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It is hard to believe that 40 years have passed.
On a beautiful September afternoon at Tulane Stadium, the New Orleans Saints opened the 1973 season against the Atlanta Falcons.
I can’t say hopes were high. The Saints were coming off a two-win season. In the middle of the 1972 season, head coach J.D. Roberts was fired. The job went to a Roberts’ assistant, John North. North was a good football coach and a better man.
But on that sunny Sept. 16 uptown, it all went wrong.
Archie Manning completed as many passes to the Falcons as he did to the Saints – five. The Falcons led 24-0 at halftime and 45-7 at the end of three quarters. I was ready to go, but my buddy Kevin Kytle convinced me to stay.
Back then, we had just made 16 years old. We had a driver’s license, his dad’s car, and time to kill. Kevin made quite an argument for us to stay. It was 45-7. The Saints might come back.
That misguided logic has served him well as a prominent attorney in Jefferson Parish.
The day seemed unusually hot. But when I checked the box score, it said temperature at kickoff was 79 degrees. The game was even worse than the score. The Falcons had 32 first downs, the Saints 11.
What amazed me is what happened the following Monday night. North agreed to come down to the TV studios at WVUE and go live on Buddy Diliberto’s show. North was surprisingly upbeat. He promised that things would get better.
They did. The following Monday night, the Saints lost at Dallas on national TV, 40-3.
Back then, a highlight on Monday Night Football was when former Dallas quarterback turned analyst Don Meredith would start singing. The tune was “Turn Out the Lights, the Party’s Over.”
I could swear I heard Meredith singing in the second quarter.
Eventually, the Saints did get better. At one point in the 1973 season, New Orleans won four of five games. The Saints finished 5-9.
When I think back to those days, I think about how much has changed in the Saints-Falcons rivalry. The Saints have won six of the last 10 meetings.
Last year, even when the Saints were in the throes of a woebegone season, they had Atlanta’s number. The Saints won in New Orleans and almost won in Atlanta, despite a five-interception performance from Drew Brees.
The Saints have been where the Falcons would love to go – to the makeshift podium on the field at the Super Bowl to pick up the Lombardi Trophy.
I think it is great these teams don’t like each other. This is the NFL. No room for the timid here.
Forty years ago, things were much different. I wasn’t laughing then, but I can laugh now.
You young Saints fans have no idea how much the rest of us endured. The bottom may have been a 55-point loss at home to those Dirty Birds 40 years ago this month.
Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].
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