These Saints Don't Represent America

A historically bad franchise making an unexpected run to the Super Bowl is nothing new.

Labeling that organization as "America’s Team" after missing the postseason the last two seasons before playing on Pro Football's biggest stage is.

That is whats happening as the national media looks for stories to tell before the Indianapolis Colts take on the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV next month.

The Saints have become the Dallas Cowboys. They are the new "America’s Team." You heard it here first. Well, maybe second, third, or fourth.

“If this isn't "America's Team" for just a few weeks now, there never really was one,” wrote Baltimore Sun scribe Mike Preston.

“With memories of Hurricane Katrina lingering and NFC champion New Orleans about to make its first Super Bowl appearance, football fans around the country have embraced the Saints as this year's sentimental favorite,” said the Associated Press.

Even renowned Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravtiz has already gotten into the act.

“The New Orleans Saints are the story in Super Bowl XLIV. First-time Super Bowl participants. A team playing for a city rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina. From the Aints to the Saints. So many new faces, so many stories that have yet to be told.”

However, in my crazy football world, the Saints are far from the team the country should embrace.

The idea of an "America's Team" does not exist in the NFL. The league, at least recently, has not been defined by one franchise like MLB with the New York Yankees, the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics, or even one player like Michael Jordan.

The NFL is as popular as it is today because it is a big melting pot.

No matter who is playing each Sunday in the fall people will at least be interested in the game. Sure, the Cowboys (The originators of the "America Team" moniker), Pittsburgh Steelers, and to a degree the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are identifiable more than most teams.

However, the NFL does not need those teams to be great, go deep in the postseason, or be in the Super Bowl to garner the interest of the American people. The last four Super Bowls have gathered ratings of 40, 41, 42, and 43 respectively.

None of them involved the Dallas Cowboys or obviously the Saints. The highest rated Super Bowl of all-time is still Super Bowl XVI when the San Francisco 49ers battled the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Saints are a great story for New Orleans, the NFL and sports in general, but they are not "America's Team." They are a feel good story for now due in part to their horrid football history and obviously Hurricane Katrina destroying the city.

But again, the idea that one team represents the NFL is the exact opposite of the current structure of our country. I mean, we have different religions, cultures, races, sexual orientations and languages.

Yet, the Saints should be the nation's universial football franchise? Besides, football is the only major team sport based on this continent that does not participate against international competition. There is no reason to drape the flag around any organization in show of support.

Russia, China or Canada will not be opposite New Orleans come Super Bowl Sunday.

An opponent from Indiana will.

And why is only this label restricted to pro football? Nobody was the calling the Yankees "America’s Team" during their World Series run following the tragic terrorist attacks in New York City in 2001. Baseball fans hated the Yankees then, and I am pretty sure they still do now. 

Where was all the reverence for the Tampa Bay Rays two seasons ago when they made an improbable surge to the Fall Classic in 2008? 

What about the Pittsburgh Penguins who nearly were forced to move the team before winning the Stanley Cup last year?

Let's say the Lions make a run the Super Bowl next season. You know the national media is going to rehash the 0-16 season. And you know there will be stories done about how fans did not show up for games when the team fell apart during the Matt Millen era.

And you know the press will try to tie the Lions winning the NFC reviving Detroit after the city suffered during the economic crisis that forced the shutdown of major companies, caused record foreclosures, and created a tremendous spike in unemployment.

If all that were happen, would the Lions then take away the title away from Saints as "America’s Team?"

The Saints can be "America's Team" for two weeks. Until there is another one.