Well, after a few months of lock-out, the players are back and therefore it is at last football time again!
NFL has not been something I cared much when I first came to US. It took a while for me to get all the rules and even than, I was not ready to sit in front of the TV for 3 hours for 30 minutes of action. Especially because I didn't really have any teams to care for.
Than, something horrible happened to my wife's hometown in the August of 2005.
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and it hit it hard. New Orleans was devastated and Superdome was badly damaged, and New Orleans Saints had to relocate and they were not able to play any of their game in their home stadium. Saints had a horrible season in 2005 and finished the regular season with a 3-13 record.
As almost all the horrifying things that try human beings' will to survive and prevail, this negative brought a huge positive... That was only possible because of extraordinary people...
In 2006, Saints hired Sean Peyton as their head coach and got San Diego Chargers' quarterback Drew Brees. With the exceptional leadership skills shown by these two men, Saints made it to the playoffs that year. Here they are...
After that season, I had a team that I cared for in NFL, and that changed everything about the way I look at this game. I didn't care they have never won the Super Bowl in their 40+ years of NFL history. It was a team that I was able to identify with, and to root for. And that 2006 season was one hell of a year for the Saints, although they came a game short of playing the final.
Of course, as all the football fans know, 2009 was the year when The Saints beat The Colts and reached to their first Super Bowl victory.
So "our" Saints were in California for a preseason game this week and we went to see them practice and introduce them to Vivienne.
Saints owner Tom Benson saluting the fans. Although there were a lot of controversies around a potential permanent relocation of the team to San Antonio following Katrina, Saints' fans are grateful for Benson keeping the team in New Orleans.
Saints in action.
Click on the picture to see the larger picture
Vivienne is so grateful to her uncle Joe who took the initiative to get all the signatures for her first Saints cap: Pierre Thomas, Marques Colston, Chris Ivory, Malcolm Jenkins, Jimmy Graham, the very awesome and always smiling rookie Joseph Morgan, Drew Brees and many more...
Here is Vivienne's hat after all the autographs.
I will leave you with VivoşMinnoş, wearing her hat proudly!
awesome!!!! who dat! :D
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