A Saints Moment...

I lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the 1970s. The New Orleans Saints were a relatively young team, with Mississippi native Archie Manning as their star quarterback. I don't believe they ever had a winning season while I lived in the area.

As I would drive home each afternoon from work, I'd listen to radio station WWL in New Orleans. The sports broadcaster "Hap" Glaudy would constantly slaughter the King's English as he lamented the Saints' dismal record. One day, on a call-in show, I heard a lady tell Hap that "da reason dem Saints got such a turrible record is 'cause Gawd is pissed off at 'em. Dey used da name "Saints" an' dat's a sacred woid." Such went the discussion year after year, trying to figure out how any football team could be so disappointing. They were football's equivalent of the "gang that couldn't shoot straight."

Hap Glaudy was succeeded on WWL by Bernard "Buddy" Diliberto, the "Voice of the Saints." Buddy D announced the Saints games for many years, and often said that if the Saints ever went to the Superbowl, he'd walk down Bourbon Street wearing a dress. Unfortunately, Buddy died in 2005, never having realized that part of his dream.

Last Sunday, Bobby Hebert, the former Saints quarterback who took over sportscasting at WWL after Buddy's death, kept Buddy's promise. In memory of this departed sportscaster, Bobby Hebert, attired in blonde pigtails and a Gold Lamé dress, led thousands of similarly dressed men in a parade from the Superdome to the French Quarter.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported an attendance of 87,000! Only in the Crescent City...