Only Jewelry

Lowcountry Saints fans marching in Charleston Post Courier

06.02.10

You don't have to gobble beignets at Cafe Du Monde to catch the sweet smell of Saints fever.

A streetcar named inspire has arrived at homes and offices throughout the Lowcountry.

Stanley Feldman, a longtime Saints fan and Tulane graduate, experienced strange "premonitions" this week indicating New Orleans will upset the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in Super Bowl XLIV.

Chris Randazzo, a New Orleans native and LSU graduate, recalls playing pick-up football games at Tulane Stadium the day after Saints losses.

Pass the crawfish gumbo.

Elliot Smalley, a veteran Saints fan and former Baton Rouge, La., resident, wore a "Who Dat?" button to work all week.

Andy Breaux, another New Orleans native/LSU grad, says The Big Easy would be more fun Sunday than Miami. Win or lose.

"This is truly, for a city that has been waiting so long, like Mardi Gras a little early," said Breaux, 46.

Fleur-de-lis mania, I tell you.

Laissez les bon temps rouler.

Katrina context

Randazzo, a 47-year-old branch manager and independent broker, was a Saints fan before the Superdome opened in the 1970s.

"I lived close enough to Tulane Stadium to walk to the games and we had season tickets," he said. "Later at the Dome, I remember the Saints being so bad people put bags over their heads. That was pretty funny, but I was never a bag-wearer personally."

Smalley, the Deputy of Strategic Planning & Communications for the Charleston County School District, got into the Saints in the late 1980s when they were briefly good. He was a big fan of "Dome Patrol" linebackers Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills, Vaughn Johnson and Pat Swilling.

"If the Saints win the Super Bowl, it would be almost indescribable," Smalley said. "The Saints, to me, are New Orleans. The Saints are

like a religion in a part of the country known for its religion, history and culture, and the Saints are all of that."

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