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Saints-Katrina
08/28/08 - 08:41 PM
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - If the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
wasn’t enough to remind Saints offensive lineman Jammal Brown what
he went through when New Orleans flooded, the latest storm to
threaten the Gulf Coast certainly did.
As much as any Saints player, Brown could relate to the anxiety
Tropical Storm Gustav was causing in south Louisiana. A first-round
draft choice in 2005, Brown bought his first house in an upscale
golf course development in eastern New Orleans only months before
Katrina hit.
“Last time, (team officials) called me up and said, ‘We’re
going out to Oakland for a week. Pack up a week’s worth of
clothes,”’ Brown recalled. “So I pack up some clothes and get out
to Oakland and look on TV and every thing I own is under water.”
Katrina stuck Aug. 29, 2005, smashing levees and flooding 80
percent of New Orleans.
Third-year coach Sean Payton said his team, has a plan for
moving to a safe location should Gustav strike the New Orleans
area. The Saints were to play the Miami Dolphins in their final
preseason game Thursday night at the Louisiana Superdome.
Payton said the plan encompassed the process of moving the team,
but not where to go, because that wouldn’t be decided until the
storm’s track had narrowed enough to know whether it was best to go
east, west or north.
“We’ve all had time to put together a clear plan as to how it
affects the organization, the team, the families of the team,”
Payton said. “I don’t want to go into detail as to what we do,
because what we do is really predicated on when it’s supposed to
arrive.”
The Saints are scheduled to open the regular season in the
Superdome against Tampa Bay on Sept. 7. The storm is expected to
strike the Gulf Coast - anywhere from Texas to the Florida
panhandle - around Tuesday morning.
“We will be focused and ready to play the Buccaneers,” Payton
said. “We’re planning on that game being at the Superdome, but the
powers that be will have a clear plan in place if that should
change any or if our preparation should have to be somewhere else.
It won’t be a distraction; we won’t allow it to be.”
The Saints have played two full seasons before sellout crowds in
New Orleans since ignoring the naysayers who predicted pro football
had no future in the Big Easy after Katrina. Even faced with the
potential of another hurricane-related disruption, players said
they cherished the opportunity to play in a place that really
needed them, both in terms of the morale boost they provided and
the community service projects they undertook.
Cornerback Jason Craft, who’s been with the Saints since 2004,
said a lot of players initially did not want to return to New
Orleans after their displacement to San Antonio because they didn’t
really understand what life in post-Katrina New Orleans would be
like. As they began to appreciate the extent to which they could
inspire hope, they embraced the move and were rewarded with a
once-in-a-career experience during a 2006 home-opening victory over
Atlanta in an emotional Monday night game.
“That first game, that right there, I’ll never forget that,”
Craft said. “Even though we didn’t make it to the Super Bowl that
year, that was my Super Bowl. I never seen anything like that and I
was just happy to see people out in the streets, just happy to see
the Saints play that day. That’s probably one thing I’ll always
remember about New Orleans is that day.”
Drew Brees was the first major free agent to come to New Orleans
after the storm and bought an old home in a historic neighborhood
only six blocks from areas that flooded during Katrina.
Brees, whose foundation has raised nearly $2 million for
projects aimed at helping children around the city by rebuilding
schools, playgrounds, athletic fields and the like, said witnessing
the city’s recovery has been both inspiring and disappointing,
often depending on the neighborhood in question.
“There are some areas where it looks like it happened
yesterday,” Brees said. “Those are houses people used to live in
and they’re not (living there) any more, so where are they?”
Brown’s first house is one of the empty ones. He’s rebuilt it,
but is trying to sell it and has moved to a largely undamaged
suburb west of the city.
At the same time, Brees has been pleased to see new
construction, or flooded buildings being restored, throughout town.
He’s also met young business owners who saw the rebuilding city as
“a land of opportunity.” Brees can relate, having come to New
Orleans after his stint in San Diego ended with a
career-threatening shoulder injury.
“I felt like we were all kind of in this thing together,”
Brees said. “I’m trying to rebuild my career coming off the injury
and changing teams, kind of a fresh start for me, a fresh start for
the organization and a fresh start for the city.”
Their home stadium was a prime example. During Katrina, it
became a symbol of suffering while being used as a refuge of last
resort. After being rebuilt with new and better amenities, it
became a symbol of rebirth, and the Saints’ first season there was
a memorable one, as they went to the NFC championship game for the
first time.
In 2007, the NBA’s Hornets returned full time to the arena next
door and are thriving as well.
“The more you talk to people and the more you drive around, I
think you just feel like life is back,” Brees said. “When the
storm happened, your mind-set had to be: we’re going to make things
better than they were before. We’re going to try to turn this into
a positive somehow, some way. I see that happening in a lot of
areas. ... So just to kind of be there and just feel like you’re
kind of a part of the rebuilding process is rewarding.”
The reward, of course, will be even greater if the progress
achieved during the past three years isn’t undone by the latest
threat.

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