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ROUSES MARKETS OFFICIAL SUPERMARKET OF THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS THE DIRTY BIRDS BY DAVID W. BROWN In sports (and football, specifically), a good rivairy is an art form. It binds local communities together, rallying practically everyone around a shared, common goal of trouncing the long-hated other team. It’s passed dawn through generations as a kind of grudge-holding family tradition, and allows people to believe in something bigger than themselves: that these heroes of athleticism will bring bragging rights home for everyone to enjoy the boast-worthy spoils. While there are plenty of rivalries that have gone down in the history books as legendary (Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali, for instance, or in college basketball, Duke and the University of North Carolina), for many professional football fans across the South, there's no bigger modern rivalry than the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons. But what — exactly — makes these two teams such worthy, engaging rivals, year after year? Below are multiple tenets of what makes a rivalry truly riveting, and how the Saints vs, Falcons matchup continues to draw fans with vim and vitriol each season A GOOD RIVALRY HAS FAMILIARITY — AND HISTORY. Whether or not fans would ever admit it, the Saints and Falcons have quite similar origin stories. The Saints entered the National Football League (NFL) os an expansion team in 1967, just two years after their neighboring Deep South team, the Atlanta Falcons, who were also born as part of an expansion effort They met for the first time on November 20, 1967, with the Saints just barely posting a win over the Falcons, 27-24, But it wasn’t the score that mattered that day, because something much larger was born: a blood-boiling, hardscrabble rivalry. Both the Saints and Falcons were originally placed in the National Football Conference (NFC) West in 1970, then moved to the NFC South in 2002, which has ensured that the teams hove played at least two games against each other each year since — allowing plenty of opportunities for both memorable moments and mudslinging, ‘And there are few fan bases who can sling mud better. The old adage “familiarity breeds contempt” is taken to its most venomous level where the Saints and Falcons are concerned, and fans on both sides aren't afraid to get creative with their nome-colling. There are also plenty (and | mean plenty) of chants, refrains and jokes with the singular aim of getting fans completely riled up. (A personal, cheesy favorite How many Falcons fans does it take to change a light bulb? None! They are happy living in New Orleans’ shadow.) Astrong rivalry means that there's a bevy of historic moments that have been crystallized in the memories of loyal fans. There’s Atlanta’s 62-7 blowout of the Saints ot Tulane Stadium in 1973. There's 2009 when Darren Sharper intercepted o pess from Matt Ryan. And there's the Falcons’ 1991 victory in the only playoff matchup between the two. The list goes ‘on and on. But then there are moments in the Saints-Falcons history that have been memorialized far beyond the collective consciousness. Without a doubt, the grandest example of this is the golden statue erected outside of the New Orleans Superdome in 2012 depicting Saints safety Steve Gleason as he blocked a punt by Falcons kicker Michael Koenen. (The punter depicted in the statue is generic because the Falcons, of course, wouldn't allow their logo to be used.) This wosn't just any punt block between rivals, though. The now-legendary event occurred during the Saints’ first game back in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, and has become symbolic of the team’s unwavering spirit ond resilience. A GOOD RIVALRY HAS TWO WORTHY ADVERSARIES. While Atlanta and New Orleans football fans have been duking it out for decades, few people outside of the region noticed for most of the teams’ tenure because both franchises were, well, a little lacking in the wins department “The Saints and the Falcons both were so bad for so long that | believe this is why their nasty rivalry never gets attention from the mainstream media,” writes Mike Kerns of Bleacher Report, “In fact, the futility was so bed that up until the Falcons’ Super Bowl run of 1998, both franchises had only managed to capture the division crown once each.” Since the late 1990s, though, the teams have not only started beating each other, but become powerhouses on a national scale. AIL A GOOD RIVALRY MEANS CELEBRATING THE OTHER TEAM’S DEFEATS AS MUCH AS YOUR OWN VICTORIES. 1s a Falcons’ loss as satisfying as a Saints’ win for fans and vice versa? Not quite, but it’s pretty darn close. No recent incident captures this more vividly than the Saints fans’ glee — | mean, absolute giddiness — ot the Falcons blowing o 28-3 lead against the New England Patriots in the 2017 Super Bowl. A GOOD RIVALRY IS SO MUCH BIGGER THAN A GAME. Perhaps most important, a strong rivalry between teams is good at getting the whole community riled up. And along with the trash talk, hollering and superstitions on both sides, there’s plenty of culture on display: Rivalry game day is, without a doubt, its ‘own special kind of celebration For the Saints and Falcons, it is a larger clash between the very character of two extremely different Southern cities. With over 5.9 million people, Metro Atlanta is filled with the kind of skyscrapers and troffic-snarling sprawl that mark it ‘as sweepingly metropolitan. New Orleans, on the other hand, is smaller and funkier — content to do its ‘own thing down along the Gulf. Game day between these two rivals isn’t just about what happens on the field — it's a true grudge match for pride of place and local identity A GOOD RIVALRY MAKES YOUR TEAM — AND FAN BASE — TOUGHER. The Saints and Falcons have clashed more than 100 times over the course of their respective careers, and have been pushing each other to grow, develop and achieve in ways that non-rivelry competitions just can't. It's not hard to imagine that, while in training ‘ond practices, Saints players are fantasizing about picking off a pass from the Falcons quarterback and the Falcons defense is running drill otter drill in hopes of sacking Jameis Winston. sessions The cities of New Orleans and Atlanta are assuredly gearing up, too — figuring out just how they're going to clown cround on one enother in an innovative, memorable fashion this year as decades of history, rivalry ond community pride come to a head RED BULL GIVES YOU WIIINGS. 2. 4: USES 090722 PAGES AL STORES
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