Saints Find Comfort in Their Dome Away From Home

The gold pompoms were free but the emotions had to be earned.

Many seats remained empty but by the end all the New Orleans Saints heard were the voices that chanted “Dee-fense, dee-fense” in the fourth quarter. The names of the fans were LaSalle (Hayward, who drove eight hours from New Orleans) and Lopez (Robert, who drove eight minutes down the road). The band roaming the parking lot was mariachi, not jazz, and the partying was done on the Riverwalk instead of the French Quarter.

Not that their displacement counts for anything compared to others’, quarterback Aaron Brooks said, but the Saints were happy to be “home” Sunday, even if home was 550 miles from everything that used to be familiar. So happy that they won a football game, 19-7, over the Buffalo Bills at the Alamodome.

This was the second “home” game the Saints (2-2) have played this season but the first of three they will play at the place where they will practice and in the town most have settled into for a few months.

With their real home, the Superdome, left trashed and desolate after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their city, the Saints also will play four “home” games in Baton Rouge, at Louisiana State University. They were the designated home team in the second game this season, against the New York Giants at East Rutherford, N.J.

“We want to thank everybody here today,” Saint Coach Jim Haslett said after his team recovered from an early 7-0 deficit Sunday. “You can tell what a difference it makes to have people cheering for you.”

When the Bills scored first, the Alamodome stayed silent. It seemed as if the fans, many of whom wore San Antonio Spur jerseys and had treated their complimentary pompoms as nuisances to be tucked under the seats, had come to the game out of a sense of duty.

Even before Katrina it had been no secret that Saint owner Tom Benson found the Superdome unworthy of his team. It also wasn’t a secret that Benson owns a home in San Antonio. When the NFL announced the Saints would set up semi-permanent camp here for daily practice and three home games, many New Orleans fans felt they were being set up.

“A lot of us think San Antonio is going to steal our team for good,” said LaSalle, a 52-year-old salesman who had stayed with relatives outside of Austin, Texas, since the hurricane. Last Monday, he said, he drove back to his suburban New Orleans home when he heard power was back on. “But no way I was gonna miss this game either,” he said. “They gonna steal our team? I want to be here and show Saints fans don’t give up.”

But if San Antonio was auditioning for NFL status, the citizens held back. The 65,000-seat Alamodome had huge pockets of empty seats Sunday. Officially, 58,688 tickets were sold.

“This is a Dallas Cowboys town,” Lopez said. “Always has been, always will be.”

Lopez said a friend gave him the tickets. “I came out of curiosity,” he said. “And because I wanted to show my support for what New Orleans has been through. But I’ll probably leave early. I want to catch the Cowboys on TV.”

In fact, the NFL had announced last week that it would not enforce its traditional television blackout in home cities where tickets don’t sell out within 72 hours of game time. However, the Saints’ two other Alamodome games probably won’t be televised here because they will conflict with Dallas games.

But by the time the fourth quarter arrived Sunday and the Saint defense stopped Bill running back Willis McGahee on fourth and inches when the score was still 13-7, it seemed as if everybody was wearing the Saints’ black and gold.

“We heard that noise,” defensive tackle Brian Young said. “I have to say, hearing that gave us a boost.”

As late as Saturday there was frantic work being done at the Alamodome by the Saints’ staff -- painting end zones in Saint colors, putting up Saint signage and trying to sell tickets, of course.

Haslett said four members of his coaching staff are still living in Alamodome offices and running back Deuce McAllister, who rushed for 130 yards Sunday, said he’s still not sure where to park his car.

But there was something familiar to players and fans alike. Jerry Romig, the Saints’ veteran public address announcer, did the game.

“That was great, hearing his voice,” McAllister said. “Just the little thing like he knew our names and stuff.”

“I loved hearing that voice,” Saint fan Toby Lafont said. “For a minute it felt like nothing has changed.”

Lafont said his home is in New Orleans’ historic Garden District and that he and his family have rented an apartment in Baton Rouge.

“I drove here with three buddies,” Lafont said. “I probably shouldn’t have but my wife told me to go. One thing about Saints fans

It is Saint fans, Lafont pointed out, who invented the idea of wearing paper bags over their heads when the team was particularly terrible. “We’ll call ourselves the ‘Aints when we deserve it,” he said.

The Saints had opened with a road win at Carolina, then lost to the Giants and at Minnesota.

“Nothing will be normal for us this year,” New Orleans tight end Ernie Conwell said. “But it does feel good tonight that I’m not getting on a plane to fly anywhere, that I can just get in the car and go home.”

John Carney, who kicked four field goals for the Saints, waved at the cheering fans when he walked into the locker room.

“The field is still the same size,” Carney said, “and we’re playing in a dome. So that’s the same. Is this home? Not quite.”