The San Antonio Saints

I guess that today was the day that all of our new Saints fans in San Antonio found out what being a Saints fan is all about.

Joe San Antonio was probably settling into his couch at noon, pretty geeked up about his new favorite NFL team. He went to the game last week, yelled long and loud, and saw his team play pretty well in beating a mediocre Buffalo squad. Today's game was against 0-4 Green Bay, who was additionally handicapped by multiple injuries to key players.

The first couple of series were good. The Saints stopped the Packers on their first series; they drove for a field goal their first offensive series. And then they turned into the Saints that Louisiana has always known. A lackluster, uninspired performance slowly degraded to a humiliation. Final score: Packers 52, Saints 3.

That was a little hard to type.

Joe SA will learn not too get too bent about any particular loss. Just as they will be astoundingly bad, they will have a few games that are impressively good. And they will keep you thinking that they just might sneak into the playoffs.

Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre celebrates a touchdown against the Saints earlier today.

When all the games are played, the Saints' record will be just bad enough to miss the playoffs, but just good enough to prevent them from getting a stud in the draft next spring. I hope I'm wrong, but history is with me on this one.

Back in San Antonio, Joe stuck with the game through the afternoon, just like I did. Hundreds of miles apart, we listened to the same radio broadcast. Joe probably mused about how brutally honest the Saints radio announcers are about poor play. We listened through the end of the game. We listened to the coach and players admit that they got clobbered in post-game interviews. We heard Hoakie name broadcast engineer Dave Hernandez the player of the game in lieu of honoring an actual player in any way.

At some point early, Joe probably got mad at the game. His wife probably laughed at him for caring so much.

Last week, I got annoyed with the San Antonio fans who brought, "San Antonio Saints" signs to the Alamo dome.

This made my wife laugh at me. "Let them have the Saints. Why do you want them sucking us down every season?"

But they're our pathetic NFL franchise. It matters.

Last week, we talked to some people in Philadelphia who were disdainful about their team, saying that they "always choke in the big game." The Eagles lost the Super Bowl last year. They lost the NFC Championship game the year before.

I could only roll my eyes and try not to laugh too hard. The Eagles have two playoff wins in the 2005 calendar year. The Saints have one playoff win in the 39-year history of the franchise.

To these people, it doesn't matter that the Eagles make it to the NFC Championship game. To Louisiana, it would be unbelievable. I can't begin to guess the amount of celebration that would take place as the Saints advance in the playoffs.

That's why they have to remain ours. We can't have people with lifetimes of fanship built up, only to watch them move to another city before learning to win.

I wonder if it will happen in my lifetime.