I’ve long wondered how I would want to spend the day if the Saints would ever be in the Super Bowl. For most of the seasons that the Saints have been around, that question rarely had relevance past mid-October, but I would wonder anyway.
I used to think that when the big day came, I would want to sit in front of the TV from morning on and watch every bit of the pre-game programming. I would hear the talking heads give their assessments; listen to the features about our town; and hear again the sagas of players, especially those with stories to tell, all leading to some sort of feeding-and-boozing frenzy once the game began. That would be followed by appropriate (depending on the results) boozing once the game was over.
Now, that the question is real, I find myself feeling differently. I already know that the taking heads think that the Colts will win and that they still can’t get over Brett Favre grimacing in pain on the turf of the Superdome. New Orleans, the city, provides a storyline like no other town in the league — some of it tragic, much of it now heartwarming, but I know the Katrina recovery story, and my heart has already been warmed. And if there are stories about Brees being passed over by the Dolphins, Bush not always meeting expectations but sometimes exceeding them, Vilma’s Haitian links and Shockey’s tiff with the Giants, I have heard those, too. What I wasn’t counting on in all those years was that by the time a team reaches the Super Bowl, it has already been under the media’s lights for weeks so that by game time there is little new to tell.
As for the game itself I now find that my wants are few but definite: a good TV, a comfortable chair and the opportunity to hear and see everything that happens uninterrupted by partying. I would be pleased to absorb every moment of the game in peace but with the ability to momentarily hit the remote button if anything goes wrong. I want to control my environment, which includes not being susceptible to the dulling effects of too much alcohol.
If the Saints lose, I will probably end the evening watching music videos or the latest discoveries about Hitler on the History Channel. (I definitely will not watch the local news or ESPN where the pain will be amplified with pictures.)
If the Saints win, however, the night will be different. Yes, break out the booze; stir me a Sazerac. Are there any parties nearby? Where are those leftover fireworks from New Year’s Eve?
Here then will be the moment when the suppressed spirit within me is allowed to escape and run freely toward dawn. This will be the moment for being with the crowd and celebrating –– except for one thing: What if the spirit is telling me it wants to be back home in front of the TV watching the highlights?
It is a question I hope to face.
Krewe: The Early New Orleans Carnival – Comus to Zulu by Errol Laborde is available at all area bookstores. Books can also be ordered via e- mail at gdkrewe@aol.com or (504) 895-2266.
WATCH INFORMED SOURCES, FRIDAYS AT 7 P.M., REPEATED AT 11:30 P.M. ON WYES-TV, CHANNEL 12.
NOW ON WIST RADIO-690 AM, THE ERROL LABORDE SHOW, FRIDAYS, 6 P.M; SATURDAYS, 8 A.M. AND 2 P.M.; AND SUNDAYS, 8 A.M. AND 5 P.M. THE PROGRAM IS ALSO STREAMED ON THE WIST WEB SITE.
