Hello Who Dat Nation!!
Hello, Who Dat Nation and CSC faithful! My name is Gary Walker, and I am so excited to join Canal Street Chronicles as a contributing writer. I am a lifelong New Orleans Saints fan, and I have always wanted the chance to take all of the time I spend thinking about the Saints and apply it to something a little more… productive.
I was a sports fan from a young age. Growing up in Lebanon, Ohio, hockey was my first love. I’d collect books on the NHL, ask my parents to take me to hockey games as much as possible, watched The Mighty Ducks movies on repeat and was always playing hockey in the house and in the street. I was a short drive from the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks and happened to be in Ohio right when the Columbus Blue Jackets were founded.
Hockey was my gateway to sports, but I quickly fell in love with football and my attention turned from ice to turf. My dad grew up in West Virginia a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, played football in high school, and eventually played for NAPS before graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. So, I frequented local high school games, going to see Lebanon High play teams in the Cincinnati area. I saw Elder High School play in the historic “Pit”. I went to see the Bengals when they played the Steelers. I watched Navy football on Saturdays and heard all about Jim Tressel’s amazing Ohio State Buckeyes.
Reading this, you’d probably think today I would be a diehard Bengals, Buckeyes, and Blue Jackets fan. But right as my love for hockey reached its peak, my love for Ohio sports was growing, and I had just gotten my first taste of Cincinnati chili, everything changed.
At 7 years old, we moved about as far away from hockey country, buckeyes, and Skyline Chili as you could get.
We were moving to Louisiana.
We moved to Natchitoches, best known for its cobblestone streets, the Christmas festival on the Cane River, meat pies, and being the filming site of Steel Magnolias.
To say it was a culture shock would be an understatement. The food was spicier, the churches were Catholic, the accents were a lot more interesting, and Nick Saban was held in much higher regard than Jim Tressel.
Little did I know that moving to this charming little town in North Louisiana would begin a lifelong fandom. I used to visit a little antique shop in downtown Natchitoches with my mom, filled with the typical fare you’d find at any flea market. Old memorabilia, cups and plates, and household items galore. But on the second floor of that antique shop was a football helmet I’d never seen before. Black and Gold, with a large floral shape I’d soon come to know as a Fleur-De-Lis. It was love at first sight.
Soon I wanted to know everything about the team that wore that helmet. It was 2004, and the Saints weren’t so good. But I didn’t care. I was watching every Sunday, keeping newspaper clippings of wins and stats from every game. Aaron Brooks and Deuce McAllister were my heroes, and to eight-year-old me they were bound to be Super Bowl champions someday.
I had my first brush with playoff tiebreakers and heartbreak that season, watching the Saints beat the Panthers to end their season. We only needed a loss from Marc Bulger’s Rams against Chad Pennington’s Jets to make it. The Jets had tied it up in the final seconds to take the game to overtime, but ultimately the Rams prevailed with a late overtime FG. No playoffs, but maybe next year I thought.
Then 2005 brought nothing but devastation to the people of South Louisiana. Katrina left New Orleans in wreckage, with thousands displaced and without homes. I was lucky and blessed to have lived as far north as I did, but I saw firsthand the impact of that storm in Natchitoches. Disaster camps were set up on the campus of Northwestern State University for people who had nothing left. St. Mary’s Catholic School, where I attended, had an influx of new students who had moved away. I could see from that far away and that young of an age that New Orleans was suffering.
This was much bigger than football. But the Saints suffered as well. After years of middling results, the Saints plummeted. Left without a permanent home, they mixed home games between Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge and the Alamodome in San Antonio. Newpaper articles spread speculation that the Saints were on their way out of town. 3-13 results and an uncertain future for the Superdome made that feel all the more real.
In 2006, my family moved again. This time further south to Lake Charles in the wake of damage from Hurricane Rita. I watched as that community rebuilt itself, all in the same time New Orleans had been rebuilding to come back stronger than ever before. The Saints had hired a new coach in Sean Payton and signed a new QB in Drew Brees. The Superdome was rebuilt and back better than ever. The Saints weren’t leaving. They were staying put for New Orleans and for all of Louisiana.
I watched New Orleans come back from the ground up. The city so many believed was down for good was back because the people that lived there simply refuse to stay down. The very spirit of New Orleans and its people kept it alive. And the team they loved, the team most folks outside of Louisiana would say was better left for dead, was in for its best season in franchise history.
They returned to the Superdome, Steve Gleason blocked that punt, the Saints would ultimately finish 10-6 and advance all the way to the NFC Championship. If I wasn’t hooked before, I was hooked for life after that season.
A few years later, the Saints did the unthinkable and went on to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl. I’ll never forget how the whole state felt united that season. The Saints were the feel-good story of the nation, and everyone could feel it. 13-3, they won again and again and again. They brought the wood to the Arizona Cardinals and picked off Favre for a win against the Minnesota Vikings when all hope seemed lost in the NFC Championship. And finally, they took down the favorited 14-2 Indianapolis Colts in a Super Bowl none of us have ever forgotten.
All the way in Lake Charles, Saints fever was everywhere. Pop up shops lined the streets with Super Bowl merch. School days were cancelled the day after games. Everyone who loved Louisiana watched a team and a city who was at its lowest just a few years prior reach the absolute pinnacle of the sport.
It is said everyone loves an underdog story and I don’t believe any can be better than that.
Over the years, I never stopped watching. Through all the highs and lows, I’ve seen that Saints community grow stronger than anyone could have dreamed it would be. There’s just nothing like watching the Black and Gold on Sundays.
Although I eventually moved away from Louisiana, the state never left my heart. The people, the food, the faith, and of course, the football have all stayed with me. Louisiana will do that to a person. New Orleans will do that to you, even from afar.
Currently I live in Little Rock, Arkansas. I’ve never written professionally and by day I am a Sr. Systems Engineer at a financial software company. I love movies, video games, researching history, playing guitar, and travelling the world when I can. Of course, I’m an all-around sports fan as well. I’m a Pelicans fan (forever hoping that someday we’ll be healthy) and diehard Navy football fan on Saturdays.
I’ve followed Canal Street Chronicles for years as a reader and I am so excited to learn from and work with the wonderful team here. It’s an honor to write about my favorite team and interact with so many new Who Dats in the community.
Here’s to another Lombardi Trophy someday. WHO DAT!!!