Saints veteran defensive end Cameron Jordan’s first exposure to the epic displacement caused by Hurricane Katrina occurred when a group of new students from New Orleans arrived at his high school in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona.
asserted
group → cause → Chandler
“Katrinians,” the 37-year-old Jordan said after a recent practice.
asserted
Jordan → say → practice
“That’s what we called them.”
asserted
we → ’ → them
Five years later, Jordan arrived in New Orleans as a 2011 first-round draft choice and participated in community service projects at properties still scarred by storm damage.
asserted
Jordan → arrive → damage
“I think about the city I came to,” Jordan said, “and how much we’ve grown since then.”
asserted
we → think → city
The Saints (1-2) had an extra day this past week to prepare for Monday night’s game against the Atlanta Falcons (1-2).
asserted
Saints → have → Falcons
They used it to educate players — many of whom were toddlers in 2006 — about the Saints’ Week 3 Monday night game against the Falcons 20 years ago.
asserted
many → use → Falcons
The “Domecoming,” as it’s known in New Orleans, is best remembered for Steve Gleason’s block of the game’s first punt.
asserted
it → know → punt
Curtis Deloatch recovered the ball in the end zone and reverse-dunked it over the goal post (which was permitted back then) as the crowd unleashed an explosive, cathartic roar — a moment Gleason would say felt like “infinite joy.”
asserted
Gleason → recover → joy
The stadium, used as a shelter of last resort, was damaged by Katrina, contaminated by mold and left in foul-smelling squalor after thousands of evacuees were stuck there — surrounded by flooded streets — for days without power or plumbing.
asserted
thousands → use → power
It was closed for 13 months and underwent extensive, fast-tracked repairs before it could welcome back fans, many of whom were still rebuilding their own homes.
uncertain
many → close → homes
Saints coach Kellen Moore gathered the team for a team-produced video about Katrina and the dome’s reopening, hoping it would help players appreciate the “unique connection between our city and our football team.”
asserted
players → gather → city
“It’s very much one, very much tied together,” Moore said.
asserted
Moore → ’ → ?
“You see the different videos and recognize streets that we all drive on nowadays and those different things,” Moore continued.
asserted
Moore → see → that
“They recognize and realize the impact that it had.”
asserted
it → recognize → that
Quarterback Tyler Shough said he teared up while seeing the images of devastation and listening to longtime team employees and former Saints players discuss their memories of Katrina’s aftermath.
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employees → say → aftermath
“It was emotional,” Shough said.
asserted
Shough → say → ?
“You really feel just how important the Saints are and how important our work is.”
asserted
work → feel → ?
Gleason, who has been living ALS for more than a decade, is set to be an honored guest Monday night.
asserted
who → live → decade
So is Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, who’d been acquired by the Saints as an injured free agent less than a year after the storm and was playing his first home game in New Orleans on that Monday night 20 years ago, leading the Saints to a 23-3 triumph.
asserted
playing → acquire → triumph
Gleason’s block is immortalized in a bronze statue named “Rebirth” on an exterior Superdome plaza.
asserted
block → immortalize → plaza
Longtime fans joke that the play might have set a record for simultaneously spilled beverages as fans jumped from their seats, yelled with everything they had, danced, hugged and even cried as the spray of whatever they were drinking rained down on them.
uncertain
they → joke → them
Then-“Monday Night Football” play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico says he’s never experienced anything like it.
asserted
he → say → it
Tirico recalled rehearsing how he would call the Saints’ first touchdown, intent on exclaiming, “Touchdown, New Orleans,” to emphasize what it would mean to the city.
asserted
it → recall → city
He did so as Deloatch recovered the blocked punt in the end zone, and then stopped talking while holding up his hands to fellow members of the broadcast team, urging everyone to remain silent and let the sights and sounds of celebrating fans speak for themselves.
asserted
sights → do → themselves
“There was nothing any human alive could say that could be better,” Tirico said.
uncertain
Tirico → be → ?
Saints safety Justin Reid was 8 years old and living near Baton Rouge when Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005.
asserted
Katrina → live → Aug.
While his community did not flood, power was out for about two weeks and evidence of wind damage was everywhere.
asserted
evidence → flood → damage
He took cold showers by candlelight and recalls his father driving around their neighborhood with a trailer, helping neighbors pick up storm debris.
asserted
neighbors → take → debris
Later, his father took the family to witness storm damage in New Orleans.
asserted
father → take → Orleans
Reid remembers seeing waterlines left behind on homes after flooding — caused by multiple levee breaks — had receded.
asserted
flooding → remember → breaks
About 80% of New Orleans experienced some flooding.
asserted
% → experience → flooding
In some neighborhoods, the water level climbed above front doors.
asserted
level → climb → doors
Some homes closest to levee breaks had been swept off their foundations and torn apart.
asserted
homes → sweep → foundations
Estimates of storm-related deaths range from about 1,400 to 1,800.
asserted
Estimates → relate → 1,800
For Reid (who does not recall watching the 2006 game live), the Saints’ triumph over the Falcons on that Monday night was “poetic,” as was the NFL’s decision to schedule another Monday night game with Atlanta at the Superdome within days of its 20th anniversary.
asserted
decision → recall → anniversary
“I grew up in Louisiana, so I know how much football at all levels means to the state,” Reid said.
asserted
Reid → grow → state
“Football is something that people spend their whole week looking forward to.
asserted
people → spend → week
It’s a beacon of hope for the city.
asserted
It → ’ → city
It’s something that brings people together.
asserted
that → ’ → people
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
