I didn’t think I would. Hell, I didn’t think I COULD. After all, I am from Houma. We were spared by Katrina and Rita. We were a safe haven for the many displaced by Hurricane Katrina. I sat in the Houma Civic Center listening to the people there who went through much more than I did.
Yes, I was there for every game in Louisiana in 2005. I was in New Orleans for the preseason game vs the Ravens just days before the storm. I was in Baton Rouge when the Ha(z)pless Saints got beat every single time. But, I was also there in 2006 for quite a few games, thanks to SaintATN, of course. I got to watch the Saints live in their revival.
But then I abandoned the Saints in 2007, hoping to better my life. I moved to Korea. I made my life better through sheer will. Honestly, speaking through sports, Korea has been REALLY GOOD TO ME. In the 2007 football season, LSU won the national championship. In the 2009 baseball season, LSU did the same. Now, the be all of all, the ultimate final factor in my sports universe, the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!!
I watched the game at a local bar. I was the only “local” there, despite the bar being basically split 50-50. Throughout the game, I hooped and hollered and cursed. I can also honestly say that the whole game I yelled when the Saints were on defense, “Peyton, throw it to Tracy Porter.” When Peyton did, everyone looked at me. The Saints went up 14 then and the game was virtually sealed, except that the ball was back in Peyton’s hands.
But then the 4th down play at the goal line happened, and the Saints repossessed the ball. Drew went into victory formation and the reality was starting to hit me, my hands clasped behind my head. The clock hit zero and I was still, the guy who yelled his voice out throughout the game. I was not moving, couldn’t even breathe.
I heard someone behind me–I’m assuming the bar owner Aaron LaForest–say, “Someone needs to hug [Lee].” Someone grabbed me from behind, and then the tears started flowing freely. Ne (Korean for “yes”), I started weeping uncontrollably. People hugged me and high-fived me and bought me shots. But I could see in everyone’s eyes that they could never experience a Super Bowl win as I did. Here I am on the other side of the world, and though I am happy here, the first thing I could think of was that I missed home so much and missed that I couldn’t be there with the people I loved back home and hated that I left because of Hurricane Katrina in the first place.
I wept. No, not Biblically speaking, but as a true Who Dat. I will weep for days to come every time someone brings up the Super Bowl. This was my end. For the rest of my life I don’t need sports because the Saints have finally done it. If anyone ever asks me in my life if sports really matter, I will say, “They matter more than the oxygen in the air because sports give the down and out hope.” The Saints actually exceeded that today. They gave everlasting life.
Koreafied 
beautiful words Lee! Who dat!
Thanks, Addie!
Oh yeah. I think a lot of people who’ve watched the Saints over the years had to simply sit in shock. I couldn’t get it through my head for several hours, and as I’m about to go to sleep, I almost can’t now – I keep expecting to wake up and it’s the Colts that won. We gave it up. Our kicker missed. We fumbled it in the 4th.
But that was the Saints I grew up with, and seemingly there’s a new team in town. I always loved ’em, but you can see it in the players and the coaches. Things changed when Payton came to town. And props to Gregg Williams, man. We wouldn’t be anywhere without his ball-stealing, smash-mouth philosophy.
I’m not sure if people from other NFL cities can quite understand how much the Saints mean to the people of Louisiana or even the Gulf Coast. Perhaps the only people who can are Cubs’ fans. Or BoSox fans. But no other NFL team. I knew it was special after New Orleaneans sat outside in the cold rain and waited for the Saints to fly home after their divisional loss to the Bears in ’06 … simply to thank the players. There was a lot of talk on ESPN tonight of commentators about the connection the team has with the City and vice-versa, almost to the point that I got tired of it.
It’s almost like when someone tries to tell you that they understand what you’re going through, but inside, you know that it’s not that simple.
This season, as reported earlier by the Times Picayune, will literally make people wake up tomorrow with hope and passion. It’ll put the fights and anger that are in everyone’s usual routines on hold. It will create a window of understanding and unabashed joy in the eyes of kids and kids-at-heart.
Sports don’t get any better. Haters be damned. No matter if you’re in Korea or, like myself, in the snow of Virginia, it’s all New Orleans tonight.
Who Dat!
Shawn, I saw in the eyes of the other people in the place that they didn’t quite get it. But that’s OK. It was special to me in that moment, as I’m sure it was to all the others who have been lifelong Saints diehards.
WHO DAT!!!!
This is great Lee. It’s amazing how this whole season has become the number one topic of conversation in Louisiana. You could be confronted with a complete stranger, but as long as that person was from Louisiana, you had an instant connection through the Saints.
For those who know me well, the Saints could always be a topic of conversation for me since 1985 (the first season I fully remember). I have been a fanatic for years, even serving as a moderator of a Saints site for a decade now. I live and breathe Saints football year round. Up next: free agency and draft analysis. WHO DAT!
All I’ve been able to say is “OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG”.
Debbie, it was fun watching one of the preseason games at your house in August. Too bad I couldn’t be around all the crazy-ass Babins for the big game!
After the win and i finally stopped screaming the first sentence was ” lee will be so happy i wonder if he is watching right now “. so that said dear cousin you was on my mind during that awsome win.
I am happy to hear that, Dayla. At the time the game was ending, when Brees was kneeling on the ball to clinch the victory, I truly experienced my first and only homesickness since I’ve been in Korea. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be with people in Louisiana.