football - Kampuchea Crossings

This is a post so long overdue, a non-fan put up his own thoughts about watching the Saints in Phnom Penh. Thanks John!

My interest in the Saints was piqued because after 43 years of solid mismanagement and dysfunction, this team is a study in how to lead a disparate group of “rejects” to success.

Drew Brees was cast off from San Diego. Reggie Bush was passed over by Houston. Jonathan Vilma was expendable as a Jet. Pierre Thomas wasn’t considered a draftable NFL prospect. Marques Colston was drafted… in the seventh round. Only so many bad breaks can happen to a group of young men. Right?

I also found that unlike many sports where the sheer simplicity of a game is pure agony to watch for its lack of mental stimulation, American football is like business strategy speeded up. There’s a lot to learn from the sheer amount of coordination and strategy in these games.

Plus I’d never been to a game before, nor was much of a fan, until this year’s trip back home. But friends scored us some great seats at the Superdome, and man was that over the top and a LOT OF FUN!

And then finally I was sold after reading about the civic and charitable work the players and coaches do in the New Orleans area, becoming an integral part of the region’s recovery after Katrina. I even follow Drew Brees’ twitter feed now! (I don’t normally go gaga for athletes but he’s so articulate, smart and civic-minded I can’t help but drool over this guy!)

“I never had followed football but became an instant Saints fanatic because there was no single organization that was holding together the spirit of the people in this community like the Saints,” said Natalie Jayroe, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans.

(For anyone who ever lived in or loves New Orleans, this piece by Wright Thompson in ESPN, Saints the Soul of America’s City, is beautiful and really quite touching.)

And what a moving season it was, for those of you who watch football and saw the Superbowl. No objective stats supported this team’s ability to make it this far, much less take the title. Hardly any pundit or gambler put their money on the Saints. The only things behind their momentum was a lot of desire, an intensely loyal fan base (win or lose New Orleans was going to throw this team a party!), and a singular belief by both the team and its city that this was the year.

It didn’t make any sense, and that is the brilliance of it. So in keeping with a great American tradition, I need to own that game! I wish I could’ve been in New Orleans for all of it, but glad to have a great crowd in Phnom Penh to watch it with!

Celebration of New Orleans Saints win over Indianapolis Colts in — HELL!! IS!! FREEEEEZZZZZZIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!

21840_1331594763980_1054325159_1027477_3671019_n — 3pm and they iz crunk!!

21840_1331598164065_1054325159_1027490_1981410_n — Our entire crew was even decked out in the black and gold!! ;-)

Because I need to preserve this beautiful piece by Wright Thompson, Saints the Soul of America’s City, for later reading, in its entirety:

NEW ORLEANS — The soul of New Orleans is in a trumpet and a low-ceilinged bar. It’s in the free red beans in the back. It’s in the art hanging near the food that has two dogs howling at a New Orleans Saints moon. It’s in the voice of Kermit Ruffins, two hours into his standing Thursday night gig at a packed club hidden in the neighborhood behind the French Quarter, the place weathered and peeling like the side of a workingman’s boat.
He plays a song he wrote, “All I Want for Christmas Is the Saints in the Super Bowl,” and the crowd dances and sings all the words. When he takes a break, he calls me in closer. There’s something he wants to show me. He undoes his thin black tie, and the top two buttons, then pulls both his collared shirt and T-shirt down just enough so I can see. I notice the top point first, and slowly, the entire tattoo comes into view, a month old, enormous, covering his entire chest. I start laughing, and so does he. A symbol of the city adorned with a symbol of the city. Kermit Ruffins has gotten an enormous fleur-de-lis, the Saints’ helmet logo, tattooed on his chest.
“Only in New Orleans,” he says, winking. “I’m killing ’em when I take off my shirt at the beach. Especially at the Super Bowl.”
Hello, madness
These are strange and beautiful days in New Orleans, and they must be seen to be believed. I’ve visited the city dozens of times since I was a boy, lived and worked there for a spell and last week, when I went down to experience the mania over the Saints’ undefeated season firsthand, I found myself not sure whether every street was a dream. Some moments made me laugh, and others were so full of a desperate love that I had tears in my eyes. [Read more…] about Saints the Soul of America’s City by Wright Thompson