The New Orleans Saints are 2-0 after last night’s amazing, hard fought victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The year after winning the Super Bowl the Saints are playing a different style of football and winning games, which was something that Head Coach Sean Peyton said would happen.
The atmosphere in Louisiana is still one of revelry and extreme nerves. Last night, even though I watched the game in the comfort of my own home, I could still feel the collective breath of true Saints fans being held as the thought that our beloved team my lose that game. After so many years of mediocrity and after one Super Bowl win, we as Saints’ fans have come to expect nothing but perfection.
There might be few other states in the Union that contain as rabid a pedigree of tackle football fans than Louisiana. We pride ourselves on our football and we cannot stand to lose. If anyone has the time I recommend spending a fall Friday night in a small Louisiana town watching the home team play football. There are few experiences that can rival the passion and emotion that is placed on the shoulders of those young men. (A trip to Texas, Florida, or Pennsylvania/Ohio might be the only true rival to the feelings put forth at a high school game in Louisiana.)
That being said, after years of abysmal football at the professional level coupled with the scorn and ridicule that comes with being perennially awful, Louisianans can be very proud of their NFL team. We can be so proud of our team we can now be overzealous about the whole experience and expect them to be perfect from here on out. That was the feeling I was getting from myself as I was watching the game last night.
Anything less than a win would not have been acceptable. During the game I knew that if the Saints were to lose then we would no longer be undefeated champions and possibly subject to the scarring verbal barbs of so many years past. It was an all too familiar future I was not looking forward to, matter of fact, it was a familiar future I was dreading.
This feeling is going to permeate the entire season for me, and I would suspect countless other true Saints fans this year. It is almost like we are expecting the loss to signify the end of our dominant era, even though it has just begun.
But I believe, in the best interest of our collective sanity, we need to let go of that fear. We need to realize that a loss is inevitable. We need to come to grips with the fact that maybe several losses are inevitable, but that does not mean that the Saints are has-beens or a big bunch of never-weres. It means simply that the Saints play an extremely tough sport to dominate, in a league that lends itself to parity and a level of physical and mental toughness unmatched in most other sporting venues.
I write this knowing that running back Reggie Bush has broken his leg and will probably be out for at least six weeks, maybe the entire year. I know that will be a huge loss for the Saints, but it does not signify the end of the road for them. It might mean they will lose a game or two more than they would have if Bush was strong and healthy. I have full confidence in Sean Peyton and quarterback Drew Brees to provide us with a gameplan and game play that will carry the team as champions for however long Bush may be out.
I also have full confidence that if we face the realization that the Saints might lose a game or a few games this season it will not signify the end of everything they have built. We need to keep in mind that a few losses does not commemorate a return to the jokingly awful football that our beloved Saints had made us suffer through for all those year. All it means is that the bull’s-eye is large, the competition is tough and a return to the Super Bowl is going to be sweeter than iced tea.
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