Who Dat?

If you know anything about our family, you know that football is a very big deal in our house.  Football at all levels, from junior high to the NFL.  There are teams we root for, teams we hate and never want to see win (LSU, Cowboys), and then there are the teams we live and die for.  That’s a little dramatic, but we do take our football seriously, and one of the teams that is most beloved under this roof is the New Orleans Saints. 

Matthew has been a die hard Saints fan as long as I’ve known him.   And if you know anything about the Saints, you know they haven’t really been a team worth rooting for up until the past few years.  But he has loved them and been a faithful fan through thick and thin. 

The day we got married, January 6, 2001, the Saints were in the second round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.  Obviously we didn’t expect New Orleans to make it to the post season when we picked our wedding date, but make it they did, and they came up with a loss that day to the Vikings.  After our vows were exchanged and the wedding ceremony was concluded, the recessional began playing, and Matthew and I exited the back of the sanctuary as man and wife.  We got to the foyer, and looked at each other, and the very first words he said to me as my husband were “The Saints lost today”.   I should have taken that as a very big indicator of what a big role football would play in our marriage.  It was only a couple years later that Matthew decided to go back to school and make a career of football by becoming a coach.

In December of 2004, Matthew and I were able to go to a Saints game in New Orleans.  It was the first time either of us had been to the Superdome.  The game started at 12:00 that day, but Matthew made us get there at 10:00 that morning.  We were seriously some of the first people through the gates, and as I recall, he was irritated that I had made us that late.  We walked over pretty much every square inch of that  place, and he had me take his picture from one end of it to the other.  It really was a neat experience, but for him it was like Christmas to a kid.

I said all that to say that Sunday was  very big day for our family, but mainly Matthew.  This season has been kind of surreal to watch, right up until the final minutes of the Super Bowl.  I left the super bowl party early to bring the girls home for bath and bedtime, but had managed to get them down in time to catch the last of the game and I could hardly believe what was about to happen, and was a little upset that I wasn’t going to get to see it with Matthew when they actually won.  But, the second the score was final, my phone rang, and it was him and he was as excited as I’ve ever heard him.  The Saints had won the freaking Super Bowl! We might have shared a few tears together, but I’ll never tell. 

I didn’t get a picture of all of us on Super Bowl Sunday, but even I wore a jersey because Matthew wanted me to (because obviously that would help them win), and I’m really not a jersey wearing kind of girl.  Below is a picture of my sweeties on the day of the NFC championship game.  If you watched that game, you know that it was a nail biter and went into overtime.  Matthew does not try to suppress his emotions for the sake of his children when football is on, and at one point both my babies were upset because daddy was being scary.  But, that’s OK.  They won, so it was worth it.  Go Saints!!