Perseverance

Over the past couple of weeks, we heard the word "redemption" openly applied to the New Orleans Saints franchise. If the Saints were to win the Super Bowl, redemption would be delivered to a team that endured days in which their own fans dubbed then the Aints.

Paper bags over the faces. Finding a way to not let the world know they attended a Saints game. Those days...gone.

But as some call it a tale of redemption, I, for one, do not. I call it more of a saga of perseverance. Not only does this apply to the Saints, but the city of New Orleans, also.

Really. Think about it. A city, actually, an entire region, ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The New Orleans Hornets had a chance to leave. They played two seasons in Oklahoma City. The crowds were favorable to the displaced team. But the NBA and the Hornets were determined to return to New Orleans.

The Saints were in the same place. Their home, the Superdome, was used as a shelter and sustained heavy damage from the catastrophic event.

They played part of the 2005 season shuttling between San Antonio and Baton Rouge. Almost like vagabonds. Saints owner Tom Benson was presented an opportunity to relocate his team to San Antonio. The thought did cross his mind. What if the city of New Orleans could not recover and rebuild? This drew the ire of the New Orleans faithful and civic leaders. After all, the city was faithful to the Saints and the Benson family.

The Saints decided to begin the process of returning to New Orleans. The players saw this as a greater "calling" as Drew Brees put it. The Saints were going to be the driving force for the city of New Orleans to embark on that arduous journey of reconstructing a proud city.

The stories of why and how Drew Brees and Sean Payton landed in New Orleans are almost a dime a dozen. We must have heard such stories a hundred times in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. But the main topic of such stories need to be maintained in the front of our minds.

On a Monday night in 2006, a soldout Superdome grasped hands and told the nation of their perseverance. Hard to believe the message a punt block delivers. We saw only the beginning.

Forward to this season. In a nutshell, the Saints started 13-0 and looked invincible. A loss against the Cowboys ended the dreams of a perfect season and started a three game losing streak to end the season. Whispers of the demise of the Saints began to emerge. Despite having the #1 seed in the NFC, not many gave New Orleans a shot to get past their first round game.

A drubbing of the Arizona Cardinals and surviving Brett Favre and the offensive onslaught of the Minnesota Vikings started moving talk in the other direction. Next up, hometown legend Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl.

After the end of the first quarter, the Colts led 10-0. For the last three quarters, the Saints outscored Indy 31-7 to capture its first ever title by a 31-17 final score.

Katrina. Three straight end of season losses. Cards. Vikings. Colts.

This story of perseverance commenced with a catastrophe of epic proportions.

Who dat?

Not a hurricane. Not the Colts.