New Orleans loves the Saints without measure: Former NFL center LeCharles Bentley
2/1/2010 - Editor's note: LeCharles Bentley grew up playing football -- for St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, for Ohio State and even briefly for the Browns. But his NFL career started and blossomed in New Orleans, where he achieved Pro Bowl status with the Saints. As the Saints prepare for their first Super Bowl appearance against the Indianapolis Colts, Bentley reflects on his memories of New Orleans and the Saints, and what being in the Super Bowl means to the region.
LeCharles Bentley / Special to The Plain Dealer
The most difficult task for even the most astute marketing expert to assess is the value of any given NFL franchise to its respective city. Certain cities are just happy to have something to do on Sunday afternoons in the fall, while in others the team and the city are synonymous. This is the reality for the city of New Orleans and their beloved Saints.
I had the honor of being selected by the New Orleans Saints in the 2002 NFL Draft, but when my telephone rang and former Saints coach Jim Haslett notified me I was their next selection, I was anything but honored. Considering I had just taken team visits to Miami, Dallas and San Diego, I was far from excited about being drafted by the city that was the poorest and most dangerous in America.
View full sizePatrick Semansky / AP
New Orleans residents have a strong connection to the Saints, as barber Willie Pearson proves with his Saints tattoo at Impressive Barber Shop in New Orleans. A lifelong Saints fan, he got the tattoo after the team's 2006 comeback season following Hurricane Katrina.
It didn't take me very long to realize statistics were not the sum of what the Crescent City represented. As I grew from a bright-eyed-and-naive college athlete, the city not only grew on me but became a part of me. Growing up in Cleveland, I was fortunate enough to land in a city that mirrored much of what I understood home to be. Both cities were represented by hard-working, resourceful, prideful, compassionate and passionate individuals that above all adored their football teams.
The city of New Orleans has always been a poor city, but despite its economic struggles, it was full of life; this is why New Orleans is the travel destination for people from all over the world that desire some of the best entertainment and cuisine this country has to offer. Upon departure, travelers couldn't grasp the depth of poverty and hopelessness they left behind.
This isn't to say folks should have felt obligated to open their savings account to every young child that tap-danced on Bourbon Street for spare change. I am merely trying to point out the level of pride and esteem the people of New Orleans held within them. No matter how dire the circumstances around them were, you were always greeted with a "hey baaaby" and a smile. The population understood there was extreme poverty and crime amongst them, but they never allowed themselves to be consumed by their reality as opposed to cherishing what they had.
Tourism was the lifeblood of the city, and the people knew that. This is why every tourist left the Crescent City with a smile and stories to tell. Everything visitors sought in New Orleans, they were also able to take home with them; cookbooks, pralines, daiquiri mixes novelties, and even Emeril Lagasse could be seen nightly across the country, courtesy of the Food Network.
The only thing that New Orleanians felt was theirs and theirs alone was the Saints.
When tourism was down and crime was up, Saints fans always knew they had something to cheer for. The old adage says that, "opposites attract," but the city and its team were anything but opposites. Since the inception of the Saints, they have been perennial losers plagued by bad coaching, players and management.
'There was a natural love affair between the team and its fan base, one that went deeper than wins and losses. The New Orleans Saints are the source of civic pride and esteem for the citizens. It is extremely difficult for me to explain the depth of love and passion the city has for its team, but anyone who has been to the Superdome on a Sunday afternoon in the fall or to a Browns-Steelers game can surely understand this phenomenon.
On Aug. 29, 2005, everything changed for the city of New Orleans and Gulf Coast region. As Hurricane Katrina swept over the landscape and washed away infrastructure, life was figuratively and literally washed away as well. Football, music, art, food and fun weren't as important in comparison to basic human necessities and survival.
The images of the aftermath that are forever galvanized in our hearts were just mere tangible evidence of the destruction. What no camera was able to capture or mouths able to articulate was the emotional and mental devastation that laid in the wake of [Hurricane] Katrina. New Orleanians were used to getting by with less, but Katrina took away what made the people of New Orleans rich: Their self-esteem and civic pride.
Bricks and mortar were needed to rebuild the city, but it was draft picks and free agents that have rebuilt the people, and it's the people of New Orleans who make the place so special. The irony is the city and the people were made whole in the same building that ended up being a tomb for so many. Saints fans cheered their team to the first Super Bowl berth and their city out of one of the darkest periods in natural disaster history.
Many may be asking, what's the moral of the story? It's that we in Cleveland have gone through a lot with our beloved Browns, but what the Saints and the city of New Orleans have shown -- perseverance and faith -- eventually will yield sweet rewards.
