The New York Times has an article about how the city of New Orleans is insanely excited about the Saints first appearance in the Super Bowl. This is why I think pro sports are good for cities; they create a sense of identity and pride. I like this quote about New Orleans:
New Orleanians are acutely aware of how their city is perceived. They’ve had to explain to friends after their post-Katrina sojourns in Dallas or Atlanta or Houston — those well-groomed, go-get-’em cities that have flourished in the past few decades — why they wanted to return to a city long associated with crime and corruption. If you have to ask, you’ll never know, according to Louis Armstrong, and most outsiders don’t, and it gets frustrating. A football team can’t change that, but it can help.
