New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Article Saints fans can't get enough of Super Bowl win

NEW ORLEANS – Every so often, Nicole Jones will sit down in front of her TV, click on her DVR’s saved shows menu and rotate down to Jan. 24.

“I get teary eyed every time I watch it,” said Jones, a Gentilly resident. “It's crazy.”

What she’s watching, of course, is New Orleans’ 31-28 NFC championship game win over Minnesota that sent the Saints to their first-ever Super Bowl.

Indeed, Jones isn’t alone in still celebrating and reliving New Orleans’ emotional 2009 season, including the 31-17 Super Bowl XLIV win over Indianapolis.

A day after that Feb. 7 victory is one thing.

Two and a half weeks later, well, that’s a whole different level of ecstasy.

“I DVR'd all the games and saved the nail-biting ones, plus all of the playoff games,” Jones said. “So, I'll keep reliving the season as long as I have them. I'm going to ride this high all the way 'til August.”

Jones is hardly the only one doing anything like this.

Eighteen days after the biggest victory in New Orleans’ history, Saints fever still abounds.

You see it in the Super Bowl XLIV flags hanging from balconies and galleries Uptown and in the Garden District, as well as in Riverbend, the French Quarter, Gentilly and Mid-city.

You see it on car windows still painted with Saints sayings.

And you hear it when cars pass by – “Sometimes, I’ll have friends or family over and we’ll be standing outside in front of my house and then the honking ensues,” Jeff Saint-Saens said.

Dr. Amy Dickson, a clinical psychologist at the LSU Health Sciences Center, said the length of this enjoyment is likely longer than normal.

“For us, this is an unprecedented event,” Dickson said. “It meant so much for us psychologically. It was a monumental achievement. People are still wearing Saints jewelry and shirts and hats and scarves. And now they’re wearing their championship shirt.

“The euphoria, while maybe not to the extreme degree when we first won, but that high is still there.”

Kevin Beasley, who lives in south Louisiana, now has a closet full of new clothing thanks to the Saints Super Bowl run.

He said because of the ever-changing weather this winter, he now has a bevy of short-sleeve and long-sleeve shirts, all Saints related.

But that’s not the only way he relives New Orleans first title in 43 years as a franchise.

“To stay fresh, nightly I watch bits of the Super Bowl games permanently saved on my TiVo,” Beasely said. “I’ll watch the post game and kickoff segments, too.”

Lest you think all this celebrating can be a negative, Dickson said it’s too soon to tell.

Nevertheless, while she said there is a possibility that people can hold onto this for too long, she hasn’t seen any of that in her clinic.

“I think people are still feeling very good about it, very positive about the city,” Dickson said. “Very unified as a whole in having achieved this as a city and all the positive things that go along with it.”

Don’t expect that to change, either. Dickson said one of the uniquely New Orleans things that kept the ball rolling was Mardi Gras, which gave krewes an opportunity to have players and coaches lead their parades.

“We’ve had a lot of things gone on that have capitalized on this wonderful feeling and kept it going,” Dickson said. “Who knows what’s going to happen.”

And there could be hidden gold for the New Orleans community.

While the good feelings abound, charities could benefit, Dickson said.

“A lot of Saints players have foundations and charities and maybe there’ll be a lot of high-profile work going on in this city where they can get to participate in these charities alongside Saints players,” Dickson said.

Meanwhile, Tony Robinson continues getting occasional text message from friends saying simply, “We did it,” and “XLIV.”

Robinson hasn’t missed a game since 1981, either watching on TV, listening on the radio or watching in person.

“The euphoria is gone, but it’s a gooey center of warm goodness that surrounds you until the next season starts,” he said. “Every so often I have to remind myself the Saints won the Super Bowl. It’s surreal.

“I’m so proud of what they did and I feel as though they truly did it for all of us.”

That’s something Dickson said isn’t unique to New Orleans, but to all of Louisiana and much of the Gulf Coast.

And if you don’t believe that the Super Bowl win means more to New Orleans than other championship cities, just listen to Robinson.

“I couldn’t love a team more,” he said. “(Tracy) Porter can marry either of my daughters when they are of age. (Sean) Payton is another father to me. And (Drew) Brees is the Super Bowl MVP brother I never had.”