NEW ORLEANS – Another jolt of Saints euphoria is on tap for New Orleans Tuesday when the Super Bowl champs board floats borrowed from Mardi Gras krewes for a victory parade through the grateful city.
The Carnival-flavored parade honoring the team's 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts is scheduled to start in the afternoon at their home turf, the Louisiana Superdome. It will include 12 marching bands and one float each from 10 krewes. Float builder Barry Kern said he believes it's the first time the groups — which celebrate Carnival season with separate parades — will combine floats in one procession.
On Monday, swarms of fans in black and gold greeted the players as they stepped off a chartered plane at the suburban airport, cheering them with "Who Dat!" chants. The Saints, cellar dwellers for decades, delivered not just their first Lombardi trophy but optimism for the city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"The Saints kept hope alive in this city that better days were coming," said Shannon Sims, a 45-year-old criminal court administrator, as she waited for the team. She said the Saints "were the force that kept us moving forward."
The win was not just about football for New Orleans, said John Magill, a historian at Historic New Orleans Collection.
"We're all being told that we're sinking, why bother rebuild it, there was so much of that attitude," Magill said. Thanks to the Super Bowl win, he said, Americans will view the city in the positive light it deserves.
Sunday's victory came a day after New Orleans elected a new mayor and several other city officials. But in the area newspapers on Monday there was little besides the Saints.
The New Orleans paper, The Times-Picayune, ran a 5-inch headline that said "AMEN." The subhead read, "After 43 years, our prayers are answered."
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