 100 miles or so to Dodger or Anaheim Stadium for a game, I pretty much had to learn the rules all over again. After he died, I had no interest in the game until Fernando Valenzuela came along. And later I again lost interest.
However, one sports team has been #1 in my heart since the late 1960s. The New Orleans Saints. I can understand my preferences... I'll get to that in a bit, but for a perpetual underdog, the Saints filled the Superdome every home game and the fans were rabid. Then again, they take their football seriously in the South. Whole towns will show up at a high school football game.
Here's why the Saints are my team:
Back around 1969, my father had been stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi and had been reassigned to a remote radar station in Iceland. It was so remote that they only had 60 people on the "base". You can't take your family on those remote assignments, so we were headed to Galesburg, Illinois to stay with my grandparents for the nine months of his assignment. I was all of 11 years old.
I don't remember the date or anything but it was just a month or two before Hurricane Camille hit Biloxi and wiped out most of what I knew of the area. For those who don't know, Wikipedia has a very good article on her. In a nutshell, Camille was the strongest tropical hurricane to ever hit land in the world and one of only four worldwide to hit with winds of 190 miles per hour. She killed 259 people and in 2005 US Dollars, caused $9.14 billion in damages. It took 36 years for a hurricane matching Camille's devastation and strength to hit Mississippi. That was Katrina who because of her larger size, damaged a larger area to the tune of over $100 billion US Dollars. Even then, Katrina's winds only reached 175 mph vs Camille's 190.
Sorry for wandering.
So here we were in New Orleans airport catching a flight to Chicago's O'Hare. Walking towards us, was a group of giants. Well, to a 11-year-old they were. Big and scary, they were decked out in flat top haircuts and green blazers. I asked my father who they were and he said, "Son, THOSE boys are THE New Orleans Saints football team!". I swear I remember his drawling it out and sounding like a sportscaster announcing the home team. I could hear the pride and awe in his voice.
The players proceeded to introduce themselves and shook hands with me, smiling all the time. Funny, but I remember how clean they seemed and how their teeth were so white and perfect.
To this day, I've had a soft spot in my heart for that team. Every time I hear that they are doing well, I get very glad inside. My heart was in my throat when they were still undefeated earlier this season. I still don't follow the game, and sadly, didn't even realize that they'd actually made it to the Super Bowl until today at halftime. I might have watched the game, but don't even have a TV hooked up at the moment. However, fans on Facebook, Second Life and Twitter certainly kept me updated.
And now... some 41 years after I found "my" team... my team was won a Super Bowl!
Go Saints!
New Orleans win Super Bowl for first time - CNN.com: ""
