re: 1987 New Orleans Saints

I was six years old, but I lived and died with every game. Not sure why I cared more about the Saints more than He-Man or Transformers, but who can really explain the mind of a six year old.

The first game I remember watching was the St Louis loss, and then we won every single regular season game after that, sans the 49ers game in New Orleans.

I begged my dad to take me to that 49ers game because it was blacked out, and even though he was a Cowboys fan, he did. I remember being blown away by how big the Superdome was. The way I remember it was the Saints gave up a late TD and gave up the lead, and then Morten Andersen missed a last second, very long field goal, and the Saints came up just short.

A month or two later, I begged my dad to take me to the Tampa Bay game, and he did. I remember the Saints being up 44-10, then something happened at the game that I haven’t seen since at a live sporting event, and I’ve been to literally hundreds: There was a power surge, and the Superdome went dark. Not completely dark, but too dark to play. And of course there was no game clock, so play stopped for about 30 minutes. When play resumed, Testaverde and Co rattled off 24 unanswered points, but the Saints held on to win, 44-34.

The third game I attended that year was the Wild Card Game against the Vikings. All I wanted for Christmas that year was to go to this game, and that’s exactly the present I got. I remember waking up early and watching MTV, where I saw INXS’s video “Need You Tonight/Mediate,” and we took off to a Texaco in La Place, where my dad met up with some friends of his from work. It was a cloudy day, but warm. Even though it was Jan 3, I didn’t even need a jacket. We got to the game early, and the Saints scored a touchdown very early in the game to go up 7-0 and I thought, “This is going to be an easy win.” Of course, it wasn’t, as the Vikings would go on to beat us 44-10. I was heartbroken, but at the same time excited for the 1988 season to begin. I was hooked for life.