Alex Ferguson looks at how Super Bowl-bound New Orleans bounced back following Hurricane Katrina.
It is five years since Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, causing untold destruction and misery. Alex Ferguson looks at how the New Orleans Saints galvanised the community following the disaster as they prepare for Super Bowl XLIV...
On Super Bowl Sunday, whether you're in a bar in Regent Street or Bourbon Street, it is likely that most of the place will be rooting for the New Orleans Saints.
Everyone loves to see a side come back from the brink of extinction amid adversity - and Saints definitely tick the boxes.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused the destruction of much of New Orleans as the levees trying to keep the water in failed. It didn't matter if you were rich or poor - if you were in Katrina's firing line, your house was lucky if it survived.
Meredith Crum was not so fortunate. "We got back after a couple months or so. We had five feet of standing water from the levees for two weeks after the levee walls broke. Our downstairs was wiped out".
Like Crum, fellow evacuee Kellie O'Neal's home survived, but with a little bit of a Cajun twist.
"We got back to our house and there was no flooding. But then [we] opened the door to our house and the sunlight was shining in - a tornado had hit our house during the storm, and ripped off its back half. I never thought I would be saying we were the lucky ones because we got hit by a tornado but in the times of Katrina nothing was really normal anymore."
Unconditional love
And 'normal' was not how you could describe the New Orleans Saints either. The Saints weren't 'normal' as a football team - they had become a byword for awful. Before Katrina, they had only had five play-off appearances in their 38-year history. The TV networks didn't even show their games because of poor attendance, and people tried to forget about there was a football team in the state apart from college powerhouse Louisiana State.
"All Saints fans wanted to keep the Saints here prior to Katrina," said Julie Chauvin. "Although we would have loved to have had a winning team, we loved the Saints regardless and stuck by them win or lose. It's an unconditional love."
Thankfully, the ownership didn't move the team; the Superdome, which had served as the world's biggest hurricane shelter during the storm, was repaired and the Saints continued to march on.
College superstar Reggie Bush was drafted by the Saints, and alongside quarterback Drew Brees, the team won the NFC Division South Championship in 2006.
A few years later, and the Saints have taken a step further as they prepare to take on the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl. They flirted with disaster earlier in the season but the 'Who Dat' nation survived, crushing the Cardinals of Arizona before squeezing by the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.
But the Saints have given fans like O'Neal something more than a trip to Miami - they've put a smile on Bourbon Street faces.
"The few seasons after the storm gave the city something to be proud of again. When we believe in the Saints, we believe in ourselves. The New Orleans Saints may be just a sports team and they may be just playing this silly game of [American] football, but this crazy connection between the team and the city has given us a reason to believe again."
