Tracy's World

Okay, since we all know that the New Orleans Saints are going to win Superbowl XLIV, I thought it might be fun for us Saints fans to learn a little bit of trivia about our beloved team. You die-hard Saints fans might find some of the questions tough and quite interesting. Keep reading, you might learn something!

1. Ricky Williams, former Saint is a qualified Yoga teacher. When he went to the Toronto Argonauts he began teaching Yoga lessons. He claimed it kept him off drugs.

2. When the Saints first joined the league, they were admitted to the Capital Division. The other teams in the Capital Division were the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, and Philadelphia Eagles in 1967.

3. Did you know that Mike Ditka traded away the Saints entire 1999 draft, plus their first round pick in 2000 to the Washington Redskins so they could draft Ricky Williams. The Redskins chose LaVar Arrington who, in his rookie season,recorded 55 tackles and 4 sacks. He later had over 400 career tackles and 23 sacks. In college, he was an All Big Ten selection, a first team All-American twice, and in 1999 he won the Chuck Bednarik and Dick Butkus awards.

4. The first season for the Saints in the NFL was 1967. The Saints were a 1967 expansion team awarded to the city of New Orleans. They were informed of the approval for the team on All Saints Day, November 1, 1966, by then commissioner Pete Rozelle. Theories are that the team name was chosen because of getting the nod of approval on this Catholic holiday, because of the Catholic population in New Orleans in general and/or because of the jazz anthem “When the Saints Go Marching In”.

5. The first coach of the Saints was Tom Fears. Tom Fears was fired in 1970 after starting the season 1-5-1. Maybe more famous for his career as a player for the Los Angeles Rams, he was the first player ever to line up away from the tackle but on the line of scrimmage. This made him the first wide receiver in NFL history. He played for the Rams his entire career 1948-1956. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1970.

6. Season 21 was the first season that the Saints posted their first winning season. In the Saints 21st season they posted a win-loss record of 12-3. That was also their first trip to the playoffs. They lost the Wild Card game to the Vikings 44-10.

7. The Saints first called the Tulane Stadium home. The Saints started in the Tulane Stadium until the move to the Superdome in 1975. When Hurricane Katrina damaged the Superdome, the Saints played 2005 home games in Tiger Stadium, Alamodome and NY Giants Stadium until the repairs were complete for the 2006 season.

8. In the first 40 years, the Saints never made it to the Super Bowl. Although, in their 40th season they did make it to the Conference Championship game but lost.

9. Jim Mora coached the team to their first playoff appearance and also their first division championship by standings in the NFC West. The team saw playoff action in four seasons under Mora. He was the only coach in the teams first four decades to finish his tenure with a positive win-loss record. His regular season record with the Saints was 93-78.

10. The Saints all-time record at Tulane Stadium was 23-32-1.
Tulane Stadium was demolished in 1980. It held the first ever Sugar Bowl in 1934 between the Tulane Green Wave and the Temple Owls, with Tulane winning 20-14. The trophy awarded to the winner, an antique silver wine cooler, was made in London in 1830 during the King George IV era.

I hope you learned something you didn’t already know about the New Orleans Saints. I found these facts on a website called www.funtrivia.com. They have many more trivia quizzes to test your knowledge.

Enjoy the game and “Go Saints!!“