There's just something special about the city of New Orleans and its relationship to the Saints.
But don't take my word for it, listen to what renowned and longtime NFL reporter and columnist Peter King said this week on WWL regarding that exact topic.
Listen to the full, exclusive interview with Pete
Listen to the full, exclusive interview with Peter King in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"There’s something about New Orleans," King told Bobby Hebert and Mike Detillier on SportsTalk. "There’s a lot of teams that are really important to their communities, like the Denver Broncos are really important to Denver. The Green Bay Packers are really important to Green Bay and northeast Wisconsin, to all of Wisconsin. And so there are a lot of people in a lot of communities in the country who view that our community would be incredibly diminished without our team, but nowhere moreso than in New Orleans."
And King would know as well. The longtime columnist is retiring -- at least in large part -- after nearly a half-century in the sportswriting arena, and looked back on his time covering the Saints, which included being dispatched to New Orleans in 2006 for the first draft after Sean Payton took the reins. He spent time with Payton, Mickey Loomis and Drew Brees as the city was still picking up the pieces following Hurricane Katrina. He recalled a meeting with George W. Bush in the buildup to the draft, and even recalled the look on Reggie Bush's face as he arrived in the city after being drafted No. 2 overall.
"He was looking out the window and I can just tell you," King said, "Reggie Bush was thinking, oh my God, what have I gotten myself into."
What that ended up being was a run to the NFC Championship in Bush's rookie season, followed a few years later by the franchise's first and still lone Super Bowl title.
King shared a host of other stories, looked ahead at potential pitfalls for the NFL, particularly in the gambling space, and a lot more. Click here or hit play on the embed above to hear the full interview.
