History repeated, remembered as Saints relocate following Hurricane Ida

We have seen this before.

As so many of us survey the damage, so many struggle with long-term effects and so many try to even figure out where we are going to live for the next several weeks (or more), the cost involved, where the next meals will come from and if our relatives and friends are safe and secure, the show goes on.

While prep football will unquestionably be interrupted for area teams for the short term and possible for the long term in south Louisiana, football on the professional and college level continues.

LSU is in Houston as the Tigers try to handle the distraction of relocating prior to its season opener Saturday at the Rose Bowl against UCLA, which won its season opener easily this past weekend with Hawaii.

Tulane is in Birmingham trying to handle the distraction of relocating prior to its season opener Saturday with Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the Green Wave have had to relocate the game from Yulman Stadium to Norman, a huge disappointment for Tulane and so many fans anticipating the biggest home game in the young stadium’s history.

On the professional level, the experience of Mickey Loomis of being part of relocating a team following a massive, destructive hurricane, must conjure up memories, perhaps even nightmares.

In 2005, the New Orleans Saints played a preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens on Friday, Aug. 26 at the Superdome, falling 21-6.

The next morning, I was putting on our 15th annual Bowling Against Dystrophy Celebrity Bowling event at Expressway Lanes in Gretna.

It was there we got the word to get everyone out, due to the impending monster that was Hurricane Katrina.

After two games, we dismissed everyone, rather than bowling a third game.

Later that day, my family was off to Houston. We would not return for two weeks and upon doing so, would do so to a severely damaged home which took a year to fix and renovate.

That was the last event and the last time anyone would ever bowl at Expressway Lanes, which would be severely damaged two days later and would never re-open.

Then came Monday, Aug. 29.

As the levees broke, so did the 2005 New Orleans Saints and the regime of Jim Haslett.

The Saints took off for the west coast and played their final preseason game at Oakland, eventually falling to the Raiders 13-6 on Sept. 1.

Then, the team relocated to San Antonio, Texas, a stay we would all like to forget, given the circumstances and acrimony which followed.

Then, the Saints opened their season at Charlotte and, in an emotional effort, found a way to pull out a dramatic 23-20 last second victory over NFC South rival Carolina.

Future Saints Hall of Fame inductee John Carney calmly knocked through a 47-yard field goal with three seconds remaining, providing an emotional victory for a team that had been through so much and providing some blessed relief and a brief respite of joy from the desperation of despair for a wounded community and fan-base.

The emotion spent, the team then had to play a “home” game at the Meadowlands against the Giants and lost 27-10.

After losing at Minnesota, the Saints scored another emotion-filled 19-7 win over Buffalo in the first “home” game at the Alamodome to raise the team’s record to 2-2.

Then, the emotion was totally spent and the team lost five straight games as the regime of Jim Haslett collapsed under the weight of a terrible disaster.

Of course, poor personnel decisions contributed to the fall as well.

The Saints did win one more game, a 21-19 victory at the Meadowlands over the Jets but finished the season 3-13.

Change would follow as Loomis tapped Sean Payton as his new coach. Drew Brees soon followed and the rest is history.

This time around, the Saints were scheduled to play a preseason game at home against Arizona.

When that game was canceled, we took off for Marksville with family.

At some point, we will be allowed to return to our home in Kenner but that will not be on this day or in the next few days, unfortunately. When we do, we will do so to a home that apparently withstood the fury of Ida, failing a fence which was dismantled by the force of the storm winds. We consider that a blessing!

There is no reason to believe that the disaster and distraction of Ida will result in another organization collapse of the Saints.

Loomis has been there before.

Payton is tremendously disciplined and organized as a coach.

There is talent on hand.

Players will have to adjust, adapt and address the distractions.

Though it is unknown, the race against time is to restore power prior to Sept. 12, when the Saints are scheduled to take on the Green Bay Packers.

If not, history could repeat itself, with the team having to relocate a “home” game to a neutral site or even to Lambeau Field, though Loomis and Payton will certainly opposed that concept.

While San Antonio reached out to the Saints (and vice versa) with totally different intent aimed at trying to lure the team out of New Orleans permanently, the Jones family and the Dallas Cowboys graciously accommodated the Saints, clearly with no intent other than to help a team and a community in need.

Even on social media, NFC rivals Carolina, Tampa Bay and yes, even Atlanta, reached out to express prayers and to offer any support for the Saints.

That is what our country should be and look like all the time, people helping people.

The Saints will now help themselves to using the devastation of a horrible storm as motivation to lift a community, on its knees, literally and in prayer, to a standing position of praise, worship and a sign of strength to overcome enormous adversity.

On this day, let us all pray for each other, let us all be thankful for what we do have, as opposed to what we do not have, as so many look for any sort of welcome relief from the depression of what we have all dealt with and are dealing with.

As the New Orleans Saints helped an entire region recover from the events of Aug. 29, 2005, beginning on Sept. 25, 2006 with the return to the Superdome and an incredibly emotional victory over the Falcons, the 2021 New Orleans Saints can again serve as a fuel to restart the engine of hope as we seek to find solace and some degree of peace in the aftermath of the latest Aug. 29 storm in our lives.

Can I get an Amen?