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Saints fans aren’t ready to bag it yet

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Times Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS -- A warm autumn rain falls in stages, first softly and then with greater intentions, as the faithful make their way into the Louisiana Superdome.

These people know about dreary Sundays. They have a history of enduring dismal football, wearing paper bags over their heads and, inevitably, muttering the local maxim, “Same old Saints.”

Bedecked in black jerseys and Mardi Gras beads, Tom Ray and his wife, Terri, talk about their many years as fans.

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“Mostly bad years,” Tom says.

They refer to last season as if it were a dream -- their team making a Cinderella run to the playoffs, becoming an inspiration and a symbol for a city desperate to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina.

But this fall, the dream has evaporated. After Sunday’s last-second loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Saints slipped to 0-4, sunk by mistakes and missed opportunities all too familiar in these parts.

“People expected them to have enormous success,” said Ken Trahan, a local sports radio host. “Everyone thought they were going to take the next step.”

So the fans are back to where they began, right? Back to booing and muttering and waiting till next year?

Not quite. Not yet.

In some cities -- maybe most -- a perennial loser simply fades away. Or packs up and moves elsewhere. That hasn’t been the case in New Orleans.

An expansion franchise started in 1967, the Saints went two decades before their first winning season and have averaged a paltry six victories a season over 40 years. From early on, fans learned to soften the blow with humor, wisecracking about the “Aints” and wearing brown paper bags over their heads.

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The team’s Hall of Fame museum, located in the Superdome, includes a photograph of “bag heads” beside a Saints joke book.

“This has always been a unique situation,” said Archie Manning, who quarterbacked sad-sack Saints teams for more than a decade. “The fans get mad at the Saints, get frustrated with the Saints, but all in all they’re big football fans and they love the Saints.”

Absent any promise of success on the field, games became a community gathering, an excuse to party in a city that doesn’t need much of an excuse.

“Eight extra Mardi Gras days,” said Chris Edwards, a 27-year-old fan, referring to the number of regular-season home games each fall.

Not that there haven’t been bumps in the road. Owner Tom Benson reportedly considered moving the team as recently as two years ago -- Los Angeles was mentioned as a potential new home -- and with a struggling local economy, there are no guarantees he won’t make good on the threat when the current Superdome lease expires in 2010.

But the quirky, dysfunctional sports marriage between the Saints and their fans has changed significantly since Katrina.

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The team left town for a year while its stadium was refurbished, then returned with an extreme makeover as Drew Brees took over at quarterback and Reggie Bush arrived by way of the draft. New Orleans became a darling of the NFL last season, going 10-6 and defeating Philadelphia in a divisional playoff before losing to Chicago, one step short of the Super Bowl.

“Everybody was pulling for this franchise and pulling for this city,” said Trahan, the radio host who also runs the team museum. “I’ve never seen anything unify the community like that team did.”

Unexpected success might have spoiled fans if not for the larger picture. New Orleans is still rebuilding, large portions of the city devastated. Concerns about crime, healthcare and public education burden the already strained infrastructure.

Last season, the Saints not only provided a distraction, but players such as Brees, Bush and linebacker Scott Fujita devoted time and money to the community. Their efforts earned goodwill that has carried over.

This year, the franchise sold all of its approximately 70,000 season tickets and has a lengthy waiting list.

“You’ve got to stick with them because of what they did for us,” Terri Ray said.

Her husband added: “Did more for us than the federal government.”

So, a local newspaper editorial chastised fans who booed at a recent Monday night loss to Tennessee. The 70,000 people who attended Sunday’s game against Carolina arrived in a wave of black and gold, wearing leopard-skin cowboy hats, colorful jester’s caps and the occasional fez.

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The crowd cheered louder and longer than was probably justified for a team that ranks near the bottom of the NFL in offense and defense, scoring less than 13 points a game while surrendering almost 30.

Against the Panthers, the Saints struggled with turnovers, dropped passes and missed field-goal tries, the building blocks for a 16-13 loss.

There was some booing near the end -- mostly for kicker Olindo Mare -- and some grumbling as the crowd filed out. At least one fan put on a paper bag decorated with a fleur-de-lis.

“We still feel that sense of responsibility to the fans,” a frustrated Brees said. “I think we’re all disappointed for them.”

Asked about the mounting losses, Bush, the Heisman Trophy winner from USC, could only mutter: “This is a first-time situation for me.”

But when someone suggested firing Coach Sean Payton on a fan website, a series of replies quickly shot the notion down. On another message string, fans insisted there was still a chance to recover in the weak NFC South division.

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It seems the city has not turned against its team. Not quite. Not yet.

Makenzi Henton, a 21-year-old fan, attempted to explain that people who root for the Saints aren’t like other fans. She wanted the rest of the country to understand.

“Just tell ‘em,” she said, “New Orleans hasn’t given up on the Saints.”

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david.wharton@latimes.com

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