Student from KU Symposium reflects on Hurricane Katrina and the re-opening of the Superdome
Monday, October 9, 2006
(The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation)In fall, there are only three days of the week
that matter in Louisiana. From Friday high
school games to LSU Saturday games, it is hard
to believe that this southern state can
possibly fathom more football come the end of
the week. The attitude there is quite the
opposite though. In fact, if possible,
Louisiana would have a football game every day
of the week during fall, if not the rest of the
year. Fans here live, breathe and eat the
gridiron whether it is the football season or
not. It can be seen everyday in a simple
t-shirt or even a bumper sticker; football
rules all in Louisiana. Sunday means that the
Saints are playing; it means that locals get to
watch an array of hopeful heroes that have
their city’s support in rain or shine. It’s
not too often that the Saints get anything more
than a Sunday afternoon game mixed in with six
other games going on at the same time, let
alone a win when it is all said and done.
However, things have been slowly but surely
changing around the Big Easy. The New Orleans
Saints have struggled for success game after
game, season after season, since their birth in
1966. Still, the fans keep coming back. Sure,
at times they might boo or wear paper bags over
their heads, but the fact remains that they are
there. On September 25, 2006, the Saints were
given another opportunity at prime time
coverage, hopefully to mount a change from the
previous year’s Monday night game where the
heroes were embarrassed by the New York Giants
in the short aftermath of Katrina. For an
entire state, let alone region, trying to
recover from a hurricane that hit about a month
ago, the Monday night game last year was a
disaster. Now, a little over a year later there
is a new city with new structures, new people,
and most importantly to some, a fresh football
team. Something is in the air in New Orleans.
The Saints are starting to win thanks to a new
coach and key players, but, as the locals know,
it is more than that. People are starting to
smile because their faith is getting stronger
and stronger, week by week. The Saints’ first
true test of the 2006 season was the nationally
televised Monday night football game versus the
Atlanta Falcons. The game was given a
considerable amount of attention, as every
sports expert in the world knew that this was
going to be more than just a football game. I
say world because even an Al-Jazeera television
crew was there to film the game coverage.
Monday was a premature Mardi Gras in New
Orleans. Many took off work and relaxed, drank
and discussed possible outcomes for the game.
The New Orleans Saints came into the Superdome
as underdogs to the undefeated Atlanta Falcons,
also a divisional rival. On paper, the Falcons
were clearly the better team. But this equation
written on paper lacked a formula for success
-- emotion. From the moment the players walked
onto the field, it was difficult to hear the
person sitting next to you. As the Superdome
boiled with screaming support, it did not seem
as though anything or anyone on this night was
going to be able to beat the hometown heroes.
It wasn’t 11 on 11 like a standard football
game; it was the City of New Orleans playing
against an 11 man team from Atlanta. There was
no way that the hated rivals were going to find
a formula for victory. For four hours inside
that Dome, memories and thoughts of Katrina
vanished. In a still somewhat segregated town,
blacks and whites were cheering together,
giving high fives and some even hugging each
other. Never in my life have I experienced a
feeling like that on Monday, September 25.
Never have I felt so comfortable and proud to
be a New Orleanian, and even more a
Louisianian. The fans, the organization, the
NFL and the country could not have asked for a
better show. In New Orleans, the Saints are a
constant reminder of what was before the
Hurricane, what still is and what will continue
to represent the city for years to come. Win or
lose, the locals have and will always stand
behind their Saints. It could not have come at
a better time for these people to let the rest
of the country know through their football
team’s win that the Big Easy was back and
even better than before. It is remarkable to
think of what just one single football game can
mean to a people and even better, what it can
express to a nation.
Dane
Halpern