KIM’s bringing Santa’s home here
December 8, 2009
Galeand Raymond Theriot
December 10, 2009
A new fever is spreading across the state at an alarming rate and has now taken the Tri-parish area by storm. And as long as the New Orleans Saints continue on their current path, the fever won’t be cured anytime soon.
The Who Dat’s 12-0 start has created a frenzy among residents in the Tri-parish area that has not been seen since the “Rebirth” year in 2006.
It has locals rushing to stores to buy their new favorite colors and retailers scampering to keep black and gold in stock, most unsuccessfully.
Nash Pitre, store manager of Sports Avenue in the Southland Mall, said he receives daily shipments of Saints merchandise but can’t get it on the shelves fast enough.
“Our sales nearly doubled almost immediately,” he said. “People started getting pumped up in the preseason because they expected the team to do well. I don’t think they expected them to do this well.”
Among the hot items he can’t keep in stock: Jeremy Shockey’s No. 88 jersey.
“That’s been the most demanded item so far,” he said. “I have some on back-order, along with Mike Bell jerseys, but the minute I get them, they are gone.
“It feels like 2006 all over again,” he added.
Other hotly requested items are the NFC South Division Championship T-shirts and hats.
Pitre said he gets customers in daily asking for gear to purchase.
As soon as the Saints clinched the division title, the store was stocked with merchandise.
“We’ll had it out the second they clinched,” he said. “Once it was official.”
But all across town, businesses and fans alike have welcomed what is arguably the greatest season in the Saints’ history.
Several restaurants and businesses along Martin Luther King Boulevard have put the words “Go Saints” on their signs for all passersby to see. The shopping center containing Haydel’s Drugs on Highway 311 in Houma has used its digital sign to put up “Geaux Saints, Beat (insert team name)” every week.
It’s the new fad that has taken the area by storm.
Bud Picou, owner of Mr. Ronnie’s Famous Doughnuts, has been a lifetime Saints fan and a season ticket holder for the last 20 seasons.
Every week he posts his pleasantry with the team’s hot start on the business’ digital board as well.
Prior to the Redskins game Sunday, it read: “The weather outside is frightful, but the Saints are so delightful. Redskins already know. Saints are 12 & Eaux.”
Picou said as a fan it’s great to see the team doing so well and the area buying into their success.
“We love our Saints,” he boasted. “I am very impressed with the way the team has played. The atmosphere is the same as the 2006 season, but I think it may even be a little bit better because this team is more successful.”
Saints fever is evident all along the streets of the Tri-parishes where vehicles can be spotted sporting Saints flags, license plates, decals and even shoe-polished windows.
Some fans, like Thibodaux residents Valerie Babin and Neston Andras Jr., have taken their fanhood a step further.
Outside of their Paula Drive home are two large Saints inflatables – a helmet and football player.
Inside their house lies a festive way to show their devotion during the Christmas season.
From head to toe their Christmas tree is decorated with black and gold. Saints ornaments hang from the tree while Saints wrapping paper covers their gifts lying beneath the tree.
Babin said she wanted to do something different. Being a die-hard Saints fan, both her and her boyfriend Andras agreed that a “Saints Christmas” would be fun.
“I bought all the Saints ornaments from every Wal-Mart in Houma, Thibodaux and even Larose,” the assistant manager of Wal-Mart in Thibodaux said. “When I noticed stores selling Saints Christmas stuff, I decided to do everything Saints this year.”
Andras said he wasn’t complaining about Babin’s Christmas decorating this year, as he has been a life-long fan as well.
“It’s going to be a good Christmas,” he said. “It’ll be an even better New Year after we win the Super Bowl.”
A ‘meaningful’ season
While everyone appears to be a Saints fan now, to some across the area, the Saints’ 12-0 start is even more meaningful.
Nicholls’ Sports Information Director Brandon Rizzuto said he can recall becoming a Saints fan at 2 years old while watching games with his grandfather.
Even though he didn’t understand the concept of football, or why his grandfather was yelling at the television, it was that moment he truly became a fan.
Like all Saints fans, he wants the Saints to finish the year 16-0 and prove they are the real deal.
“We’re always the underdog,” he said, “even if we are 12-0. I’d like the see them win them all and show the world that we are for real, and for Drew Brees to prove he is the best quarterback in the league. Not one of the Elite 3 – the best quarterback in the league.”
But should the Saints be playing on Super Sunday, he admitted that he is not ashamed to get emotional, knowing it’s something his grandfather would have loved to see.
“I’ve thought about that and I’m not ashamed to say it, I will cry,” he explainied. “Just to get to the Super Bowl would be something phenomenal. Being a loyal Saints fan, I’ve been through a lot. I’m not ashamed to say that I will be on my hands and knees in tears.”
That same fate will await Alex Ludwig of Houma if the Black-and-Gold is playing in Miami in February.
The 23-year-old lost is brother to a car accident in December 2006, just two months after they attended their last Saints game together – the Monday night homecoming game against the Falcons.
That game is understandably the greatest moment in the Evergreen Jr. High English teacher’s life, but admits this season would be the most memorable.
Win or lose, a season ending in the Super Bowl will bring tears and fond memories to Ludwig.
“I will definitely cry considering everything the team has been through and the turmoil they put fans through,” he admitted. “It’s been something my brother always wanted to see, and to be able to experience that would be one of the greatest feelings I imagine I could ever have.
“I know he’d go crazy seeing this now,” he continued. “To be able to witness a Super Bowl, knowing it’s something he lived for, would be extra special.”
