I know, I know, you’re all thinking, Adam, what took you so long to write about the game? Well, it took me a while to recover. From what? The game? The excessive amounts of food? The alcohol? Why yes!
The day started much the same way the previous night ended — eating copious amounts of food. Randy and I showed up at Turkey and the Wolf shortly after they opened and had their Fried Bologna, Collard Green Melt, and Deviled Eggs. We dove right in, so I missed pictures of our plates, but there’s a nice gallery at their website, so curious folks can click through to see what all the fuss is about. (Note: they were bon appetit’s pick for best new restaurant in 2017.)
From there we proceeded back to the Garden District to watch the early games at a local sports bar. If you’ve never been to New Orleans, you may be unfamiliar with some of its quirks, especially the fact that it is legal to walk around drinking an alcoholic beverage (as long as it’s in a plastic cup). This is one of those laws I always seem to forget no matter how many times I’ve been there. So after placing my order at the bar, the bartender asked, “For here or to go,” which stunned me for a second, before I finally responded, “Uh, yeah, for here.”
Most of the people there were fans of neither the Saints or the Cowboys, apparently transplants who came out just to watch their favorite team on one of a dozen TVs, while keeping an eye on their fantasy players across the league.
After a quick afternoon nap, we headed for the Superdome. We got there in plenty of time to avoid the crowds and get our drink on.
I still remember the first time I went to the Superdome and how Randy and his friends were surprised that the stadium was full. (This was, as you may recall, in 1998, when the Cowboys came to town with future Hall-of-Famers Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin.) The following year, I attended a game with Randy where the Saints hosted the St. Louis Rams, who went on to win the Super Bowl behind Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, and Isaac Bruce. Despite hosting “The Greatest Show on Turf” and having pulled Mike Ditka out of retirement to man the sidelines, the stadium was half empty. For better or worse, every game I’ve attended since has been a sellout.
I don’t have much to say about the game itself. In fact, the game was probably pretty boring to most outside observers. But that didn’t stop Randy and I from yelling at each other for the entire 60 minutes. Unfortunately for me, the Cowboys repeatedly shot themselves in the foot on offense, fumbling the ball, dropping passes, and untimely penalties. (If we had played any team but the Saints, I might spend some time complaining about the officiating, but… I think I’ll let it go.) And after all that, we only lost by two and the game came down to the final play in a very hostile environment.
So instead I’ll share some of my experience in the stands for those who have never been and wonder what it’s like being in the loudest place on earth. (Apparently Kansas City holds the record for loudest stadium, but my money is on New Orleans for consistent ouptut, and yes, I’ve been to Arrowhead.) You’ll need the volume on for full effect.
We’ll start late in the 4th quarter with my favorite play of the game, Jaylon Smith breaking through on 3rd down and dropping Teddy Bridgewater for a 16 yard sack. This knocked the Saints out of field goal range, forcing them to punt back to the Cowboys clinging to a two-point lead. If the Cowboys had come back to win, this would have been a pivotal play.
This is when the Saints fans kicked up the volume.
Maybe they got even louder, I can’t even think or see straight at this point.
Cowboys aren’t moving the ball fast enough given how much time is left. Who can blame them?
One last desperation heave and if anything, they got even louder when the ball fell incomplete.
Disappointed in the outcome, but hey, I can’t hate on Saints fans, they love their team, they love to trash talk the opposition, but it’s all in good fun. Randy and I have a long-running bet that the loser of the Cowboys Saints game has to change their Facebook profile picture for the following week. I asked some nearby folks if they could help me out. It turns out they were more than willing.
Well, when you sign up to go to eight road games, you can’t expect to win them all. Even though the Cowboys did do that in 2014, but I digress… We may see the Saints again in January. I’m sure Randy will have an extra ticket for me if that game is in New Orleans.