Who Dat Nation rallies 'round before the big Monday night game

Written by Meghan Jones | Monday, 23 November 2009 14:50 | Saints News

According to radio reports this morning, the Saints' arrival home last night required extra police support at the airport. They brought extra manpower and a few barricades along to keep everybody in line, but they were really only there to make sure the throngs of fans didn't get too excited. After all, these days, with a 10-0 franchise record safely under their belts, the only thing the Saints are at risk of is being hugged by too many people simultaneously.

With game commentators talking yesterday about the "Who Dats creeping closer and closer up in Raymond James Stadium," until they were about 30 deep all the way around, it's clear that Saints mania is at a fever pitch, and just in time: the upcoming Monday night football game against the Patriots is going to be one of our biggest of the whole season, and our boys need all the support they can get.

The fans are delivering. From that "Happy Saintsgiving" sign in the Tampa Bay stands yesterday afternoon, to the waitress who served me breakfast yesterday morning in the Drew Brees jersey, people are squeezing the Saints into their lives wherever they can fit these days. I took a little walk around the Warehouse District this afternoon to see what people had to say about our Bless You Boys.

After encountering one emphatic non-football fan at a streetcar stop, I bumped into Bernie Young, a New Orleans native and chef at Emeril's. Even though he didn't get to watch the game yesterday, he's excited and optimistic about the Saints' progress so far this season.

"It's spectacular, and about time!" Young said. When I asked him if we were going to win next Monday, he replied, "Hopefully so."

Next I ducked into the Crescent Cafe on St. Charles Avenue to see what folks there had to say. 

"I missed the game unfortunately," said Josh Casebolt, a New Orleans native and Crescent Cafe employee, "but I heard it was great."

As for next week's game, Casebolt thinks it's a shoe-in.

"I'm very excited, and I think we are going to win on Monday," he said confidently. "Hopefully we'll just finish the game off in the second half like we've been doing all season. I do think it'll be a close game, though."

A few doors down, Laurie, an employee at Fed-Ex/Kinko's said that she had missed the game yesterday, so she didn't have too much to say.

"I can tell you it's awesome, though!" she exclaimed.

Last but not least, I ran into Taylor Williams, a new New Orleanian who moved down from Athens, Ga. this past summer. Williams came to the city to play music, but brought his old football allegiances along with him.

"I'm a Falcon fan and a Georgia fan," Williams explained, "but I can tell you that I'm having to fight really hard to keep from jumping on the bandwagon!"

So this Saints fanaticism is contagious?! Just as I thought! Who dat!

Comments (0)

Name

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment