Football <\/p>\n
Mondays during football season hit just a little differently. The excitement of looking forward to the upcoming game fills the week with anticipation and energy. It takes away the mental hurdles of planning what needs to be done around the house. It gives husbands a built-in excuse to put off the household chores their wives may need them to do or the places they may want them to go. Sons get excited to share those moments with their dads or brothers. Sisters look forward to their brothers staying out of the way on the weekends. Throughout the week, conversations are filled with either the game that just happened or the one that is coming up.<\/p>\n
In the South, especially in Louisiana, football\u2014from park ball to college\u2014takes over the entire week from August through December. Friday night lights set the stage as the appetizer for the weekend. Once the high school games wrap up, all eyes turn to Sunday.<\/p>\n
Football brings communities together. But it\u2019s hard to find a community that is as deeply connected to its team as the Saints are with New Orleans.<\/p>\n
In New Orleans, your Monday after a Saints game is completely dependent on how successful the Saints were on Sunday. If they win, it could be storming, raining, and miserable outside, yet somehow it still feels like one of the best Mondays of the year. If they lose, it could be 75 degrees with no humidity and not a cloud in the sky, and you\u2019d still find a way to get stuck behind every garbage truck, hit every red light, and drive through every school zone all day long.<\/p>\n
During those days, you\u2019re surrounded by people who share the same emotions, whether it\u2019s the joy of victory or the pain of defeat. Football brings us together.<\/p>\n
The experience of being a Saints season ticket holder is truly life changing. You don\u2019t just find fellow fans\u2014you develop an extended family. These are people you look forward to seeing nine weekends out of the year, and when they aren\u2019t there, you\u2019re reaching out because you\u2019re genuinely concerned about their well-being.<\/p>\n
Even if you\u2019re not a season ticket holder but have a regular place where you watch the games every Sunday, those same relationships begin to form. Before long, you\u2019re sharing birthday pictures, making holiday plans, and spending time together outside of football season just to keep that community thriving during the offseason.<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s the emotional highs of Steve Gleason blocking the punt, Garrett Hartley making the field goal, or Tracy Porter returning the interception for a touchdown\u2014moments from games I know I don\u2019t even have to explain\u2014you remember exactly where you were and who you were with.<\/p>\n
The same is true for the painful moments. The Minneapolis Miracle. The Kyle Rudolph push-off. The NOLA No- Call. The pain of those moments felt like grieving the loss of a loved one, and it was those bonds with fellow fans that helped you get through it. For those who aren\u2019t as invested, they simply don\u2019t understand the emotional toll moments like that can have.<\/p>\n
Football is a game at its core, but it\u2019s bigger than that. It\u2019s part of the fabric of our culture, a lifeline in our society, and a thread of commonality that connects us all and gives us something to build upon.<\/p>\n
Football has changed lives, even for people who never played or coached the game but simply watched it. Entire businesses have been built because of football, and it has created opportunities for people who otherwise may never have had them\u2014or even thought to pursue them. Football provides a foundation for a community to truly show its best.<\/p>\n
That will be on full display this Saturday as Saints fans around the world celebrate the first former player in franchise history to become a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Drew Brees.<\/p>\n
The season is finally upon us. The days won\u2019t feel quite as long, the temperatures won\u2019t be quite as hot, and the weekends will once again be filled with life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n