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October 24, 2008: "The Saviours of New Orleans" by Martin Fletcher, Times of London

With their padded shoulders and grill-fronted helmets, they will look just like any other football team, but appearances deceive. The Saints have worked a minor miracle. They have contributed as much to the recovery of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina as any political leader, government agency or corporate entity. The way they came marching home 13 months after Katrina wreaked such destruction brought hope and inspiration where there was only misery and despair.

"They saved the city, big time," says Humble Levar, 31, a limousine driver. Keith Joiner, 46, a paramedic, agrees: "That's what brought the city back to life, the Saints coming home. They gave everyone hope." Mary Beth Romig, of the New Orleans convention and visitors bureau, says: "The Saints saved the city - emotionally, spiritually and, to an extent, economically."

October 22, 2008: "Saint Drew can walk on water" by Andrew Elliott, The Express, UK

Back in 2005, Brees was looking for a new team after being released, coincidentally, by the Chargers, because of a shoulder injury so bad that one specialist told him his odds of a successful comeback were 500-1.

After a tour of the ruined districts in New Orleans, Brees knew he had found his spiritual home.

He signed a six-year contract with an organisation who, at the time, were homeless, with their Superdome stadium in a state of disrepair, and had a team of perennial underachievers.

But his subsequent miraculous recovery at the Saints has mirrored that of the city, the team and the Superdome, which has been gutted and refurbished to the tune of GBP 100million.

October 7: 2007: "Rebirth, and Then Relapse: Saints and Their City Are on Tenuous Footing" by Jere Longman, New York Times

A year ago, the Saints started 3-0 in what became an inspiring season that ended one game short of the Super Bowl. It provided a symbol of renewal in this damaged city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

''They did more for the city last year than any team has done for any city ever,'' Peter Richiutti, the assistant dean of the business school at Tulane University, said of the Saints. ....

The season hangs limply, lifelessly, like discarded Mardi Gras beads in the oak canopy along St. Charles Avenue

September 26, 2007: "Let Down Again in New Orleans" by Michael Wilbon, Washington Post

I waited what I thought was an appropriate amount of time to call my friend Susan Saulny, a New Orleans native and reporter for the New York Times who lives in Chicago, to find out if she was okay the day after the loss. She wasn't.

"The emotional toll goes far beyond losing the game," she said. "There's that feeling that we're losing the hope in something that was a great distraction from the awfulness that is still reality down there."

After the Titans took an interception back for a touchdown to seal the game, "I turned it off," Saulny said. "My heart sank. I couldn't watch anymore. There's not a lot to be excited about when you're living in a trailer."

January 19, 2007: "Crescent Roll: Saints have city & residents feeling Super" by Ohm Youngmisuk, New York Daily News

Nearly 17 months after Hurricane Katrina tore apart this city and the Gulf region, New Orleans is still in recovery mode. However, the Saints' march to within one win of their first Super Bowl has helped give the area an emotional boost.

"The New Orleans Saints have not erased our problems, but they have lifted our spirits," said Father William Maestri, superintendent of Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. "We should not minimize that. We have a different tone and a different step and a different attitude because of the New Orleans Saints."

While hundreds of thousands of lives were fractured by Katrina, with so many people having to relocate to places such as Houston and Mississippi, the Saints have given many hope - if not a much-needed distraction from the daily grind of rebuilding their lives.

January 14, 2007: "With City Watching, the Saints Carry On" by Jere Longman, New York Times

Running back Deuce McAllister seemed to carry the hopes for all of New Orleans on his shoulders as he bulled into the end zone on a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, pile-driving into the end zone on second and third effort, losing his helmet, but not his determination.

For residents who have returned here after Hurricane Katrina, the Saints have come to symbolize the resolve of a city still half empty but determined to rebuild after suffering a staggering blow. For those still scattered from Houston to Atlanta, the Saints provide a familiar link to what once was, and may become again, home, as well as a reminder of the good times that were had following a mostly bad team.

January 13, 2007: "New Orleans: Team's unlikely rise coincides with city's recovery" by Armando Salguero, Miami Herald

The Saints are perhaps the most compelling story in the NFL this year. This franchise was teetering a year ago with a 3-13 record, no home stadium and rumors of a pending sale or a move out of town. All that atop the problems caused by Katrina.

But this season, the Saints are proving that nature's devastation can be erased by a touch from heaven.

January 13, 2007: "The Great Escape" by Rob Longley, The Toronto Sun

It may be difficult for some to fathom how a football team can be seen as a symbol of hope for this once great American city. Difficult until Dugas graciously offers the details of his tiny, temporary (he hopes) abode and tries to lend some perspective to the passion.

"People like me come out of their FEMA trailers on game day," Dugas said. "We leave our trailers to forget for three and a half hours. That's how much this team means.

"It's all I think about every week, something good. I lost everything in my home. Everything I own. I deserve something to feel good about."

December 10, 2006: "For a city, a Saint: Even Parcells couldn't prepare Payton for this" by Kevin Sherrington, Dallas Morning News

The Saints' sudden, startling success under Payton is a balm for a city reminded daily of Katrina's devastation and the long road to recovery.

They hear Katrina on talk shows, read it in headlines, see its effects on the streets where they live.

But the football team is winning. Parcells didn't prepare Payton for what it could mean. Nothing could.

How are you supposed to respond when a guy walks up at a concert and says he's been relocated and is out of a job and he still bought six season tickets?

You could question the guy's priorities. Football tickets? Concerts?

But give him this: The man believed.

September 2, 2005: "Football temporary diversion," by Tom Knott, Washington Times

For now, the Saints are a nomadic symbol of a city that once was. They, too, are without a home and up against an uncertain future.

They carry the prospect of a sunny day again.

That prospect may look distant, considering the grim and desperate images being beamed out of Party Town, USA.

But one day, a city and football team will be whole again.

[Results via Lexis/Nexis]

Over two dozen people with ties to the New Orleans Saints invested in a company called Louisiana Film Studios. A film studio in Louisiana sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, but it is actually a common and popular tax dodge thanks to generous credits given by the state to anyone who thinks it's a good idea to film a movie in a swamp. (Studios are allowed to sell the tax credits to wealthy individuals who then write the credit off on their taxes. The money turns into Heaven's Prisoners.)

It's a perfectly legitimate financial maneuver—provided the studio has actually been granted the credits by the state, which Louisiana Film Studios had not. The investors (including coach Sean Payton, Drew Brees, and Archie Manning) say they were duped and could lose all their money. Defensive end Charles Grant risked the most at $425,000.

So what does that have to do with Houser? In addition to being the longest-serving current member of the Saints, it seems he was the go-to financial expert on the team—he's a registered broker—and the only one who actually had direct contact with the studio. So because his teammates were stupid enough to write checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars based on the advice of a long snapper, Houser is out of job. (His profile page has already been scrubbed from the Saints website.) And possibly $125,000 of his own money that he, least of all, can afford to lose.

(Oh, and he runs a charity for sick kids. It just gets worse and worse.)

The head of the studio says it's all a big misunderstanding—the FBI never seems to understand—and the players will get their money back as soon as he finds new investors. (This is what's known as a pyramid scheme.) As for Houser ... I have this great script about a backup center who solves crimes with the help of a talking dog. It's gold.

More than two dozen with ties to the New Orleans Saints invested in movie studio deal [New Orleans Times-Picayune]
Former Saint Houser searching for answers [WWL TV]
Related: Saints Nation: Could Kevin Houser's Job be in Jeopardy? [Saint's Nation]

Payton's tale "is about a boy from a poor family in New Orleans who starts controlling the outcome of NFL games through a refurbished Xbox given to him by his grandfather following a devastating hurricane." Poignant.

He's turned over his script to a professional screenwriter to spruce it up after two summers of "piddling around with it." It sounds kind of like "Amazing Grace and Chuck" but instead of nuclear weapons there are hurricanes and instead of Alex English there is XBox. But what better way to bring the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina to the big screen then a fable about a boy and his magical video game console. I hope this gets made and spawns many, many sequels so we can see how Payton's "Xbox Kid" can inspire the rest of the world coping with national tragedies.

Saints Coach Sean Payton Shops Movie Idea To Hollywood [Times-Picayune]

Payton announced that Chesney would have two chances to make the catch, but then modified it to three chances after Chesney failed on the first two attempts:

"On the first one, I totally blew it," said Chesney, who played receiver in high school in Tennessee. "On the second one, not only were they offside, but they interfered with me."

So Chesney was given a third chance, which he bobbled, but did not drop, sending players into celebration, most noticeably Reggie Bush, who hurled a water bottle across the field.

"Reggie told me I better not drop the third one because he didn't want to practice," Chesney said.

All of this is well and good but then Coach Payton dropped this bombshell, "Payton volunteered a story he heard about Chesney helping Saints cornerback Mike McKenzie undress for a shower last January while the two were in Birmingham, Ala., to rehabilitate from surgery."

What?

As if all this weren't enough from one goldmine of a story, Chesney talked about Jeremy Shockey, Chesney then told a story about a concert in Albany, N.Y., six years ago, when Payton was an assistant with the New York Giants drawing up plays for then-rookie tight end Jeremy Shockey, who recently was traded to the Saints.

"Quite a few of the New York Giants came out to our show that night ... and they had an 11 o'clock curfew," Chesney recalled. "Everybody was getting ready to leave except Shockey. All the guys were trying to get Shockey to come back and he goes, 'I can afford the fine.' He stayed out a long time."

Yeah, Shockey's going to do fine in New Orleans. There's never any reason to stay out late there.

Kenny Chesney gets another chance at Saints camp [WWL AM870]

Back then, he was the All-American quarterback for Eastern Illinois University — the school right next to our hometown; he's actually now the third EIU grad to be an NFL head coach, and Jets offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger is a Panther too — and, just after that, he was the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears ... as a replacement player during the strike. (Yep: Payton was Keanu Reeves in The Replacements.) By the time we made it to college at the University of Illinois, Payton was there too, as quarterbacks coach; since quarterback was the only position we lazy college sports reporters understood, we talked to him a lot, even about how we remembered watching him as a kid. He said at the time that made him feel old; seeing him hired as a head coach of an NFL team does the same today.

But you want old? Try coaching the Saints. Payton's gonna feel real old, real fast.

It's Payton! [Black And Gold Patrol]
EIU In The Pros [Old Main Vein]