“Faith.” That’s the motto for the New Orleans Saints and their fans this year. The word is written on Saints T-shirts and the organization will soon release a commercial advertising “faith” as the main idea.

The advertising ploy is a message telling everyone in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to remain hopeful, because the situation will get better. On Sunday, when the Saints won a dramatic victory in Carolina over the Panthers, the situation did get better for at least one day.

With three seconds remaining, Saints kicker John Carney drilled a 47-yard kick into the wind to seal the victory for his team. Thousands of Saints fans living out of hotels in Baton Rouge, in the Reliant Astrodome in Houston or a warehouse in San Antonio rejoiced after the victory and were able to forget about their current misfortunes. Joe Horn, veteran wide receiver for the Saints, has visited the Astrodome many times to try and provide comfort for the victims.

“All people have asked of me was, ‘Joe, please win football games for us,'” Horn said. “And that is what makes us feel good. It wasn’t about who made plays or who did what.

“It was about winning that football game for the fans in New Orleans and around the world, because our fans are everywhere.”

Horn is exactly right. Usually home team fans are hostile towards the visiting team and especially to the few visiting fans that make the journey with their team. This wasn’t the case in Carolina.

In the news, Panthers fans were shown supporting the Saints and their fans throughout the afternoon. One image pictured a woman wearing a Panthers jersey and holding a sign that read “United Saints of America.”

It seems that even residents of Carolina were Saints fans yesterday. In fact, the crowd of nearly 73,000 people at Bank of America Stadium donated more than $176,000 to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. In return, fans received a strand of Mardi Gras beads. Even though NFL fans will still root for their home team this year, the Saints might be everyone’s new second-favorite team.

Sunday also served as the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and was the New York Giants’ home opener. Before the game, a sold-out Giants Stadium honored those who died on Sept. 11 by holding a pre-game ceremony that included family members of the victims of the attacks and New York City Police and Fire Department members.

Once the game began, the Giants didn’t disappoint. After a slow start, the team scored five touchdowns in the second half and prevailed to win the game 42-19. Players and coaches admitted to being more motivated to win this game since it was in New York and on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Giants Coach Tom Coughlin, whose son escaped the World Trade Center in 2001, said “there was no way we were going to lose at home, on this date, for this great city [and] for these great people.”

Coughlin, along with most of the Giants players on the sideline, wore a “FDNY” hat throughout the game and an American flag pin on his shirt collar.

The media in New York talked about the game being played on this significant date all last week and the players were obviously very aware of the situation.

“I think a lot of it had to do with [Coughlin] and this team’s belief that this organization is on the field representing the city,” said Giants running back Tiki Barber. “He put a lot of emphasis on it and I think we played with the kind of pride that New Yorkers have. It is an odd parallel to draw…but we believe that we played for the city today.”

It has been four years since the Sept. 11 tragedy, and in those four years the city has rebounded from adversity and again established itself as a prominent city in America.

The New York Giants’ victory on Sunday won’t make people forget the events on Sept. 11, 2001, but it will provide a few moments of happiness for New Yorkers.

Sports can give us hope.

With so many other events and past events controlling our thoughts recently, everyone needs an outlet and a reason to rejoice. Hurricane Katrina victims and Sept. 11 survivors received a reason through football this past weekend. Maybe we can all take a little comfort and have “faith” in that.

Brad Scarborough is a senior music and communications major and may be reached at [email protected].