A true relief effort
It seems that, over the past four or five years, sports have been heralded more and more for being an outlet for people in times of distress. I am constantly hearing about how athletics are so wonderful due to the fact that they give us some way to distract ourselves from a troubling, or, more likely, a devastating, experience, such as hurricane Katrina, the war in Iraq or the attacks on 9/11 just over four years ago.
Now, don’t expect any political statements or anything like that from me because first, this is a sports column and second, politics and I do not get along.
No, what I have to say is purely athletical. Yes, I know that’s not a real word. You’re not going to find it in the dictionary between “asp” and “attention,” but the way I see it, if society can make a political statement about politics, why can’t I make an athletical statement about athletics?
Anyway, all I am trying to say is that there is something magical about sports, which allow us this possibility to ‘get away from it all.’ There was no better evidence of this – for me personally, along with the rest of the Gulf Coast – than this past weekend.
Growing up, I spent 10 unbelievable years living in Ocean Springs, Miss.
When I heard about Katrina and I saw images of my old home town and the surrounding areas, it was simply alarming.
After spending over a week and a half worrying about friends and being consumed by depressing images from Katrina, this past weekend gave me, as well as many more, a little bit of good news.
Similar to New York natives being able to see their Mets or their Yankees take the field after 9/11, watching the LSU Tigers face off against the Arizona State Devils and the New Orleans Saints take the field against the Carolina Panthers was very reassuring. Even though Katrina had sent shockwaves through the south, everything that I loved and remembered about my old home was not destroyed.
And it seemed as if there was no way either team would lose. Even though LSU entered the fourth quarter down by 10 and the Panthers tied the game with one minute left, you still had the feeling that the Bayou Bangles and the Aints would leave with the ‘W.’ So when Early Doucet caught that 39-yard touchdown pass and John Carney kicked his 47-yard field goal, it was almost as if you expected it to happen.
It was as if you knew that at some point this city’s streak of bad luck had to end.
An interesting occurrence this past weekend was when the media showed a woman in the crowd with a sign that read, “Let’s all be Saints.” Now, as I said, this is purely an athletical column -- ha, I used my word again -- so, with that in mind, here’s what my sign would have said, “Let’s all be Saints’ fans!”