The New Orleans Saints and Andrew Jackson
BY RICK TITTLE
You can now begin to get excited about the Super Bowl, if you so choose. Websites are abuzz with the forthcoming match-up between the Colts and the Saints. Superb Owl dot com is a good one to visit, for example. The story lines are firmly in place. The Manning family versus the Bayou, biting the hand that fed them, etc. I, for one, will be pulling for the Saints, and I’ll bet most people outside of the Hub City will be, as well.
It must stink to be a fan of the Lions and Browns. They’ve never been to the Super Bowl and now have to watch one of their former club members, New Orleans, go to Miami for their first championship encounter. The Saints not only were always bad, they stunk. You can count their career playoff victories on one hand, even today. But they are deserving champs of the NFC, and I hope they win it all.
I have very fond memories of the Crescent City. I went to SBXV and watched my Raiders beat the Eagles, along with watching women flash on Bourbon Street and eating bengeits at Jackson Square. I love Super Bowl 15 more than any other football game. It will never be topped in my book. And the host city was fantastic. They’ve hosted so many bowls but have always been a bridesmaid. How nice that the Saints and their hometown fans get to actually play in the game this time.
They love a party in the Big Easy, and the victory over Minnesota is easily the greatest victory since Andrew Jackson himself led the rabble of the town against the mightiest army on the planet. Lord Packenham, the Duke of Wellington’s brother-in-law, threw his charges against the militia of New Orleans, a collection of army regulars, Cajun trappers, former slaves, and pretty much anyone who could carry a musket. The English were seasoned troops who had fought Napoleon on the Iberian Peninsula. America had little hope. Ironically, the War of 1812 was already over. But this was 1814, and word hadn’t reached these shores yet. Then in a bizarre act of stupidity, Packenham ordered a frontal assault through a swamp, and the Redcoats were butchered. Good!
New Orleans faces another uphill struggle. Peyton Manning is as smart, accurate, and talented a quarterback that there’s even been. The Saints are just happy to be at the party. Can they rise up again and defeat a far-superior foe? I don’t think so. But I’d love to be on Bourbon Street after the Super Bowl if they do.
Rici Tittle can be reached at
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