Saints Won the Super Bowl

Watching the Saints win the Super Bowl last season was possibly a once in a lifetime event and was a thrill beyond descripton. Having watched the Saints stumble, fail, and disappoint for 43 years it was an event that most people never thought would happen. Truly, that season was marked by emotions never known by any Saints fan up to that point.

Yesterday, however, the Saints followed the path of many Super Bowl winners in years past in a failed attempt to repeat as champions of the National Football League. Although the season record (11-5) was very respectable, the season ended in a disappointing loss to Seattle that ended the 2010-2011 season. As it ended, though, I was reminded at how much more fun this team is to watch than teams in the past.

For many years, a Saints game on television was simply a matter of watching long enough to determine how the game would be lost, then moving on to other things. The game was never a question of "if" the Saints would lose, it was a matter of "how" the loss would occur. Suffering through the season was the mark of a true fan -- even when we wore the bags as the "Aints".

A taste of success can be a dangerous thing. The expections for repeated and continued success are elevated to a point that might be unreasonable or even unattainable. While I'll hope for a return to the Super Bowl and a victory if it happens, it is so much more satisfying to watch a Saints game with the hope and expectation that a victory is possible and erase the futility of the first 43 years.