It is a question I have been asked countless times.
Most often, it comes from native New Orleanians.
The NFL is now accustomed to having hordes of international fans.
Long after ‘NWA’ drove the Oakland Raiders badge onto the heads of millions worldwide, the International Series has helped the league explode outside of the US.
Since its inception in 2007, it has brought live football to many thousands of fans every year.
But as a small market team, the New Orleans Saints are not the first choice of many would-be fans of the NFL looking for their first, and last, team to support.
People from the city still look confused when the British accent leaves my lips, double-taking at the fleur-de-lis on my arm or the head-to-toe black and gold clothing. “You’re British?”
A good friend of mine has a simple response to new NFL fans deciding what team to follow. Find a team in a city you love, or think you would love if you visited.
It is a good basis for choosing a team. If the team is not doing well, you have an affinity with the city. Maybe you have met people who live there and formed friendships.
You will still want to visit. Even in those dark days, the team means more than a random collection of elite athletes from a different continent.
We did not grow up on the same street or in the same neighbourhood. We did not go to the same high school or graduate from the same college.
But these players are our players. They are our boys in black and gold.
They are the reason we stay up until the early hours of the morning. The reason we willingly drag ourselves into work on a Monday morning after three hours sleep.
Through this team, I have met so many people I now consider true friends.
A visit to the city is now as much a chance to see my ‘Who Dat’ family as it is a chance to lose my voice in the Superdome. To sit on the banks of the Mississippi, hearing jazz melodies drifting across the wind. Or to stroll aimlessly under the trees on Magazine Street, stopping at every boutique shop or dive bar.
Postseason blues?
The Saints’ 2024 season has been decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball. The Los Angeles Rams dealt the latest blow to the offense – a season-ending ACL injury for man-of-a-thousand positions Taysom Hill.
The New York Giants are not looking like a dangerous opponent in 2024. But on any given Sunday, anything can happen.
Running back Kendre Miller and centre Erik McCoy are hopeful to return this Sunday at MetLife Stadium. This team needs all the help it can get, including from its divisional rivals, if it stands a chance of postseason play.
With the Saints sitting not-very-pretty at 4-8, the team are poised to miss out on a playoff berth for the fourth-straight year. These are the times when it is more than a game.
So why the New Orleans Saints?
Because this is my city. This is my team. And I bleed black and gold.
