"The Elephant Man" (Baton Rouge)
January 25, 2010
Octavia McCoy White
January 28, 2010
With the Saints having reached a level they’ve never reached before, fans in the Tri-parish area were out in full-force on Sunday night and Monday afternoon to embrace what some called a season that was “a long time coming.”
Houma native Brent Babin needed a second to remember the final score of the game, but there was no hesitation between Babin and his friend Cole Smith when asked if they knew how many seasons it had taken the team to advance to the Super Bowl.
“Forty-three years,” Smith said. “It’s been 43 long years, but we’re finally there.”
Raceland native David Folse agreed with Babin and Smith and said the game was “the best he’s ever seen.”
“It was time for it to be our turn,” Folse said. “We needed this one, man. We needed this one.”
Folse, who had Saints flags flapping from the windows of his truck and “Who Dat music” blaring from his speakers, said he knew in the middle of the season this team was different from the Saints of years past.
“These boys here weren’t satisfied with just being good,” he said. “They wanted to do extra.”
While the majority of the “Who Dat Nation” are locals who have had to witness years of despair, some others have adopted the team just season, like Tulsa, Okla., native Michael Davis.
“This is just amazing,” Davis said. “I just thought to myself and said ‘If Hartley makes this kick, any kick he misses for the rest of his career will be forgiven.’ And he buried it. What an amazing feeling.”
Davis and his friend Clayton Stanfield were two of countless others who went to Academy Sports and Outdoors on Monday to purchase their NFC Championship Gear.
“I didn’t know if we’d ever see this day,” Stanfield said while wearing a Reggie Bush jersey. “I wanted to come here and make sure I owned a piece of history.”
Among the items flying off the shelves are NFC Championship T-shirts and hats. The prices of the items vary among the different designs, but most fall between $20 to 30.
As of Monday, Academy Senior Regional Promotions Coordinator Brian Johnson said the store was pushing to keep up with the demand for the items.
“We’re doing well,” he said. “We’ll continue to get more and more as the week goes by if needed.”
Johnson said there was no way the store could keep track of exactly how many sales have been made until items are fully sold out, but said sales were “definitely in the thousands.”
“We’ve experienced this with other markets, with our last being at Alabama for the NCAA football national championship,” he said. “And it’s always jam packed.”
Johnson said Academy will again open on the evening of the Super Bowl if the Saints are victorious to allow fans to get their Super Bowl Championship merchandise the night of the game.
When asked how electric the store was following Sunday’s win, Johnson had a very short answer.
“You wouldn’t even be able to imagine,” he said with a smile.
Other places where fans can purchase authentic memorabilia are Sports Academy, Champs and Foot Locker, all of which are found in the Southland Mall.
One thing fans were looking for on Monday that could not be found were the hats worn by the players on the field following the game.
Johnson said that item was not immediately released by Reebok, but will be available in stores “by the middle of the week.”
Some fans described the celebration as the beginning of Mardi Gras in Louisiana. And for Houma parades Hyacinthians and Titans, the festivities will indeed start early on Super Bowl Sunday Feb. 7, as Terrebonne Parish sheriff Vernon Bourgeois announced on Monday he will allow the parades to move up their start times from 12:30 p.m. to 11 a.m. to allow parade goers to be home for the game.
So with the NFC Championship on lock and the team booking its tickets to Miami, some fans have already begun to think about the team’s next opponent – the Indianapolis Colts.
But a consensus seems to be held among the Who Dat nation that a return trip to buy championship gear will happen in two weeks.
“There’s no going back now,” Babin said. “We’re not finished winning just yet.”
An Academy Sports and Outdoors employee (left) restocks a table with NFC Championship hats on Monday as customers shop for Saints championship gear. * Photo by CASEY GISCLAIR
