First and Gold 26th Edition - Attitude

Hello Sports Fans!

I know it's been a while since I've taken the time to give some of my thoughts about our only purpose in life - The New Orleans Saints. I figured it was time again to either tick a bunch of people off or make a few of you happy. Those who know me know that I really don't care either way, but if you want to argue about it, I'm all for it!

Since 1967 we've had our ups and downs but the last 10 years have been up for sure. The teams attitude has been right there the entire time.

When we were losing all of those years in the late 60's and throughout the 70's the team was not aggressive and that includes their attitudes. We did have one of our favorites sons, Dempsey, kick the crap out of a ball with half a foot, half an arm, pot belly and a hangover from hell. Look it will be a long time before anyone beats a 63 yard field goal with the same restrictions Dempsey did. The fans always supported the team.

Does anyone else remember anyone else on the team from the years we had Manning. He was the only bright spot in an otherwise none existent part of our history in the league. Once again the attitude was nothing less than low. Yeah, Manning excited us sometimes but that was little joy for a huge period of heartache. The fans always stayed.

Manning finished his career in New Orleans in 1981 and we still love him today. Bobby Hebert, another favorite son finished the 80's with our first playoff game, in the Superdome and as a 12-3 wildcard team. There was no one in Louisiana that did anything else during that game but watch it! The State of Louisiana stood still but not as much as the Saints and The Vikings killed us 44-10. I for one was just happy that we got the playoff monkey off our back, although I did care that we got beat the hell up in our own house. The teams attitude started to change and as usual the fans were always there.

The early 90's saw the best linebacking corps in NFL history, Jackson, Mills, Johnson and Swilling and once again the attitude was high to begin with but crashed by the end of the decade, again. It started off in blazing fashion with 3 playoff appearances and fizzled at 3-13 in 1999. As always the fans are still there.

Haslett took over as head coach in 2000 and his first year took us to a 10-6 record and a trip to the playoffs. Once again attitude was high, but it only took 5 years to get back to 3-13 again. Haslett is gone in 2005. Attitude was low, low, low. The fans stayed on board.

The Payton era began in 2006 with a 10-6 record and the playoffs. Attitude was as high as it ever was and Payton took us to the Conference Championship game. We lost but it was another first for the Saints getting to the Conference Championship. I remember people comparing Payton to Haslett as he started off 10-6 and took us to the playoffs. BIG MISTAKE!

Payton finished the next year at 7-9 and more comparisons to Haslett emerged. Then 8-8 and even more comparisons came forward but then the miracle season was upon us. We entered the playoffs at 13-3. We were the best and we knew it. Greer intercepts the ball and the miracle season ends on the highest note ever. SAINTS WIN THE SUPERBOWL. I cried that day, for a while I might add. Attitude was the highest ever and wins came more easily now. We stumbled a couple of times over the last few years but always came back and now the fans knew we could but they were always there, bad attitude or not.

The Saints attitude the last couple of years has changed for the worse in my opinion. We need the fire again. We need the unpredictability again. We need the ATTITUDE to be the highest ever because as we've seen in the past it always leads to something better.

The fans will always stay and so should the attitude!