ROUSES_SeptOct2019_Magazine

Make no mistake about it, the concept of “mindfulness” is everywhere these days. And whether you’ve decided to hop on the bandwagon or not, the notion — as a marketing tool and pop culture phenomenon — implores us to be present in every moment: not hurried or harried, but a chilled-out, Zen-filled vessel of calm who starts the day by listening to a meditation app and ends it by gratitude-journaling next to a salt lamp. B ut such a narrow definition of self-care has never quite worked for me — and it might not be right for you, either. It’s high time we begin to recognize that mindfulness and “being in the moment” are more of an individualized, Choose Your Own Adventure -style journey than anything Gwyneth Paltrow is trying to sell us. So, sure, sometimes we might need a three-day yoga retreat to become a healthier, happier version of ourselves. But sometimes, we need to eat delivery pizza at 2 a.m. while watching Seinfeld reruns. And then there are those times when recharging our batteries means painting our faces, donning our lucky underwear, and screaming our lungs out as part of the heart-pumping energy that comes with a good ol’ fashioned sports rivalry. In sports (and football, specifically), a good rivalry 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 down 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. anxiety, joy, anger, excitement and disappointment. There are few opportunities in life that afford these extreme emotional experiences. And so the investment in the rivalry pays off in those unmatched moments of pure feeling.” And 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), but 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. (Oh, and Who Dat!) 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) as 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 No- vember 20, 1967, with the Saints just barely posting a win over the “This is a complicated world with serious problems…so it can feel silly and frivolous to get so wrapped up in sports rivalries,” writes the University of Texas’ Art Markman in a 2014 New York Times opinion piece. “But, taking part in rivalries has some real psychological benefits… On game day, fans get to have the full range of emotional experience including

photo: New Orleans Saints

Falcons, 27-24. But it wasn’t the score that mattered that day, be- cause something much larger was born: a blood-boiling, hardscrab- ble 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 have 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 name-calling. Among the

slurs hurled at the Atlanta Falcons by Saints fans, favorites include the “Failcons,” “Failcans” and “Failcants” — plus several that aren’t quite fit for print. Falcons fans love to hit back by calling New Orleans’ football finest “the Ain’ts” and the “Cain’ts.” There are also plenty (and I 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.) A strong rivalry also means that there’s a bevy of historic moments that have been crystallized in the memories of loyal fans, who are more than happy to reminisce about them — play by play — at a moment’s notice. There’s Atlanta’s 62-7 blowout of the Saints at Tulane Stadium in 1973. There’s 2009 (the Saints’ Super Bowl win year), when Darren Sharper intercepted a pass from Matt Ryan to stave off a Falcons comeback and raise his team’s record to 13-0. And there’s the Falcon’s 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 statute is generic because the Falcons, of course, wouldn’t allow their logo to be used.) This wasn’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 and resilience. The statue’s official name is — what else? — “Rebirth.”

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