Since I'm in a really great mood this week, I thought I'd share a story about myself.  It's about me being a New Orleans Saints fan.  I hope you enjoy it.

In 1988 I somehow came to the realization that the Miami Dolphins were no longer my team.  I mean once Marino would be gone there is nothing left of the team I grew up with.  I had decided somehow I wanted a new team. 

I had some reasons for choosing the Saints, I won’t say why.  It’s real personal, but I knew one thing about the Saints, no one could ever say I was picking a front-runner. 

I did like the Fleur-De-Lis logo being a Christian emblem of sorts.  The Fleur-De-Lis symbol is of the lotus lily flower and represents French (latin root) royalty. The Christian aspect comes from various parts.  Legends tell of an angel presenting a Merovingian King named Clovis with a golden Lotus lily as symbol of his purity at the time he converted to Christianity.  Later the Britons used the symbol in on their coats of arms to emphasize their claim on the throne of France.  Some say the three points or three petals represent the divine trinity.  Works for me.  Military have adopted the Fleur De Lis as a symbol of strenght and power due to it's spearhead resemblance.   However you slice it the icon is perfect for the city of New Orleans and makes a lot of sense with it's cultural heritage.

At the time I was still playing a lot of sandlot football.  I was tough and felt the Dolphins were more of a finese team, where I had become more of a grown-up, hard nosed player.  I wanted a team that represented my attitude.  Tougher and smarter.  The Dolphins were too romantic and passionate so to speak.  They were kid's stuff.   I couldn't see myself in orange and teal.  And when Marino retired that was it. The legacy had ended.

So it was 1988 and I loved seeing the Saints defense practically win games.  Defensive players like Sam Mills, Patrick Swilling and Ricky Jackson were eating up the other teams on offense.  But on offense the Saints sucked overall.  Even with with their own Cajun son Bobby Herbert' and Criag "Ironhead" Heyward and even Dalton Hilliard, they just couldn't get an offense that would put the ball in the endzone.  All they had was that damn place kicker Morton Anderson and boy did it piss me off when he left for the Falcons.  Yeah, I was a Saint’s fan for sure.

Over the years I’ve watched them play some good football but they never were consistent. 

Eventually they went with Quarterback Steve Walsh with back up Tommy Kramer and their goto guy was Eric Martin.    Then they got back to a defensive mindset picking up players that looked like they belonged on the set of an X-men feature sitting side by side with the Beast as he tears his spectacals from his face.  Players like William Roaf  and La'Roi Glover come to mind.

Now it's the late 1990's and my Saints are still stinking up the joint.  The best the can offer is Billy Joe Hobert at QB and Jim Everett.  But hey, now they have Mike Ditka as head coach.  I think he's going to really bring some hard nose football to town.   Ditka transitions us from Billy Joe Hobert at QB to Billy Joe Tolliver!  I'm not kidding.  I'm not so hopeful until he nails down Ricky Williams in the first round of the 1999 draft!  And I even liked Jake Delhomme more than both the Billy Joe's. 

Then a few years ago I saw the Saints dabble in greatness only to show the world they just didn’t have the means to get over the top.  They made a coaching change to a guy I really thought had balls.  Jim Haslett.  He went for it on 4th down, ran trick plays and more.  But again when the Saints defense was awesome, the offense wasn’t great.  When the offense became great the defense was no longer strong. 

Case in point, it's year 2001 and now we have Aaron Brooks at QB and Deuce McAllister coming on strong behind Ricky Williams in the running game.   And yes, we get Joe Horn.  But where the hell is our defense?  And when they do step it up, Brooks loses big games. In fact the Saints went on to lose more games at the end of the season costing them divisions and playoff runs.  It was hell.   Of course there was Ricky's ankle problems and he just couldn't run on turf it seemed.  Because when they traded him to Miami he ran like hell.  Oh well.

By 2002 we had Jerome Pathon and Donte Stallworth with Micheal Lewis showing off great punt and kick returns.  But still we couldn't round out a defense or put together an offensive line that was consistent.

Finally this year they are clicking on all cylinders. 

Now I can wear my jersey with a bit more pride.  My son Declan and my son Dalton both have jersey’s too and we don’t look so bad out in public as we would have in the past.  But in the end, no one can call me a front-runner.  I got on board in 1988 and now that they are fielding a team worth cheering for, remember that Lars Hindsley isn’t one of those guys that routes for the team winning the most games this season. 

Saturday they play the Eagles.  They may win or lose, but I’ll still be a Saints fan and I’ll be glad to know they made the playoff and earned a first round bye.  Next year it could be better, but whatever happens now I can root on a competitive team.