National passion is different in New Orleans

New York Times features kidnapping story, new details on Thursday

By Ken Tingley

Like so many of us, this past weekend was a football weekend for me. The NFL has become so popular I’m sure more people go to games than church, but that may be an exaggeration.

It was a little different for me  because I was in New Orleans. Where ever my son has lived over the past few years, I have adopted their sports teams as my own.

When he lived in San Antonio, I followed Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and the Texas Longhorns. Now that he is in New Orleans, I am following Tulane’s Green Wave and the New Orleans Saints.

The Green Wave of Tulane made a rousing comeback in the second half to defeat Alabama-Birmingham Saturday at Yulman Stadium. Tulane is now 4-1.

On Saturday, I got my first sunburn of the year watching Tulane’s comeback victory over Alabama-Birmingham at little Yulman Stadium (capacity 30,000) while sitting with my son in the bleachers under a scorching Louisiana sun.

The Superdome in New Orleans is a magnificent feat of engineering where that has hosted Seven Super Bowls.

On Sunday, I headed out to the Superdome with 70,000 others where the Saints were playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and there was thankfully no sun. It was the first time I had been to an NFL game where the Giants were not playing.

It was different.

Everything is different in New Orleans.

When in New Orleans, it’s the jambalaya for the pregame meal.

My pregame meal was jambalaya and water instead of a hot dog and beer.

The Saints’ fans did not just dress for the games, they get in costume.

Saints fans love their football, but I think they also like getting dressed up in costume.

There was one guy dressed as the Pope.

Another was in a kilt while wearing an ungodly large gold necklace around his neck.

Another dressed entirely in sparkling gold sports coat.

Saints’ fans can stop traffic with their attire.

There also seemed to be just as many women as men. This was a couples event.

The NFL overtook baseball as our national pastime some 50 years ago, and the latest polling reveals that 81 percent of men are avid or casual fans of the NFL while 59 percent of women are avid or casual fans.

Everyone seems to have an interest whether it is with their favorite team, a fantasy football league or a bet on the game. Harrah’s has a sports book at the Superdome.

The Saints did not play well. Their offense only managed three field goals and they lost. The crowd started to trickle out halfway through the fourth quarter with the Saints only down eight.

The fans seemed more disappointed, than angry.

The game is not so much the attraction as an event. There are fireworks, cheerleaders and music and lots and lots of food and drinks.

After each first down, Saints’ fans are implored to “Move dat chains.”

Yes, one guy came dressed as a whistle.

Chanting has become a big tradition for the Saints. Fans are constantly screaming “Who dat?” after big plays

A day earlier, the Tulane fans celebrated touchdowns with  “The Hullabaloo Cheer” that goes something like this:

A One, A Two,

A Helluva

Hullabaloo

A Hullabaloo

Ray Ray

A Hullabaloo

Ray Ray

Hooray

Hooray

Vars Vars Tee Ay

Tee Ay, Tee Ay

Vars Vars Tee Ay

Tulane!

By the second touchdown, I was enthusiastically screaming as well. I have no idea what it means, but I hope to find out when I return. I have tickets to Tulane’s final home against another team I know well - Texas San Antonio

For me, the real attraction during the weekend was the Superdome itself. I had been there before for an NCAA championship game 20 years ago, but I never saw a football game there before.

The site takes up some 52 acres and the Statue of Liberty could sit at the 50-yard-line and not brush the roof.

It is a great place to watch a game and just an impressive structure.

The walk back to my hotel was made easier by the ability of cups of beer by accommodating bar owners along the route. After all, hydration in New Orleans is important.

I finished off my football weekend with a family dinner at Manning’s sports bar. Archie Manning - Peyton and Eli’s father and one-time quarterback of the Saints - was the original owner and the restaurant could pass as a Manning family photo album.

Seated before the mammoth big-screen TV, I was hoping the Manning magic might rub off on my Giants in their game against the Seahawks.

It did not.

We left at halftime with the Giants getting whooped.

I had seen enough football for the weekend.

I should have gone to Bourbon Street instead.

Kidnapping story

Jesse McKinley of the New York Times did a comprehensive story Thursday on the kidnapping of the 9-year-old girl kidnapped form Moreau State Park.

Details about the case have been in short supply, but are gradually trickling out.

McKinley’s story was one of the “Editor’s Picks” in the email sent out to New York Times subscribers Thursday morning with the headline “A ransom note and a fingerprint: How a missing 9-year-old was found.”

I was also glad to see the Times Union address the rarity of kidnapping cases like this.

Emilie Munson addressed the threat to children with a report that the total number of kidnappings annually is around 100. Considering that the U.S. has a population of 332 million that is not a lot.

Unfortunately, that will not make many parents feel any safer.

Munson wrote in her story:

The most common child abductions involve a family member — often an abusive adult taking a child to punish the left-behind parent, explained Erin Runnion, the founding director of the Joyful Child Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce crimes against children.

“Before I learned about all of this, my assumption was most child abduction was protective parents taking children away from abusive parents but that is statistically less likely to be the case,” Runnion said. Her 5-year-old daughter was abducted by a stranger in 2002. But she said in almost all cases, the abductor has a connection to the family.

Children are precious and stories like this can make parents even more protective. Stories give the context that while horrible things happen from time to time, they are not common.