The New Orleans Saints have a long history of losing in the National Football League. The joined the league prior to the 1967 season, but didn’t post a .500 record until 1979. Their first winning record came in 1987 which was also the first season they advanced to the playoffs. That year the Saints posted a 12-3 record. The team had a nice run from 1990-1992, when they played in the postseason in three consecutive years, but then went another eight years before they saw the postseason again. The Saints have never won or even appeared in a Super Bowl and have won two division championships.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Louisiana area. One of the places that took the brunt of this incredible natural disaster was the City of New Orleans. The city was flooded and in ruins. People were being housed in a very damaged Superdome until they were able to be evacuated to a safer place. Katrina knocked out a number of people, businesses and buildings. She also knocked out the Saints. The damaged sustained to the Superdome in the hurricane made it unfit to play in so the Saints had to find other venues to play in. They split their home games between San Antonio and Baton Rouge. The team was about as damaged mentally as the city was physically and they went 3-11. After the year was done, the team lost a number of their free agents and let go of their head coach Jim Haslett.
A couple of good things came out of the wreckage. The city seemed to unite around this franchise since, some will point out, serves as a distraction to the grueling rebuilding process. The Saints also picked up a new head coach, Sean Payton. The best part of the off-season, other than signing Pro Bowl signal caller Drew Brees, was drafting USC running back and Heisman winner Reggie Bush. These three people have the opportunity to turn around a franchise and lift up an entire community at the same time.
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