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Saints fever is spreading across South Mississippi
By MARY PEREZ - meperez@sunherald.com

GULFPORT — Temperatures are rising ahead of this weekend’s big game and fans are fueling Saints fever by hitting the stores for more jerseys and memorabilia.
It’s a bit of a dilemma for South Mississippi football fans. The New Orleans Saints are the Coast team and local retailers say Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ jerseys are outselling the others, including hometown favorite Brett Favre, by about 3 to 1.
But Giants quarterback Eli Manning is an Ole Miss graduate with Mississippi roots, which is why his jersey can also be found with a little searching.The white, gold and black Brees shirt and the blue and white Manning jersey hang side by side at the Reebok Outlet at Prime Outlets in Gulfport, almost like the duel that is shaping up between the undefeated teams on Sunday.
A buy one, get one half off sale at Reebok had New Orleans residents Rafael and Allison Lopez, who have season tickets to see the game, buying Saints memorabilia in Mississippi.
“We’re shopping for Christmas,” Allison said. The Giants fans will start arriving in the Crescent City on Wednesday but New York doesn’t have a chance, she said. In New Orleans it’s clear, “We’re going to the Super Bowl as far as everyone’s concerned.”
Reebok manager Kristie Hunt said it definitely helps sales when the Saints are winning. Reebok is the supplier for the jerseys the teams wear on the field and the store has the same official NFL jerseys, plus T-shirts, at least seven styles of hats and even Saints logo shoes. More cases of merchandise are being shipped to the store this week, Hunt said, and fans who don’t find enough of the Giants and other NFL teams’ merchandise can order them at the same in-store price.
Sales of Reggie Bush jerseys have tapered off and Jeremy Shockey shirts haven’t made it to the stores yet, retailers say. They expect business to pick up substantially heading into the weekend.
“It happens all the time,” said Darius Jackson, manager of Champs Sports at the Edgewater Mall. “It’s Drew Brees, hands down,” he said, and if he runs out of one style shirt, “They’ll buy whatever I have.”
The new Dick’s Sporting Goods at The Promenade in D’Iberville stocks only Saints merchandise — no Giants.
The same goes for Academy Sports on U.S. 49 in Gulfport. “We only carry the local teams, said Linda Nix of Wiggins, apparel sales associate. Some customers are happy paying more than $60 for the licensed jerseys. Others support the Saints with T-shirts for around $12, she said, and add Saints lawn chairs, beer huggies, car flags and even Saints ear warmers to their shopping carts.
Joe Rivers of Gautier was shopping Academy Sports in his Saints T-shirt and hat. He has all kinds of Saints memorabilia, including a decal on his car, but stops short of the car flags.
The Giants are his second favorite team, thanks to Manning, and he predicts the Giants are going to emerge as the better team on Sunday.
Josh Bellais of Biloxi doesn’t believe it.
“Walk in my house and it’s nothing but Saints stuff everywhere,” he said, and he lifted his pant leg to show his dedication to the team — a Saints logo tattooed on his calf.
He was looking for still more Saints items at Gulf Coast Cards at Edgewater Mall. Normally Monday is a big day for Saints sales but coming off a bye week the momentum is gradually building, said sales associate Shan Mahmood.
They sell so many Brees’ shirts,
“We just can’t get them in fast enough,” he said. “Pretty much everything Saints we’ve got,” including coffee mugs, license plate holders, Saints Fossil watches, belts, wallets, Christmas ornaments, golf club covers, sunglasses and salt and pepper shakers.
There’s even some Giants memorabilia, “Mainly because of Eli,” he said.
The higher ticket items are photos of Manning in his Ole Miss and Giants uniforms and a helmet and football signed by Eli, Peyton and Archie, Manning.
But even though Giants merchandise can be found on the Coast, the retailers said this week belongs to the Saints fans.

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