What it takes to be Number One

By Randy  |   Thursday, October 26, 2006  |  Comments( 7 )

New Orleans Saints
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Fr. Henry preached the other day his concern that too many New Orleans Saints fans are viewing God as a Divine slot machine these days. In other words, put in a few prayers and hit the jackpot, then victories will flow forth in abundance.

If pain and suffering has a pedagogical dimension to it, an instructive dimension, Saints fans absolutely have to be considered experts on the subject. They should all receive honorary PhD's. Every last one of them. One playoff victory in 40 years? Why would the NFL gods permit such lunacy? Such utter madness? It just isn't right.

Rev. Bob Harrington, The Chaplain of Bourbon Street, once said his God could raise the dead and often does. Maybe this explains the Saints' ascension into first place in the NFC South. The good Chaplain of Bourbon ministered his brand of old time religion to many a hopeless Saints fan over the years before finally succumbing himself to the plethora of temptations the infamous street has to offer.

"Shame over Success," he warned. "Satan strippin' the Saints," he shouted from the rooftops. Alas, to no avail.

As I walked down Bourbon myself the other day, I happened upon a poster of the Great Lombardi hanging in the window of an art gallery on the corner of Orleans - far removed from the frozen tundra of Green Bay.

At first glance, it seemed oddly out of place to me. Incongruous as my old college professor, Dr. Wadsworth, used to say. Lacking in harmony. Maybe even sacrilegious.

I certainly did not feel the ghost of Lombardi anywhere on Bourbon Street on this particular day. Sorry, but I just can't fathom Vince - a man Howard Cosell revered for "his devotion to his God, his family, his craft and the men who played for him" - ever having taken a leisurely stroll down this street known for its moral depravity, promiscuous all-night frivolity and houses of ill repute.

I asked a friend of mine in Milwaukee - an ardent Packers fan - how she felt about the matter. It being the poster of Lombardi displayed on Bourbon Street. She said she had no problem with it. She went so far as to say she thought it was "cool" and that Vince would feel the same. She said hopefully this would be "the Saints' year" to win the division and go to the Super Bowl.

I walked into the gallery and asked the foreign lady behind the counter if the poster was one of the shop's best sellers. She just smiled and turned away. Then, I bought the poster titled, "What it takes to be Number One." Read it. Reread it. Memorized it. Internalized it. And after further contemplation, I could not help but feel that somewhere up there in NFL heaven, the Great Lombardi is looking down with pride on this Saints team.

Vince must feel some partiality toward the Saints, since his beloved Packers won a Super Bowl in New Orleans with a quarterback, Brett Favre, from neighboring Mississippi.

Finally, fortunately, thankfully, the 2006 Saints are embodying many of the principles Lombardi extols in the message written on the poster. Paying the price. Doing things the right way all the time, not just some of the time. Displaying the American zeal to be first. Plying your trade with every fiber of your body. Yearning for head-to-head combat. Lying exhausted on the field, victorious, after working your heart out in a good cause.

Rookie head coach Sean Payton would have been Lombardi's kind of guy. Blue-collar types - Mark Simoneau, Scott Shanle and Scott Fujita his kind of linebackers. The poised and modest Drew Brees would have been his kind of quarterback.

Suddenly, the poster didn't seem out of place.

Yeah, Lombardi is smiling somewhere up there in NFL heaven; and somewhere, Rev. Harrington, in the cockles of his heart, is proud. I'm sure if the Chaplain of Bourbon Street was still around, he would be dancing on the tables of Pat O'Briens - Hurricane in hand.

Divine New Orleans Saints coverage, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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