| A Who Dat fan says, "Who Dat?" |
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Salute all!
As Chief Dan George said, "my heart soars like an eagle".
To those of you new here, I am a bonafide coon ass and grew up in New Orleans before "going forth".
I was a clueless yute in 1967 when the Saint team started playing. Was on my way to Viet Nam that fall, and training up at England AFB.
Dad got me tickets to a Saints game and my wife and I rode the bus, then walked a few blocks to old Tulane Stadium. It was the first game the Saints won - either Eagles or Steelers ( too lazy to check it now). Was Eagles.
A few weeks later we went to the infamous "boo bird" game when we played Dallas or Wshington and stopped the game for 25 - 30 minutes when booing at the refs. They kept calling penalties on the crowd and the crowd booed even louder. heh heh.
I flew my tour and came back to England AFB. Got tickets for Archie Mannings first game and was about 75 feet from the goal line when he scored on a run in the last seconds, winning the game.
So I was there for some historic Saints games. But I wish I would have been there last night.
Hustling back from sinking a few boats, I was having trouble landing at F12. Saints got a pick in closing seconds and I was able to settle down and land O.K. Then watched the overtime and then sniffled a bit when the ex-aint's got their chance to go to the big game. Told Whawk to give me heading for next mission and I would take off late and catch him and other Nomads still flying.
You folks cannot realize the impact of that football team on that city. Their success rubs off on the fans and the whole community. When they win, spirits are high and folks are generally happy and do more for the city. For twenty years they never had a winning season. They had their ass handed to them first two times they made it to the playoffs. After forty years they finally made it to the NFC championship game and , you guessed it, had their ass handed to them.
That NFC title game was at the end of the first season after "the storm". 2005 season was played all over the place, and we even had a "home game" at the Giants' stadium. So the first game back home in 2006 with the dome repaired was a hoot, and we blew out the Falcons in front of a national audience. Folks were happy, and that team went further than any other Saints team.
This video exemplifies the spirit and the feelings of that city for the first real home game in two years. The long version on You Tube has no special effects, but I watched that group of bands perform just before the game and the crowd was in a frenzy, as was I. Rumor has it that the Ferrets were in the Harriers, the Knights in the choppers and the Nomads in the B-2 airdrop birds.
At the very beginning of the video, a street sign is shown - "Humanity". That was about 6 blocks from where I grew up. I think the video producers put that particular street sign up for emotional reasons, and it sure gets to this old fart when he re-plays the video now and then.
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLDqcL0kERg&feature=related[/URL]
So I flew a S3 mission totally blitzed, as I had peaked out just as the frame started, then got worse. heh heh.
I thank all of you for putting up with my antics, and I was damned glad my reflexes and training and practice came thru to help the Nomads on their mission.
Who Dat?
__________________
Gums
***305th BG(H)***
God in your guts, good men at your back, wings that stay on- and Tally Ho!
This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by Gums on 02-02-2010 at 15:59.
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