It's more than just the Saints

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

Frequent viewers (and readers) know my biases: during NASCAR season I root for anyone named Earnhardt, during baseball season I root for the Yankees, and during football season I root for the Giants.  This year is different.

With great emotion I cheered the Saints victory last night -- and it is fueled by much more than football.

I remembered being in the Superdome as Katrina hit full-force. The ramp to the field level was slick with water and motor oil, and I fell, and landed on my back.  But it was a fortuitous fall: I looked up at the roof (while returning to my senses) and saw a ray of daylight coming in.  I alerted the General Manager of the Dome -- and together we watched that pin-hole grow as the winds increased. Eventually a huge chunk of roof was torn away, and rain was falling on the stands and on the center of the turf surface.  We now know the horrors that transpired inside the Superdome (including the death of a man not far from us that day) -- and they were still on display when we went back weeks later, in the form of needles and human waste in the stairwells.  It was a living hell in the days following Katrina.  I'm rooting for the Saints to win the Super Bowl because I root for New Orleans.  Because this company has cared enough to send me (and the broadcast) back there 14 times since Katrina, and because we took a stand in that great American city, this year I have a favorite team in the big game.  For all those who love New Orleans -- and understanding that Colts Nation thinks differently -- wouldn't that be something?

Welcome back for a new week, and we hope you can join us starting tonight.