Being a Saints Fan
 

If your over 25 and a New Orleans Saints fan you fall into one of two main categories in my opinion. You were born that way and know what it is like to be a fanatic of a team that brings nothing but heartache, but stuck through until the glory days; or you are someone who was a fan of another team through their glory days and became a New Orleans Saints fan when the team started having their... (no judgement, it is what it is) and there is still a % of people who do not fall into either category for what ever their reasons are... Those are however the two main.

Regardless of win or loss we should all endeavor to support our team, and try to keep in mind the true competitive nature of the NFL Football player. I do not doubt at all that there is no collective group of people or individuals that wants to win more on game day than our Saints.

It would benefit the Saints nation if we all step back and try to not become "New Yorkerish" and throw a parade after every victory yet put the team in the stockade after a loss. These players did not suit up and take the field with the intent to lose, get intercepted, burnt, manhandled, or fumble the ball. As painful to a fan as all of that is to watch, that was not the players intent. They are human just like we are, EVERYONE has a bad day at work periodically.

As a Saints fanatic if I were written about in the annuals of fandom I would want to be known as a fan that always supported my team through victory and defeat.... We should lose with class, and win with modesty.

Benson trying to move the team aside.... That team has stuck by its fans (all of us) and city through thick and thin. Lets remember that before we start hating for a bad play, week, season.

Even Shanle. I love to beat up on him when I can, but I would still buy that slow non tackling motherfkr a beer if I ever ran into him.

Re: Being a Saints Fan
 

I can accept losing if we play solid. Sunday we were outcoached and the players didn't stick to fundementals. They showed heart and fought back so I applaud them for that, but they need to maintain discipline. They do that and we lose...so be it.

Re: Being a Saints Fan
 

I moved to New Orleans and became a fan in '77. I have loved them every since.

Re: Being a Saints Fan
 

Then you were born a member of the "Who Dat" and just had yet to realize it :-)

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I grew up in Baton Rouge in the early 80's where you were lucky to even find a true Saints fan. There were some, but they were few and far between which was odd considering LSU was average at best during that time but they bleed purple and gold no matter what.

There were a couple of decent seasons but nothing special. Even when they made the playoffs the losses were completely devasting because they would just unravel when it looked like it was going to happen. It was beyond heartbreaking.

Now when they lose it's not nearly as bad because often, they are still in the game! Right until the end they still have a shot. Unless you know what it's like for it to be the 3rd quarter with no hope for countless seasons you can't understand the beauty of just having a shot to take victory from the jaws of defeat in the waining seconds which they have done numerous times since Brees. The losses still hurt but you can say, you know what, a play or two and we had it. I guess my point is the era of feeling sheer embarrassment Monday after Monday has not been present for quite some time. I never want to go back to that feeling. Those were some very dark days.

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The era of Black has passed us brother... We now live in the era of Gold!

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I was pretty much born this way in 1970... My father was a die hard Saints fan and if the house caught fire on Sunday at 1pm it just a soon burn down around him.

I love winning, and losing is an unhappy place for me... However I watch them because I love to watch them play. For me it is sort of like watching a child play sports... Win or lose.. that's my team out there.

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Whilst i Live in the UK and haven't been to the states yet, I still consider myself a saints fan til death

My first post on this site was met with replys welcoming me to the nation and saying quote "I have contracted the black and gold bug"

I felt a tremendous amount of family on this site, every member I am proud to say I would buy beers for when i come to New Orleans (I haven't got that much money though lol)

I played soccer since birth but got bored with it, when I started playing what we English call "American football" I felt this to be the perfect sport for me, and in 2007 I watched my first saints game and was immediately hooked to the team (even though we weren't that good lol)
Now I haven't missed a game since 2007, ive watched a saints game that finished at 5am and gone to work an hour later, when people ask why don't you just record it and watch it when your home, my reply is;
Man, you just don't understand...

Whilst I can't say I've been a saints fan since the real bad days because I'm only 21, id still like to say this team is now a part of me forever and will support our team until the very end

No matter how the teams doing I'll still be sat by my TV, cheering from across the pond and very soon will be getting my very own ticket to the game

Bleeding black and gold forever

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I will not tolerate being castigated for having standards.

We had them when the Saints sucked. We had them when the Saints were bad. We had them when the Saints were "euhnn."

Now that the team has had success - knows how to be a winner - I will jump on any sorry-ass player who does not uphold his commitment to playing up to his potential. That includes using his brain.

ok, rant over. Go Saints Go!

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I watch it live and record it for later consumption.... Too much emotion in the live game for me to analyze who did what that doesn't have the ball in hand. :-)

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Not meant as an excuse, but the entire Saints organization is going through a history making season, and not in a good way.

Kommisar Goodell knew that suspending Payton for a season would do the most damage, (if he could have linked Brees to any of the bounty crap he would have suspended him as well!)

The Saints players also had to deal with the Brees contract negotiations, and accordingly haven't been able to fine tune the offense and defense.

We are also installing a new defensive concept, and that takes some time to come together.

Don't forget the injuries that occur during OTAs, TC and the pre-season.

Every team is having to deal with the scab referees, but the Saints rarely seem to get any calls with the regular refs, but we are already getting shafted with some bad calls.

I am willing to cut them a little slack if their heads aren't 100% in the game.

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Enjoyed your post very much, X267-65-toss-power-trap-867-5309. I joined
the WhoDat Wagon, when it was pretty much empty, in '82. I got a job in
LA, and the Saints looked so much like my old Oilers, especially the Curse part. I was in love. Then, I went to a game, and met the Saints fans, and I was in my new home.

I worked in the S'Port area, and thought I was the only Saints fan in Louisiana.

While everyone else was sitting comfortable, watching Cowboys- broadcast in living color from Shreveport TV, I was frantically scrambling to turn my antenna with a vise-grip to find a station that would show a fuzzy, snowy picture that faded in & faded out the Saints game. Then, I would strain to hear WWL fade in and fade out.

Its uncanny how the clear spots always came with bad news....CLTHRRRRRRR! hokie gets the carry and scram....CLTHHDRILLLLLL!!!!! montana scrambles, tosses up the ball and ...BLXXXXXDITTTHHHHHCHLLL! ....AND HERBERT HARRIS DROPS THE BALL, AND THE SAINTS WILL NOT HAVE A WINNING SEASON THIS YEAR.

But the Saints were my team, and I loved New Orleans & all of Louisiana, and I wasnt going anywhere. When we finally did win something, it was so weird, I kept checking the skies for cracks.

I've worn my Saints gear surrounded by Cowboys fans. I've worn my Saints gear in Candlestick Park, and The Big Sombrero in Tampa. I've had Texans fans in Reliant Stadium tell me to "Go Home!" (I was born in Houston.)

If the Saints had moved to San Antonio, which is closer for me, I would have
quit football.

I picked my house because of its French Quarter Balcony, and because the river & marsh behind it looks like Louisiana. I have no idea how many fleur de lis decorations we have in the house.

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Born in '93, my dad has been a fan since they were made (and repeatedly tells me stories and how much he hates the Cowboys). Haven't missed a game since I was 5, and spent a lot of time in high school (well mostly Junior High) being told the Saints suck. When the Saints won the Super Bowl, I reveled in their success and rubbed it in everyone's faces (mostly my football team that! haha).

I now go to ULM (poor Arkansas...), had to get out of football due to my demanding degree but it's so weird seeing Saints' supporters everywhere.

One guy I will never forget is a legally blind guy I tutored. His name was Eric. I don't think he could truly watch the games but he was always decked out with at least a hat and a saints pencil. After I'd help him we'd talk about the Saints and waste a lot of time.

My favorite moment, has to be the "the play" against the Jags. It was a bunch of "YES...NO...YES!...NO NO NO! YES YES NO YESSSSSSSS!"

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:bugeyes: damn! I'm getting old

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lol I graduated in 95.

Been a saints fan since the mid 80s. When the saints win its a little piece of vengeance from my childhood.

There are no other teams. Only the Saints. I miss those days and put my heart and soul into this team.

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3rd generation fan, its all I've known so when the time comes I'll pass it down to my child. That's the family tradition ..... cheering for the Saints.

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I sure have enjoyed reading all these posts. As for me, I think I was a fan from their beginning in '67, but I was 6 so I'm not real sure. I do know for sure I was by '71 because thats when they drafted Archie. Archie was the closest thing to a god the state of Mississippi had ever seen. The whole state was nuts over Archie. And growing up in Jackson, with my big brother going to Ole Miss, well, nuff said.......................................

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24. Grew up worshiping the Saints all my life. Parents are from WV and NJ. Both grew up in Louisiana and met. They coached me from a baby to be a Saints fan win or lose. We even watched the Saints games while living in Venezuela for three and a half years. Weekend trips to the most beautiful white sandy beaches were put off because the Saints were on while living in Venezuela.

I think being a Saints fan is truly something special that MOST Saints fans show. I can't count how many times I hear stories from other Saints fans about growing up being a Saint's fan. It is awesome living in Texas only because seeing the look on Texans/Cowgirl faces is priceless when they try and talk sh!t!

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Myself, my Dad wanted me to go to LSU (why exactly, still not clear to me, but... maybe he just wanted me out of the country) and the year I applied, there wasn't enough room for me, and was suggested I look to Loyola/Tulane to do a semester, then transfer. Opted for Loyola, and one weekend into my stay in New Orleans before classes started, I told my Dad "heck, no, not gonna go to Baton whatever, nah ah... "

Frankly, I didn't even know the Saints existed before I got to New Orleans. I was a .... uh.. Cowboys fan (bob and weave, bob and weave...) blame Effren Herrera for that.. anyway, I was offered a ticket to see a Saints-Whiners game, which the Saints lost like 30-something to 10-something, but the Dome was such a blast, with people dancing, and drinking, total strangers giving me beers, and I don't know if it was a combination of the oddly-colored seats and my blood alcohol level, but it seemed to be the whole place was a huge party... fell in love with the franchise that day, a love affair that's seen 4 decades now.

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Born in 1969 in New Orleans, grew up in Chalmette. Was born a Saints fan, I guess. It was around the 76 season that I started to understand football, and was hooked on the Saints. I remember giving analysis of the Saints at a young age, to anyone who would listen, and people used to compliment me on being dead on... lol. Of course, despite the torture of losing all the time back in the day, I was able for the most part to keep a positive spin on it. My favorite Saints player back in the day was Chuck Muncie. Back in those days there was no television for home games, just the radio, and I was on it big time. I still remember Wayne Mack calling the games on the radio, and by the 4th quarter dude wouldn't make much sense. As I got older I realized that was all the booze... lol

I kinda remember the first time I seen a Saints game live on TV from the Superdome, blackout lifted, freaking miracle at the time, I wanna say it was during the 79 season against the Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football, but seriously, I cannot say for sure. The thing I do remember that I was in awe that I was watching a home Saints game on live TV.

All the torture finally came to and end when the Saints beat the Colts in the Super Bowl. I mean seriously, a grown man crying in joy, that was me!

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Hi everyone! Long time LURKER new poster. After reading this thread, I had to register just to put some of my nostalgia down!

My introduction to the Who Dat Nation was in 1985. My father was station at Keesler AFB, MS back then and I was 14 y/o. My brother in law was from Slidel (sp?) and took me to my first game in Oct that year. The place was crazy and the fans were NUTS...I took to them right away LOL. Wilson and Hebert were the QBs and we lost to the Dirty Birds but I was hooked. Been a Saint's fan ever since.

I read these boards daily...you guys are great and there is a lot of great fans here. WHO DAT!

Re: Being a Saints Fan
 

Welcome to black and gold!

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Close to you 626, born in 71, Saint fan when I found football in my single digits. Dad was not a football fan, car dude, so took all the ridicule myself back then, lol. Even when fans wore the bags, they were "still at the game". Love the underdog and that's were we lived as Saint fans for decades. Adversity is nothing for a Saint fan, we invented the term. Win or lose, never mattered.

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Born and raised in northern Canada in the early70's I fell in love with the Saints during the Manning years mostly out of spite for my mate father who was a 49ers fan. It grew into an obsession in the 80's and has carried on. Got my first Saints tattoo forever etching them to my skin in 1985. I have and will watch every game, tape every game to watch 2-3 more times during the week, live and die by their successes and failures, and spend way too much of my money travelling to see them play and collecting every damn trading card and piece of memorabilia I can lay my hands on. Forever Black and Gold and everyone who knows me thinks of me synonymously with this team. I had more family, friends and acquaintances congradulate me on the Super Bowl win than the when any of my kids were born.

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Thats hilarious, lummox. Im the same way. First thing people tell me on Monday morning is something about the game. If someone finds a Saints plastic stadium cup around here, everyone knows who it belongs to.

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I was born at the old Hotel Deiu Hospital on Tulane ave on July 24th 1975, I watch the Saints since i was 5 years old.

I been through the bad, the ugly, & the down right worst years ever. But i never stop believing. Now i can be at peace, cause we won a Super Bowl.

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lummox, Mike .... you could of swore I was on the payroll with the number of people that have asked me whats wrong with your Saints this week at work?

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For a brief moment in grade school I was a Roger Staubach fan until I went to my first game in the dome in 76. There was nothing like making an airplane out of the popcorn box or page out of the program and seeing if you could reach the field from the terrace! Been a diehard since and always said I would have season tickets when I could afford them. Well that happened in 97 after I moved to Houston so now we drive back and forth to watch our Saints play. And just like most of you, there is at least one fleur-de-lis in every room of the house including the garage which now has Saints duct tape I found at Home Depot in Baton Rouge last week.

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The ONLY sticker that will ever be on one of my vehicles.

Re: Being a Saints Fan
 

Growing up in northeast Alabama in the early-80's, NFL allegiances were a funny, disorganized thing. My whole family was - still is - will always be - Crimson Tide fans, but the closest pro team those days was the Failcons ... and none of us liked them! The Titans (Oilers) hadn't moved to Nashville yet, and the Panthers were light-years in the future.

My dad is a Dolphins fan, my sister is a Steelers fan, and - strangely owing in part to the "Saint Elsewheres" of the 1987 strike season - I latched onto the Saints. Try as they might to shake me - I'm looking at you AB & Haslett!!! - I keep coming back to my team year after year.

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I can remember being 10 years old dad brought me a Ron jaworski jersey home, I couldn't figure out why, until we went to the SB when Oakland played Philly. Mom had a tough time getting me to put it on it wasn't black and gold I wasn't wearin it.

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Wonder how all the oldies know how to use the googles. :D

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We created that sh1t.

You know at one time phones had chords?

Correction: THE phone in the house had a chord.

Re: Being a Saints Fan
 

Yeah, we oldies have one distinct advantage. We can learn tech, if we
feel like it.

But we also know what work is and how to do it.

back on track: Great Thread X-dude. Very educational.
interesting note: A bunch of us on this site know each other in real life.

Re: Being a Saints Fan
 

I was at the first game and I can tell you that rabid fanaticism was already there. People in N.O. didn't have to warm up the team. It was instant! When they introduced Jim Taylor they could probably hear the cheers in Baton Rouge. When Gilliam ran that kick back for a touchdown I thought Tulane stadium was coming down for sure.

Back in those days you could buy a student ticket in the end zone for a buck. I think the only games I ever missed in Tulane Stadium were the Monday night game when we held up the broadcast for half an hour and the game when Dempsey kicked his 63 yarder.

I moved to California the week before the Saints went on their first winning streak and finally made the playoffs. My friends all called me and told me i could never come back. It was hard to watch all the games out there because I had to find a bar that would show the Saints games and they were usually on at 10 am but I saw them all till the Dome Patrol started falling apart. (Luckily I didn't see many of the Ditka Saints games. It was just too painful.) I was out there for 18 years and one of the big factors in my deciding to come home was that I could watch the Saints every week.
:bng:

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Means you can NEVER predict whats going to happen next. You know who Jerry Glanville, Buddy D, Keith Poole, Brett Besh, and Tom Dempsey are. Know what it feels like to be flipped off by a coach, to go 8-0 just to finish 0-8. To piss in a round trough, kicked of of message boards for saying Reggie Bush is not an every down back. Did I miss anything?

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When I was old enough to understand and look forward to watching football with my dad, I made a comment about liking the Cowboys. My dad sat me down and said there would only be Saints fans living in his house so I had a choice saints fan or go live somewhere else on Sunday. I have been a loyal saints fan since 1975 and looking back on it today I'm damn proud to see us come from wearing bags to a SB winner an a formidable opponent to any team.