Root for Saints, but remember the city

By far, the most compelling, most enduring story of this NFL season has been the New Orleans Saints' improbable march to Sunday's NFC Championship Game in Chicago.

Seventeen months after Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees surrendered to the surging waters, submerging 80 percent of the city, the Saints are giving their devastated home something positive to rally around.

Their success this season turned Sunday afternoons in New Orleans into a time of rest, a time away from all of the worry and concern that haunts every resident.

By winning, the Saints allowed the city to celebrate again.

Displaced by the hurricane a season ago, the Saints won just three games. This season, however, they won the NFC South, beat the Philadelphia Eagles in a divisional playoff game and are one win from going to the Super Bowl.

Unless you grew up with Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers, Walter Payton and Mike Ditka, how can you not root for the Saints on Sunday?

But while you're watching the game, think about the city, all it has been through and all it still needs.

It is one thing to root for the Saints on Sunday, but how wonderful would it be if every fan in every state watched this game and decided to do something to help fix New Orleans?

"We want people, as they're watching this game, to realize that the process of rebuilding here is going to take years," said Mickey Loomis, Saints executive vice president and general manager, by phone Thursday. "We're going to need help for years. It's not the kind of thing where you throw some things together, work for a few weeks, feel good about yourself and it's done."

Think about New Orleans on Sunday, not just the Saints.

Think about all of the poor displaced people in the Lower Ninth Ward, whose homes were washed away when the levee broke. Now, so many months later, all that is left for them is a concrete slab where a home once rested.

Think about the homeowners in the Lakeview District, whose dream homes sat for months under 8 feet of water. Think about all of the people who can't get back into their houses and are living in cramped and crumbling trailers provided by FEMA.

"We're pretty far along in the cleanup," said Loomis, a former Seahawks executive, "but in the areas that were devastated, we're getting nowhere. Nothing's being done."

Think about Saints fans in Atlanta and Houston and Jackson, Miss., who want to come back but don't have homes to return to. Half of the population of New Orleans is gone.

Think about all the work that needs to be done, because 17 months after the fact, so little has been done.

"Sometimes I just think, well, it's hard to believe this is happening here," said Laurie Becker, who lives in the city's Garden District. "It just seems that the United States, that we are better than this."

I spent the week before Christmas in New Orleans volunteering for a group called RHINO (Restoring Hope in New Orleans) and saw the devastation first-hand.

I went to a Saints game and felt the unbridled joy of football fans living large. Throughout the following week, I visited areas untouched since Katrina. I talked to people who wondered if they ever truly could make their lives whole again.

"The good thing about the success of our team is that it has kept the focus on Hurricane Katrina and the disaster and the rebuilding of New Orleans," Loomis said.

"It has come to the point where, as a news story, other things are happening and they have pushed our story to the background. But as a sports story, in the course of talking about the Saints, people also are revisiting the news story part of it."

Think about all this city has experienced. Think about the loss. Everyone, rich or poor, has been affected. Think about all the doctors who have left town because there are just three hospitals operating.

"We're excited about the Saints," said Sarah Edgecombe, project director for RHINO, "not just because they are the home team and not just because they've never been to the NFC Championship Game, but because we desperately need something to be hopeful about.

"Homes and schools are still sitting in mold, and homeowners don't know when, if ever, they'll get back to the lives they enjoyed before the storm. But, for just a few hours, we can enjoy seeing a group of people working together and doing it well. That's rare around here these days."

New Orleans largely is a city in ruins. A great city that needs to be rebuilt. A ghost city that needs our help.

As you watch the Saints play in Chicago against the Bears, think about the city as you watch its remarkable football team. And think about what you can do to help.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com