saints 2010

| SENSATIONAL SAINTS: DEFENDING THE CROWN | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2010 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

also...Be sure to checkout what some

local “Who Dats”had to say about

2009 and theupcoming seasonthroughout thisissue!Stories &

Photos:Debbie GloverChris Kinkaid

Suzanne Le BretonMike Pervel

Erik Sanzenbach

Cover Design:Sheila Allemand

SENSATIONAL SAINTS: DEFENDING THE CROWN | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2010 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010 | PAGE 3

At right Cooper Fletcher of Madisonville and Mackenzie Fletcher,decked out intheir Saints’ gear get their book signed by Drew. (File Photos by Mike McCall)

‘Coming Back Stronger’ a bestseller

At left, Clair Olliber ofAbita Springs, DaleBoudreaux of Covingtonand Amanda McMullenof Abita Springs stand inline at the Drew Brees“Coming Back Stronger”book signing atCovington’s Books-A-Million in July. Above, Drew Brees, theSuper Bowl XLIV MVPwaves and acknowledgesthe crowd.

S E N S A T I O N A L

defending the crown

3Drew Brees book signing

4Saints 2010 preview

6Shopping in Covington

7Abita mayor’s superstitions

8Elmer catches Saints fever

9Season opener preview

10Shopping in Slidell

15Korte visits Hall of Fame

16The Saints’ “Sign Man”

17Cruising in Saints style

18Councilman takes dream trip

21Sean Payton book signing

SAINTS FANCHRIS PICHON

By Chris KinkaidSt. Tammany News

The defending championNew Orleans Saints and theWho Dat Nation are back.

On Thursday, a final parade forthe 2009-10-season will rollthrough the streets of NewOrleans to commemorate andbring closure to the best season infranchise history.

At about 7:30 Thursday nightagainst Brett Favre and theMinnesota Vikings, the Saints willkickoff what will hopefully be amagical journey through the NFLthat ends with another Lombarditrophy being raised.

Last season, New Orleansbegan with a 13-0 record, but lostthe final three regular-seasongames as the club rested starters.That concerned some Saints’ fansbecause until New Orleans pulledit off, no team had lost their finalthree games and won the biggame.

The playoff run started with a45-14 victory over Arizona, fol-lowed by a dramatic 31-28 winover Minnesota in the NFCChampionship game. Two weekslater, the Saints won the SuperBowl title 31-17 over the

Indianapolis Colts.This year’s team returns much

of a potent offensive attack thatsaw the team lead the league inyards per game (403.8) and pointsper contest (31.9; 510 overall).New Orleans was fourth in pass-ing at 4,335. Houston toppedeveryone at 4,654, followedby Indianapolis (4,515)and New England(4,436).

Super Bowl XLIVMost Valuable Pla-yer Drew Brees ledthe passing attackand continues toshow why he’s oneof the league’s best.Last season, Breeswas sixth with4,388 passingyards and he didn’tplay the final game.Houston’s MattSchaub topped the listat 4,770.

Brees’ 34 touchdownswere first, one ahead ofMinnesota’s Brett Favre andBrees led the league with a109.6 passer rating. Also,Brees set a new NFL recordby completing 70.6 per-cent of his throws.

The thing that reallyhelped the Saints’offense was a betterrushing attack, help-ing make the offensemore balanced. NewOrleans was sixth at2,106 yards, amajor improve-ment from being28th just oneyear earlier at1,594.

In 2008, theSaints’ pass-to-run ratiowas 636-

398. In 2009, they attempted 594passes and 468 runs. PierreThomas led the ground attack,running 147 times for 793 yardsand six

touchdowns. Mike Bell, now aPhiladelphia Eagle, had 172 totesfor 654 yards and five scores.

The versatile Reggie Bush tal-lied 70 attempts for 390 yards andhe found the end zone five times.

Like the running game, thereceiving game is also fairly

balanced. Marques Colston led

the team with 70 catch-es for 1,074 yards and

nine touchdowns,while LSU’s DeveryHenderson wassecond with 51catches for 804yards and twoscores. RobertMeachem steppedup his game, haul-

ing in 45 balls for722 yards and nine

TDs. Tight endJeremy Shockey post-

ed 48 receptions for569 yards and three

touchdowns.Lance Moore had just 14

catches for 153 yards and twoscores due to injury, but in theSuper Bowl, he made two recep-tions for 21 yards and Moore hadan incredible catch on a two-point conversion that made it 24-

17. Moore dove for the ball, caughtit and broke the plane, whilefalling backwards.

Head coach Sean Payton, whoenters his fifth season, referred toMoore as a reliable receiver.Moore, who was limited last sea-son due to injury, is counted onbeing a main target for Brees dur-ing the season.

Bringing Defensive Coord-inator Gregg Williams in set thetone for the Saints’ aggressiveball-hawking defense, which fin-ished third in the giveaway/ take-away category at +11. NewOrleans produced 39 turnoversand committed 28. Green Bay wasfirst at +24, while the Lions werelast at -18.

Safety Darren Sharper led theclub with nine interceptions andreturned three for scores. Hislong was 99 yards.

Cornerback Tracy Porter madesome huge interceptions, finish-ing the regular season with fourand he returned one for a touch-down.

Porter also made what mightbe the two biggest picks in theteam’s history. He interceptedFavre as the Vikings were looking

PAGE 4 | SENSATIONAL SAINTS: DEFENDING THE CROWN | SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2010 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Two-Dat?Saints’ road to a repeat starts Thursday night

DREW BREES TRACY PORTERMARQUES COLSTON

SEE SAINTS, PAGE 22

By Suzanne Le BretonSt. Tammany News

Norman Hansen, manag-er of the Black and GoldSports Shop in Covington,said he is ready for the rushof people expected to comelooking for Saints gear thisweek in preparation for thefirst regular season game.

However, he said thesales have never reallystopped since the black andgold took home theLombardi Trophy lastFebruary.

Normally, the shop has alull in sales during the off-season, but not this year.

Shoppers were steadilycoming in looking for newSaints gear through thesummer.

In order to keep up withthe demand, Hansen hasexpanded his inventory andleased out another bay,increasing the shop’s sizeby 50 percent.

The added store sizeallows him to house all ofhis LSU apparel in one bay,leaving the other two openfor Saints merchandise.This has enabled him toincrease his selection.

He has learned to catermore toward women, whohe has learned like to buy a

new outfit for each game,and has added more of aselection of other para-phernalia beyond clothing.

He now has a wall and ahalf of women’s apparel aswell as an entire section forchildren and infants cloth-ing and has constructed awomen’s fitting room.

He said the children’sand infant’s clothes sell fastand he has trouble keepingthem in stock, adding thatmost of the schools are nowallowing the students towear Saints shirts on selectdays.

Some are still looking forSuper Bowl shirts or other

merchandise, while othersare buying jerseys for theirfavorite player. The topselling jersey is Number 9for Drew Brees, withNumber 88 for JeremyShockey running a closesecond.

Hansen said sales are notusually very good for thepreseason, especially whenthe games are away.However, that was not thecase this year. He said saleswere heavy the days priorto the first pre-seasongames, despite it beingplayed in Massachusetts.

He said he will continueto keep the store stocked,ordering all that he can getto keep up with the de-mand. He prides himself inhaving all that the NFL hasto offer for the Saints.

While the store wasoverwhelmed after theSuper Bowl win with peo-ple waiting outside to getthe championship shirtsthe next morning, Hansensaid he plans to be betterprepared this year for whenthe black and gold go all theway again.

He has already recruited

more family and friends tohelp staff the store beforeand after all of the biggames, and in addition toexpanding the store, he hasalso added one more full-time employee and somemore part-time employees.

Employee Kim Ficarosaid working the store afterlast year’s win taught herpatience. She said this year,though, she will rest upmore before the game to bebetter prepared for thecrowds that will comewhen the Saints win SuperBowl XLV.


Local shop ready for the seasonManager says sales

have remained steady

Kim Ficaro, an employee at the Black and Gold Sports Shop hangs Saints shirtson the wall in the Covington store as she helps stock up in preparation for theseason opener. (Staff Photo by Suzanne Le Breton)

By Suzanne Le BretonSt. Tammany News

Abita Springs MayorLouis Fitzmorris said he isstarting out this Saints sea-son the same way he hasstarted out every Saints sea-son for the last 30 years –optimistically.

However, he said, there isone thing that is different.

“This is the year todefend the Super Bowl winnot to just win it,” he said.

Fitzmorris is very super-stitious when it comes tothe Saints.

First, he only goes to onepreseason game. He saidsince he does not miss aregular season home game,this allows him to give awaythe tickets to one of the pre-season games.

This year he gave his old-est daughter and herboyfriend the tickets towatch the Saints play theHouston Texans.

Fitzmorris also has a spe-cial outfit he wears forgame days, and he is verysuperstitious about what hewears.

In 2006 he purchased aDrew Brees jersey at thechampionship game inChicago.

“I wore it and we got ourbutts beat,” he said.

He then continued towear the jersey for the 2007season, which he said, wasnot the best season for theSaints.

When the Saints contin-ued to struggle, he began tothink the jersey was badluck and he wrote a letterofficially giving the jersey

to his wife.That year, he said, his

beloved Saints did a littlebetter.

But, he really wanted towear his Drew Brees jersey,so he came up with a planthat he hoped would cir-cumvent the jersey’sbelieved curse.

He officially asked hiswife if she would let himwear “her” jersey.

Since then before everygame he has asked his wifeif he could wear the jersey.

He said that seemed towork well for the Saints lastseason so he will continuethat tradition this season.He said he even called hiswife from Miami to ask if hecould wear it to the SuperBowl.

Fitzmorris is a big DrewBrees fan and said, “As longas Drew Brees is healthyand out on the field, wehave the ability to win everygame. I believe his is thebest quarter back in theleague.”

The mayor and his wifehave held season ticketsalong with his brother andhis wife for many years andnever miss a home game.He said Saints fans areunlike those from any otherteam.

He said the experienceafter the Super Bowl was

not one to soon forget.“It was special,” he said.

“I still get emotional talkingabout it.”

Following the champi-onship game no one couldspeak, they just started hug-ging.

“I never remember therebeing that much love in theair,” he said, “and it is hardto believe that it was allover a football team.”He said Saints fans had aunique relationship withtheir team not comparablein other areas with maybethe exception of Green Bay,which is a much smallermarket.

Fitzmorris is looking for-ward to getting toe tailgatemore this season becausehe has secured a much bet-ter parking space on the toplevel next to the SuperDome. In previous years hehas parked near LSUMedical Center and walkedto the Dome, which hasprevent him from having aspot to tailgate.

Some games he joinedformer Mayor BryanGowland at his parking spotfor tailgating, but he said,this year Gowland will like-ly come to his spot becauseit is in a prime tailgatingarea, something NewOrleans does not havemuch of.


Abita Springs Mayor Louis Fitzmorris is superstitious when it comes to thebeginning of the Saints’ season. For example, he’ll only attend one preseasongame, and he doesn’t miss a regular-season game at the Louisiana Superdome.(Staff Photo by Suzanne Le Breton)

Abita mayorsuperstitious

about the Saints“This is the year to defend the Super

Bowl win, not to just win it.”LOUIS FITZMORRISAbita Springs mayor

By Debbie GloverSt. Tammany News

Black and Gold BrickEggs and Halftime Hea-venly Hash are the localfavorites for chocolatelovers this football season.

ElmerC h o c o -late, bestk n o w nfor itsE a s t e rg o l db r i c keggs andheavenlyhash are marketing the twofor football season. The sec-ond largest Valentine heartmanufacturer in the UnitedStates, the 155-year oldcompany has partneredwith the New OrleansSaints for the football sea-son candy.

Elmer’s CEO andPresident Robert Nelsonsaid, “We are proud to beassociated with the NewOrleans Saints and areamazed by the response...”

Saints owner and Execu-tive Vice President Rita

B e n s o nLeBlancsaid theyare alsopleasedwith thepartner-ship. Shes a i d ,“(Elmer

Chocolate), a local institu-tion that has a long standingtradition of supporting theSaints, has seen fit to com-memorate the Saints SuperBowl XLIV Championshipvictory with these uniqueconfection products and weare sure our fans will enjoydevouring them, as I will.”

The topping will also beavailable as Black and GoldBrick Topping. The pecanmeltaway has been afavorite in the area for gen-erations.

The topping turns hardand is great for sundaes,fruit or other desserts.

The company has heldseason tickets from day oneof the franchise, and thecompany has been a part ofthe Super Bowl celebration.Now Saints fans will haveanother way to celebrate—with chocolate.

Nelson said the projectstarted out with employeeswho were excited about theteam’s success. He said,“The buzz began to spread,customers jumped on boardin a big way, and the excite-ment level has far surpassedour expectations.”

Gold Brick began in 1936while Heavenly Hash wasbought from a departmentstore in New Orleans in1923.

The candy is available inmost area stores.


How do you think theSaints will fare in 2010?

“11-5.”

JAMIE BARRYPearl River seniorvolleyball player

BY CHRIS KINKAID | ST. TAMMANY NEWS

» voices who dats speak out

“11-5.”

MICHAEL CALOGNEPope John Paul II widereceiver/defensive back

“11-5.”MIKE GAMBRELL

Slidell

“11-5.”DEACON RICKY

SUPREANLacombe

It’s gonna be a sweet season!Elmer rolls out Saints-themed candy

Saints collection- Halftime Heavenly Hash and Blackand Gold Brick Eggs are new this football season,celebrating the Saints victory. (Courtesy photo)

By Mike PervelSt. Tammany News

The beloved NewOrleans Saints, thedefending Super

Bowl champs, are ready toput some voodoo on theMinnesota Vikings andBrett Favre in Thursday’shome opener in the Dome.

There will be no easyroad back to defend thecrown, but coach SeanPayton and his troopsappear to be poised andready to embrace the chal-lenge as they enter the sea-son as the hunted prey.Could another visit to theWhite House in the nation’scapitol be in the offing?

The Saints won the NFCSouth with a 13-3 record,scoring 510 points, whilegiving up 341 points.

The Saints return withtheir potent offensesparked by the consum-mate professional quarter-back Drew Brees, whopassed for 4,388 yards. Hetossed 34 touchdowns with11 interceptions, finishingwith a 109.6 quarterbackrating. The Saints rankedfourth overall in passingyardage, averaging 272.2yards per game. The Saintsrushing offense finishedsixth overall, gaining 131.6yards on the ground perouting.

Pierre Thomas toppedthe ground game with 793yards on 147 attempts, aver-aging 5.4 yards per rushwith six TDs.

Defensively, linebackerJonathan Vilma led theclub with 110 total tackles,including 87 solos and 23assists, while recording twosacks. Vilma also intercept-

ed three passes. RomanHarper registered 84 indi-vidual stops with 18 assists.Darren Sharper topped theSaints with nine intercep-tions, including three,which he returned forscores. Sharper was in on 51individual stops and had 20assists.

Starting linebacker ScottShanle, who has more tack-les (464) than any otherSaints’ player since 2006when he joined the club,shared his thoughts on thedefense.

“Pre-season was criticalas far as getting the reps in.This year, we understandexactly where we are sup-posed to be and how we aresuppose to get there. Weunderstand not only whatwe are doing, but what theguy next to us is doing.We’ve grown so much as adefense,” Shanle said.

He intercepted two pass-es his first of his career andalso recovered two fumbleslast year. Since joining theSaints, he has recordedeight or more tackles in 27games, and also has sixsacks and 15 pass defenses.

“Every team likes to stayvanilla in the pre-season.We have so many goodthings defensively that wewon’t unveil until the regu-lar season,” Shanle added.

Shanle shared his insighton the season opener.

“I think for the fansaround the league and theNFL you couldn’t ask foranything better than havingBrett Favre come back tothe Vikings. That team is astalented as there is in theleague. To have the openingnight game (September 9) arematch of the NFC cham-pionship game, which wasarguably probably thefinest game that was playedall year, I think is a greatway to kick off the season,”Shanle said,

Shanle is a steady player,who helps solidify theSaints’ defense.

“I’m not really an out-spoken kind of guy or onewho celebrates after everyplay. I take pride in goingout there and doing my jobweek in and week out andbeing accountable. Theother 10 guys and coachesknow what they can expectfrom me every week.”

Shanle said his greatestSaints’ moment was whenthe confetti rained downafter the Super Bowl victo-ry.

“When we looked up andthere were all zeroes on thescoreboard and you saw theSaints logo with WorldChamps behind it. It does-n’t get any better than that.”

Shanle talked about los-ing linebacker Scott Fujitato the Cleveland Browns.

“I played with Scott forthe last five years goingback to our last year inDallas. Scott was the sametype of player. You knewwhat you were going to getweek in and week out. Hewas reliable and was one ofthe team leaders. He will bemissed athletically and hisleadership, but we have anumber of other guys tostep in and we’ll be fine,”Shanle said.

Shanle talked about theincredible bond between

the team and the city alongwith its fans.

“It’s like nowhere else.That is why playing for thisteam makes it so special.When we play in the Dome,we know what we havewith the city behind us.That can’t be said for all theteams across the league. It’san unbelievable feelingknowing you are going tohave the support and it’s allone heartbeat whether youare at home or on the road


GARRETT HARTLEY

SCOTT SHANLE JON STINCHCOMB

Saints gearing up for seasonopener in defense of title

Black and Gold revving up for Vikes’ Brett Favre

“I take pride in going out there anddoing my job week in and week out

and being accountable.”SCOTT SHANLESanits linebacker

SEE OPENER, PAGE 19

By Erik SanzenbachSt. Tammany News

Last Feb. 8, the day after the Saintswon the Super Bowl, stores in theSlidell area selling Saints memorabiliawere packed to the gills, and thatmania to buy all things Saints has notcooled off as the 2010 NFL seasonbegins.

“Our sales have been off the chartssince the Super Bowl,” said RonnieDunaway, owner of the Who Dat Shopin Olde Towne Slidell. “It’s been verygood ever since.”

Right after the Saints won,Dunaway was forced to open his store,because of the long lines of fans out-side his door. He sold out his entireinventory in about three hours.

Over at Academy Sports andOutdoors on Airport Road, businesshas also been great for Saints T-shirts,

caps and pennants, according to EliseHasbrook, spokesperson for thenational sports store chain. Hasbrooksaid she wasn’t allowed to give actualsales figures, but the mania for allthings Saints had not tapered off.

“There has been a continued salesboom through the off-season,”Hasbrook said. She said that sinceFebruary 8, the store’s biggest peak inSaints sales was on Father’s Day, andshe doesn’t see an end to the excite-ment for Saints memorabilia.

“We expect to see an increase as theseason starts,” she said.

For Dunaway the sales really start-ed to take off again five weeks agowhen the Saints started their trainingcamp.

“Training camp were magicwords,” Dunaway said. “They (fans)have been in here in droves sincethen.”

All these local sales are good for thelocal company Southern Blues ScreenPrinting on Front Street in Slidell.They have the exclusive contract withthe NFL to print the Saints’ T-shirtsand other memorabilia. The moresales in area sports shops means morebusiness for the screen printers. Theyalso supply stores over most of south-ern Louisiana. As long as Saints maniais high, Southern Blues will be in highclover.

Dunaway said his biggest sellingitem is women’s tops and jerseys.

“It is a hot seller,” Dunaway said.“And we have them in over 100 stylesjust for women.”

As for the rest of the season,Dunaway is nothing but optimistic.

“I know they are going to go all theway again, and the people know it,and that is good for everybody’s busi-ness,” Dunaway said.


A line of Saints fans snakes through the interior ofAcademy Sports and Outdoors store in Slidell, theday after the Saints won the Super Bowl inFebruary. (File photo)

Selling all things Saints in Slidell

What do you think the final score of Thursday’s season opener will be?

Saints 28Vikings 17

PAT LAMBERTHannan head coach


Saints 34Vikings 28

STUART SEILERHannan wide receiver

Saints 35Vikings 28

MIKE MATERNEFHS head coach

Saints 24Vikings 10

RASHAD BOATNERFHS linebacker

BY MIKE PERVEL

Saints 34Vikings 21

CHRISTIAN DRAGNAMandeville center

Saints 31Vikings 28

KEN SEARSSt. Paul’s head coach

Saints 21Vikings 14

JOHN GREMILLIONSt. Paul’s cornerback

Saints 27Vikings 14

RICH MAUTIFormer Saint (1977-83)

Saints 31Vikings 17

GUY LeCOMPTEMandeville head coach

By Mike PervelSt. Tammany News

Former New OrleansSaints offensive linemanSteve Korte appeared at theSaints Hall of FameMuseum signing auto-graphs, taking pictures,meeting and greetingenthusiastic fans before theSaints-San Diego Chargerspre-season game lastFriday. The Saints downedthe Chargers 36-21 in thepre-season tilt.

Korte, who played guardand center for the Saints foreight seasons (1983-1990)was a second round pickout of the University ofArkansas.

Korte currently serves asthe co-host of “First Take,”a pre-game radio show,which airs on WWL radio.

Korte talked about whata pleasure it was meetingwith fans, which he esti-mated to be in the thou-sands.

“A nice crowd turned outand it was obvious theywere all Saints enthusiasts.The crowd was made up ofthe future, past and present.They were all there and itwas pretty interesting,”Korte said.

“There were so manythere that had rememberedthe days of the 80s thatwere still coming back,which was sort of shocking

to see these same people. Ididn’t remember any ofthem by face, but they cer-tainly told me about watch-ing me play back in the 80sand following the Saints thedecade I was there. Theytold me how important itwas to them to still beSaints’ fans and finally seetheir team reach the pinna-cle of winning the SuperBowl and what it means,”Korte added.

Korte said that was pret-ty special for him.

“I signed lots of differentstuff including helmets,footballs, shirts, T-shirts,jerseys and pictures. Ofcourse, everybody has a cellphone that has the capabili-ty of taking a picture so thatalways ended up being partof it,” Korte said..

Korte said he still lovesthe game and talked aboutbeing involved with “FirstTake”

“I’m fortunate that I wasable to stay down here andstayed in the community(Northshore resident) so tome it’s almost like a wel-come home every time I godown and visit with peoplein the Dome or if they call

into the radio show (WWL)or come by to chat. Thereare just so many nice peo-ple down here. They are sopassionate about the Saints.The Saints are the one thingthat brings it all together soit’s real special,” the formerSaints’ lineman said.

Jokingly, Korte wasasked if anybody wasdecked out in No. 60 jerseys(Korte’s number). Kortethought it was before theNew England game lastyear during a broadcastremote when a group ofguys showed up wearinghis jersey number.

“It’s shocking becausethere is a certain group ofguys, who have started ascratch roots effort of wear-ing No. 60 jerseys withKorte on the back. Comeon, how many offensivelinemen get followed by agroup of fans? It’s fun towatch it and I really appre-ciate those guys,” Kortesaid.

Korte talked aboutMinnesota Vikings’ QBBrett Favre being back inthe league after the up anddown saga of whether hewould return or not.

“Minnesota is by far abetter team with Brett

Favre than without him. Ithink the league is a betterleague with Brett right nowthan without him. Howmuch longer he can play,that’s anybody’s guess, andonly he knows how long hecan pull it off in spite ofinjury,” Korte said.

Korte was narroweddown for a prediction inThursday’s NFL seasonopener between the Saintsand Vikings.

Korte’s prediction hasthe Saints winning, 35-31,and he predicts a 12-4 slatefor the Black and Gold thisseason.

“The Saints will have tocontinue to raise the bar,but I think they will be a

really good ball club againthis year. If the bouncescome our way and theinjury aspect of it kind ofcomes our way there is noreason we can’t competefor the Super Bowl titleagain,” Korte said.

“With their recent suc-cess, the Saints are more ofthe hunted than thehunters. The fact that theywon the Super Bowl thereis more pressure on them.Everybody is shooting forthem. It should be fun tosee how they react to it allthis season,” the Universityof Arkansas grad said.

Korte, 50, (6-2, 280-ish


“The Saints will have to continue toraise the bar, but I think they will be areally good ball club again this year.”

STEVE KORTEFormer Saints offensive lineman

Pictured at left is Dianna Cangiolosi of Mandeville and her daughter, RebeccaCangiolosi, who posed with Steve Korte after the former Saints’ offensive line-man autographed their tickets at the Saints Hall of Fame Museum before lastFriday’s pre-season game with the San Diego Chargers. (Photo Courtesy ofGordon Linge/Saints Hall of Fame Museum Exhibition & ExperimentalDesigner)

SEE KORTE, PAGE 19

Formerlinemanappearsat HOF

KORTE LOVESBEING IN THAT

NUMBER

By Debbie GloverSt. Tammany News

“The word for this year is‘Repeat,’” said Covingtonresident Larry “the SignMan” Rolling Jr.

Many have seen Rolling’ssigns in the stands of theSuperdome and even ataway games. Last year, theSign Man appeared indozens of magazines, news-papers and on national tele-

vision as he watched hisbeloved Saints win theSuper Bowl, a feat unsur-passed in the history of thefranchise.

“It will be hard to repeat,because we have a target on

our backs,” Rolling said.“Every team is going to beout to get us. But if we canmake it to the playoffs, wecan do it. I predict anotherMinnesota-New OrleansNFC championship game.The pivotal point will bewho has home field advan-tage. They’ll be tough tobeat if they have the homefield.”

The Super Saints fan pre-dicts an 11-5 or 12-4 season,“Still good enough to get inthe playoffs,” he said.

His “Repeat” sign will beat every game and Rollingsays it is replacing his“Destiny” sign from lastyear.

Still their Number Onefan, Rolling plans to travelto only one away game inArizona. “I’m going withmy daughter and our seatsare two rows from thefield,” Rolling said. He doesplan to go to the playoffgames, however.

Aside from the requisitehelmet and other memora-bilia, Rolling has a collec-tion of newspaper frontpages and signs from pastyears in his Saints room.

The quiet voice of thefans has appeared in suchpublications as Sports


‘Repeat’ is word of the year

Larry ‘The Sign Man”Rolling, Jr. shows his signmade for the Super Bowlin case of a loss—a signstill unshown, until now.(Staff Photos by DebbieGlover)

Above, The feeling of many after last year’s season.Below, this “Buddy D-This one’s for you” sign wascarried in the Buddy D parade. The local sportscast-er had always said if the Saints went to the SuperBowl, he’s parade down the street in a dress, andseveral fans did, in a parade organized by formerquarterback Bobby Hebert.

SEE ROLLING, PAGE 21

By Chris KinkaidSt. Tammany News

Driving around Slidell oron your way to watch thedefending Super BowlChampion New OrleansSaints, you may see theSaintsmobile.

It’s a 1992 Cadillac deco-rated with Saints’ flags,bumper stickers and a windsock.

“We started puttingSaints’ stuff on and everyyear it kept getting more-and-more with it,” Cala-mari said.

The owner Mike Cala-mari is a member of PopeJohn Paul II’s second-grad-uating class in 1982. Hisbrother Ronnie was in thefirst graduating class at PJP.

The car was boughtbecause Mike Calamari hadsome people that wanted totailgate and needed some-thing that could hold a fewpeople. He said that Ronniehas a Saints’ trailer Ronniehooks to his own car thathas their tailgating stuffand is decked out in Saints’decals.

He said they began put-ting things on it about four

years ago. Calamari saidthey started with the flagslast year, beginning withthe small ones and then tothe bigger ones.

“This year, we added thethree (in the back) to it,”Calamari said.

Calamari said when he’sdriving it places, like to aSaints’ game, he said it feelslike he’s in a parade.

“Everybody’s blowingtheir horn, high-fiving andtaking pictures out the win-dow. It’s pretty fun. Weenjoy it,” Calamari said.

Calamari has had seasontickets to the black-and-gold since the Saintsreturned to New Orleansfrom Hurricane Katrina.His seats are on the 40-yardline in the terrace level.

Calamari said he’s been afan all of his life.

“I was born in ’64. I did-n’t know anything untilprobably the early ‘70swhen I started enjoying it,”Calamari said.

He said when GarrettHartley kicked the Saintsinto the Super Bowl, he did-n’t want to leave the Dome.

“We wanted to stay therethe whole time because

that was one-of-a-kind forus,” Calamari said.

He said on Super BowlSunday, he rode on a float inthe Krewe of Dionysus.Then for the big game,about 15-20 people came tohis house. Four peoplecame down from New Yorkand watched it with themtoo.

“We had a pre-paradeparty before and then cele-brated again,” Calamarisaid.

He said he’s looking for-ward to the upcoming sea-son.

“I still think we’ll have agood year,” Calamari said.“I feel comfortable aboutour defense and ouroffense, I think we will bejust as good as last year.We’ll have a better defensethis year.”

Calamari said whenTracy Porter returned theinterception for a touch-down that essentiallysealed the Super Bowl vic-tory, Calamari said he start-ed crying.

“I knew, I said, it lookslike we’ve won this,”Calamari said.

He said when the Saints

won, they were all runningout in the street, dancingand hollering all the way

down the block to somefriend’s house.

Who Dat Shoppe owner

Ronnie Dunaway said with-


Mike Calamari, a 1982 Pope John Paul II graduate, drives his Saintsmobile as the flags waive in the wind. Calamari’s been a season-ticket holder since 2006.(Staff Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

Riding in style Calamari shows lovefor the Saints with his car

SEE CAR, PAGE 20

By Erik SanzenbachSt. Tammany News

For New Orleans Saintsseason ticket holder, LionelHicks, president of theSlidell City Council, goingto the Super Bowl was des-tiny.

“I’ve been a season ticketholder since day one,”Hicks said. “I never gave upon the Saints.”

That undying faith paidoff for Hicks last February.First, he won two SuperBowl tickets in a lotterysponsored by the Saints.Then a friend of his senthim two more tickets. Thatwas a great omen of thingsto come.

Hicks gave two tickets tohis friends Ron Cook andLuke Trailor, and sold thefourth ticket to pay for their

trip to Miami. Hicks’ luckcontinued, when he foundout one of Trailor’s friendsowned a condo in WestPalm Beach.

So with free tickets and aguaranteed place to stay,Hicks and his two buddiesset out for the Promised

Land the Thursday beforeSuper Bowl Sunday. Theyleft Slidell at 3 a.m. andarrived in Miami at 9 p.m.

“The atmosphere wasjust awesome,” Hicks said.“It seemed like there wasnothing but Saints fans inMiami.”

He said he and hisfriends spent the next threedays hanging out in SouthBeach, partying with otherSaints fans, going to thebeach, holding barbecues atthe condo, and just general-ly soaking up the good feel-ing of the Saints being inthe Super Bowl.

Hicks and his friends gotto the stadium around 3p.m. Super Bowl Sunday,and again, good fortunefavored the three Saintsfans. They had to go buy aparking pass and when theyfound their spot, it was only100 yards from the gate tothe stadium.

But once inside and intheir seats, Hicks said theirluck was starting to turn.The seats were in one of theend zones.

“The entire section wasColts fans,” Hicks remem-bered. “We were the onlytwo Saints fans in the sec-tion.”

But he said the Colts’fans were pleasant and nice. . . at first.

“In the beginning theywere jovial because theythought they were going towin,” Hicks said.

But by the third quarter,most of the Colts’ fans start-ing leaving when they real-ized the game was going theSaints’ way. Saints fansstarted to come down toHicks’ section and filled thequickly emptying seats.

“By the end of the thirdquarter, it was almost allSaints fans,” Hicks said. Headded that near the end, theColts fans were “not veryfriendly,” but nothing gotout of hand and there wereno ugly incidents.

One of the best thingsabout Hicks’ seats was hisview of Tracy Porter’sinterception of PeytonManning that iced the


Will the Saints returnto the Super Bowl?

“Yes. They havemost of the sameplayers, so they

should get there.”

ERIC SALINGERSlidell

BY ERIK SANZENBACH | ST. TAMMANY NEWS


“Oh yeah, theyjust got to.”

ROBERT SMITHSlidell

“Absolutely.They stand a

real goodchance.”

CHRIS PICHONSlidell

“Sure they will.They still have a

good chance to getthere this year”

A.J. RAYSlidell

“I’m sure they willmake the playoffs,and I hope theydo a Two Dat.”

DEACON RICKYLacombe

Slidell councilman’s SuperBowl trip a dream of a lifetime

SEE HICKS, PAGE 20

SLIDELL COUNCILMAN LIONEL HICKS


because our fans travel sowell. We feed off of oneanother,” the Nebraskalinebacker said.

Shanle said defensivecoordinator Gregg Willi-ams does a great job keep-ing the Saints’ defense onedge and comes up withgreat schemes from week toweek.

“Being in our second sea-son under him we’ll be ableto be that much moreaggressive.”

Offensive tackle JonStinchcomb, an eight-yearveteran out of Georgia,talked about the seasonopener.

“The Vikings have arg-uably the best defensivefront in the league. We’regoing to get tested early bya great group,” Stinchcombsaid.

Stinchcomb said he andhis fellow offensive line-men take pride in the factthey have become a cohe-sive unit. The Saintsallowed just 20 sacks on544 passing attempts.

“In this line of work if anoffensive line doesn’t com-municate you’re not goingto be able to perform. Wetake pride in being able tomake adjustments on thefly,” Stinchcomb added.

Stinchcomb said acrossthe board the Vikings havea fierce four that will haveto be dealt with.

“We will have our work

cut out for us, but that iswhat you come to expect inthe NFL.”

Stinchcomb talked aboutbeing able to give back tothe community.

“To me, it has alwaysbeen to as much is given asmuch is expected. To playin this league is a hugeblessing and we have beenblessed beyond any of ourwildest imaginations. Ifthere is something we cangive back to those who are alittle less fortunate what agreat opportunity to takeadvantage of that.”

When asked if Stinch-comb had an NFL linemanhe looked up to, he re-sponded, “Anthony Munozand how simple he madethe game seem. More re-cently guys like WalterJones and watching theOrlando Pace’s and Jona-than Ogden’s of the world,”said the veteran offensivetackle. When asked to name

his favorite sports movie,he said, “The Natural.”

For a pure footballmovie, he chose “The Pro-gram,” starring James Caan.

Special teams’ playerChris Reis, a four-year proout of Georgia Tech, talkedabout his crucial onsideskick recovery in SuperBowl XLIV in what hedescribed as the biggestplay of his life.

“Coach called the‘Ambush’ at halftime. Weran it a few times in prac-tice and we knew ThomasMorstead (kicker) wasgood at it. He goes for hisapproach and I kind oflooped around not reallyexpecting to get the ball. Itbounced off one of the play-ers and I ended up kind ofback-shouldering it and itkind of slid under my legsfor a second. Everybody gotworried and it was just adog pile after that just to getthe ball,” Reis said.

Reis talked about hold-ing on for dear life.

“I pinned it against myleg so it was just all fore-arm, will, and strength andI wasn’t going to let go. Ihad a bunch of great team-mates, who were pullingpeople off. It definitelywasn’t all me,” Reis added.

Reis talked about therespect the players have forthe fans and what they haveendured.

“The Saints have alwayshad a special fan base. Thiscity is all about us and that

is awesome. I have neverseen a city so engulfed withtheir football team. It’s alifestyle for this city and it issomething I admire aboutthe people around here.They always back us upwith their strength and pas-sion. Any way we can go outin the community and giveback what they have givento us is just a humblinghonor,” Reis said.

Reis said he’s pumpedabout Thursday’s opener.

“I know the Vikings aregoing to come in ready andso are we. It’s going to befun hanging that bannerand just seeing all of ourfans with the energy theybring. I can’t even imaginewhat it is going to feel like,”said the fourth-year sec-ondary player.

“Brett Favre is an icon.He epitomizes what itmeans to have a long careerin this league. Just hislongevity, his passion forthe game and his love forthe sport is something Ilook up to. He’s a greatplayer and we’re just hon-ored to compete againsthim and to go out there anddo our best.”

Reis shared his thoughtson former special teams’player and teammate SteveGleason, another fanfavorite during his playingdays.

“I came in when Stevewas kind of leaving. I kindof ended up taking his spot.He helped mold me into the

player that I am. He taughtme a few special teamstrades and characteristicsthat I still play with today.He’s a huge inspiration tome, and how he played thegame,” Reis remarked.

Reis described himself asa hard working guy, whogives it his all on every sin-gle play.

“You get the best fromme no matter what. I maynot be the most athleticplayer, but I’m going to playwith heart. I love the gameand I love the guys aroundme. I’m going to captureyour respect,” said the spe-cial teams’ player.

Reis named “Rudy” ashis favorite football sportsmovie.

“I like the way he foughtthrough adversity. He was-n’t that good and didn’t playat all, but he fought throughit all. I think that is whatthe game is all about.Having passion and puttingin the hard work no matterwhat your role on the teamis, just giving it your best.”

Saints’ third-year placekicker Garrett Hartley did-n’t waste much timeendearing himself to theSaints’ faithful with hisbooming leg including set-ting a Super Bowl recordwith three 40-plus yardfield goals in the Saints’ 31-17 victory.

“The team is definitelycoming together as a whole.We’re doing a lot of thingswell right now. We work

hard on improving the littlethings, which will help usin the long run.”

“The light is at the end ofthe tunnel with the start ofthe season nearly here aswe go against the Vikings,”Hartley said.

Hartley converted on hisfirst 16 field goal attempts,setting an NFL record forconsecutive field goals tostart a career. He went aperfect five-of-five on fieldgoals in the post season (allfive kicks between 40-49yards) and clicked on 12-of-12 PATs.

“Things happened in theright way for me last yearand everybody for that mat-ter. It was just destiny forthis team to prevail and wina championship. I washappy that I had a little rolein that. I’m happy to behere and there’s nothingbetter than working hard toimprove,” Hartley added.

Hartley talked aboutcoach Payton being such aplayer’s coach.

“He’s definitely a leader,who is influencing us onthe mental preparation andhow to go about it, whilebeing a true professional inthis league. He means somuch to the younger guys.He has that persona ofwhat it takes to be great towin championships. Hestresses us focusing on thelittle technical things,which will help keep thisteam a front-runner,”Hartley said.

» FROM PAGE 9

CHRIS REIS

OPENER: Saints face Vikings to kick off NFL’s regular season Thursday

during his playing days)looks like he could still laceem’ up.

”I would love that, butthe joints aren’t what theyused to be.”

Korte was asked to namehis favorite NFL offensivelineman.

“I really like watchingJahri Evans along with CarlNicks and JonathanGoodwin. I wouldn’t saythere is a favorite, but thoseare the three guys that Ireally concentrate on withthe Saints. Right now thosethree interior guys are play-ing as well as anybody inthe league,” Korte said.

Korte said in his playingdays there were a numberof tough defensive playershe had to go up against.

“You look at HowieLong, Reggie White, DanHampton, Joe Klecko,Michael Carter and FredSmerlas to name a few.There were so many goodplayers back then that I had

to face and a number ofthem are in the Hall ofFame. They obviously gotthose accolades for a reasonand that is pretty gooddefensive company,” Kortesaid.

One of Korte’s sons,Scott, a Fontainebleau Highgrad, is attending South-eastern Louisiana Univer-

sity on a football scholar-ship. His dad said the fresh-man defensive end wouldprobably be red-shirted.

Korte’s older son, Steven,a 2004 FHS grad, had arecent tryout with a team inthe Canadian FootballLeague and is waiting to seeif that transpires into any-thing.

Korte, as he says for hisreal job and not working onWWL radio, is a cardiacrhythm specialist withBoston Scientific.

“I help cardiologists andheart surgeons with cardiacrhythm devices includingdefibrillators, pacemakersand cardiac resynchroniza-tion,” Korte said.

» FROM PAGE 15

KORTE: Former Saint’s two sons also involved with football

Saints victory, 31 to 17.“It looked like he was

running right at us,” Hickssaid.

During the trophy pres-entation, Hicks said he wasstill feeling a bit over-whelmed and couldn’tquite believe the Saints hadwon. He said one photo-graph of him shows himwith a stunned look on hisface.

“But it was beautiful. Ihad always hoped the

Saints would get here, butnever thought it wouldactually happen,” he said.

The three ecstatic fansmade their way out of thestadium to their car. Whenthey got there, music wasblaring out of some car, andhappy Saints fans sur-rounded Hicks’ car.

“We were all dancingand having a great time,”Hicks said. A securityguard came up, but insteadof breaking up the celebra-tion, he gave them thethumbs-up, and the fans

kept up the party.“It turned out the securityguard was from Lafayette,”Hicks said.

The crowd stayed in theparking lot for three hours.

Though the Super Bowlvictory was a stunner,Hicks said that he had afeeling the Saints wouldwin the big one.

“After the Vikings game,when they won the NFCChampionship, I knew wewere going to win the SuperBowl,” Hicks said. He saidthat between the NFC

Championship game andthe Super Bowl, he “waswalking on air.”

He said that several yearsago, he had gone to theFootball Hall of Fame inCanton Ohio, to watchsome pros get inducted.

“There I was, a countryboy from Madisonville, sit-ting with all these greatfootball players,” heremembered.

But that feeling waseclipsed by the Saints’ vic-tory in the Super Bowl.

“That was a much moreenjoyable feeling thanCanton,” Hicks said.

Being a die-hard WhoDat, Hicks believes theSaints will get to the SuperBowl again this season, ifinjuries don’t hamper them.

“I truly believe we willdo it again,” Hicks said.“I’m really impressed withthe team this year.”

He said he is ready to goto Dallas for Super BowlXLV, but this time he willdo things a little differently.

“This time, I’ll take mywife,” Hicks said.


How has last season changedhow you feel about the team?

“I’m glad theywon, but I havealways been a

Saints fan.”

MONA GREERMandeville

BY SUZANNE LE BRETON | ST. TAMMANY NEWS


“It was great.Everything was

so nice.”

GITTE TANNEHILLDenmark

“I have alwaysbeen a fan, so itjust makes me a

stronger fan.”SONIA SIMONEAUX

Mandeville

“I think itchanged a lot

about the team.It gave the team

confidence.”

FRANK SHOWSMandeville

Who is your favorite Saints’ player and why?

“Reggie Bush.He jumps over

people.”

PRESLEY DRONET, 8

» saints kids talk madisonville elementary

“Brees. He’sthe best

quarterback inthe NFL.”

KAYLEN KUHN, 9

“Drew Brees.He scores a lot

of goals.”

JUSTICE GROOM, 7

“Drew Brees,because atthe end he

held his baby up.”

LAURA SULZER, 7

BY DEBBIE GLOVER

» FROM PAGE 18

HICKS: Got to see Super Bowl win firsthand

out a doubt, Calamari andhis crew are the biggest die-hard fans the Saints have.

“It’s the ultimate vehicleto get to a game in,”Dunaway said. “It looks

good in front of the WhoDat Shoppe. They make apass here on the way to the

game. They start about 7a.m. and I better be here forthem. It always draws acrowd of curious people.

They stop off and take pic-tures standing next to it. Iknow I did.”

The Saints open the reg-ular season Sept. 9 againstBrett Favre and theMinnesota Vikings.

Illustrated, various Saintsspecial magazines after theSuperbowl and on the frontpage of several newspapersacross the country. Pastsigns included “No Mora”when the team was frus-trated with Coach JimMora; “Finish Strong HomeField Baby” autographed byFinish Strong author DanGreen; and “What’s theProblem?” from years goneby.

Much of his memorabiliais autographed and thesuper fan is still reelingfrom the Super Bowl expe-rience. Attending the gamelast year, he said at the timeit was the experience hehad been dreaming aboutfor 30 years.

Known for expressingthe fans’ feelings, “Repeat”is uppermost on people’sminds, said Rolling. Sincethe inaugural game in 1967,the repeat win has occurredeight times. The Green BayPackers won Super Bowl Iand II; Miami Dolphinswon Super Bowl VII andVIII, Pittsburgh Steelers IXand X, XIII and XIV, SanFrancisco 49ers won XXIIIand XXIV, Dallas CowboysXXVII and XXVIII, DenverBroncos XXXII and XXXI-II, and most recently, New

England Patriots XXXVIIIand XXIX in 2004 and2005.

In addition many teamsskip a year and come backwith a win a year later, mak-ing them winners two ofthree years.

The Saints have a goodchance of a “Repeat” saysRolling. Look for the newsign at all the home games.He will also have additionalfan-sayings to encourageand lift the spirits of theteam and the fans.


» FROM PAGE 16

ROLLING: Saints’ ‘Sign Man’ CAR: Calamari rides in style» FROM PAGE 17

At left, Saints’ head coach Sean Payton put in hissame passion as coaching, but this time around it wasoff the playing field, autographing copies of his book,“Home Team,” at his initial book signing at theMandeville Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Paytoncharmed the crowd and was gracious, enthusiastical-ly signing his book. At right, Covington lawyer TonyLeMon triumphantly raises his arms with his No. 1wristband along with his two autographed books.LeMon stood in line outside Barnes & NobleBooksellers from 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday until 8o’clock the following morning, and reaped the benefitof being the first person in line to get the coach’streasured autograph, which he referred to as a dreamcome true. (File Photos by Mike Pervel)

Payton signs his book

to get into field goal rangenear the end of the NFCChampionship game to geta potential game-winningkick. He intercepted Favreand forced overtime andthe Saints eventually won.

Then in the Super Bowl,the Colts were making adrive for a game-tyingtouchdown, but Porterjumped a Peyton Manningpass and returned it 74yards for a score, giving theSaints a 31-17 lead.

The unit returns most ofits players from last year.The biggest loss was line-backer Scott Fujita, who isnow a Cleveland Brown.

In the draft, NewOrleans bolstered a young,but talented backfield bydrafting Florida StateUniversity cornerbackPatrick Robinson with thefinal pick of the first round.

Last season, Robinsonmade 52 tackles, 36 solo and16 assists. He also had threestops for loss and defended11 passes.

On special teams, kickerGarrett Hartley, whose 40-yard field goal sent theSaints to the Super Bowl isback. Also returning ispunter Thomas Morstead,who had possibly the most

memorable onside kick inSaints’ history.

After the Minnesotagame, the Saints are back inprimetime with a Monday-night contest against SanFrancisco Sept. 20 at 7:30.Sept. 26 marks the firstnoon game and openingdivisional opponent with ahome clash against the“Dirty Birds” from Atlanta.


PIERRE THOMAS JONATHAN VILMA JAHRI EVANS

PATRICK ROBINSON

» FROM PAGE 4

2010 SCHEDULE

Sept. 9 - VikingsSept. 20 - @49ersSept. 26 - FalconsOct. 3 - PanthersOct. 10 - @Cardinals Oct. 17 - @Buccaneers Oct. 24 - BrownsOct. 31 - SteelersNov. 7 - @PanthersNov. 21 - SeahawksNov. 25 - @CowboysDec. 5 - @BengalsDec. 12 - RamsDec. 19 - @RavensDec. 27 - @FalconsJan. 2 - Buccaneers

SAINTS: Most of offense returns to defend title

(File Photos by Mike Pervel)

saints 2010

Documents

saints style18councilman

saints willkickoff

saints fansbecause

saints gear

championnew orleans

new orleans pulledit

final game

new england4