Super, Saintly inspiration

The mighty Indianapolis Colts, five-point favorites, bolted to an early 10-0 lead Sunday night in Super Bowl XLIV. That gave Saints fans good reason to fear that their team wouldn't stay in striking distance on the scoreboard.

But that wasn't nearly as harrowing as the dread Saints fans felt several years ago when they had good reason to fear that their team wouldn't stay in New Orleans.

For the last several months of 2005, after Hurricane Katrina and a levee-system failure hit the Big Easy tragically hard, Saints owner Tom Benson considered moving his franchise to San Antonio or Los Angeles. Then he rightly thought better of adding that insult to New Orleans' awful injuries. So he stuck it out through serious challenges, including major damage to the storm-battered Superdome.

Four years later, the Saints are not merely still New Orleans' team. They are the NFL's championship team after rallying in Miami for a 31-17 victory in their first Super Bowl.

Gulf Coast folks had plenty of company across the nation Sunday night in rooting for the formerly hapless Saints, whose protracted on-field futility once earned them the sad-sack title of "the Ain'ts."

No football game can solve New Orleans' lingering problems. Yet the triumphant symbolism of that Super Bowl outcome can inspire the resilient residents of a city still on the comeback trail.

So like Mr. Benson's decision to keep his team where it belonged, the Saints' rise to the NFL summit is a grand cause for celebration.

And New Orleans has always been a winner at that game.