"this is about more than the Superbowl... the whole community is seemingly united... everybody you see is 'who dattin' and smilin' and just beaming with joy... the boys of black and gold have brought us so much more than a victory..."
That was my Facebook status on January 25, 2010...nearly a year ago and two weeks before the New Orleans Saints made Super Bowl history.
During that time, you could start up a conversation with just about anybody. No one cared how long the line at Wal-Mart was... if the customer before or after you displayed a little black & gold... there was something to talk about. Ladies exchanged game night menus... fellows "fist-bumped"... and you even found yourself feeling really, really sympathetic for your cashier if they mentioned that they had to work on Super Bowl Sunday.
The excitement spilled over to every part of our lives. Schools and businesses had "Black & Gold" days and so did a lot of our local churches. "I believe!" and "who-dat!" became a part of our everyday conversations... with friend or foe. And fleur-de-leis were displayed on anything and everything from coffee cups to yard-flags. Any lost visitor passing through could make no mistake that he had wandered onto the stomping grounds of the Who-Dat Nation.
And then... they won.The boys of black and gold shut the mouths of the biased sports media... and simply... won.
There was excitement and tears (Brees and his little boy... my goodness... what a moment that was!) The night was done and I personally felt exhausted from all of the anticipation of the previous week. What next?
The Saints' Victory Parade details were finally announced... and I knew I had to be there. I wanted my boys to see history. They had seen it once before when Katrina blew off the tops of homes, lives and dreams... but now they were going to see something positive... something that they could tell their own kids about one day. To them, it was just a really big parade and a fun time with their friends... but one day they'll fully understand that it was much more than that... it was victory coming full circle to individuals and communities who continued to believe.
For actual pictures of the parade, you can follow this link-->HERE! We happened to be hunkered down nearby one of our local news channels (ABC--WGNO 26). So these pictures are basically from our view. In fact, the picture of the boys above was taken by one of their reporters. Cool, huh?
