NFL teams
Mike Triplett, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Saints, Superdome commemorate 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

NFL, New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans

NEW ORLEANS -- It was fitting that the New Orleans Saints hosted a preseason game on the day after the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

The Saints and the Superdome have been among the greatest symbols of New Orleans' remarkable recovery following the storm.

The Saints commemorated the anniversary with a couple of small but powerful messages before Sunday's game against the Houston Texans. They played the "Thank You New Orleans" message over the video boards that they had released via social media a day earlier.

In it, coach Sean Payton, quarterback Drew Brees and others who had been around since 2006 thanked the city for several things, including "giving us the greatest home-field advantage in the NFL" and "refusing to give up and always believing in the city and in us."

Payton also wore a "Katrina X" symbol on his jacket.

Payton said in hindsight he wished he had thought to do something more, like a patch on the players' uniforms.

"It just seems fitting," said Payton, who explained that he got the idea for the 'X' symbol during the pregame meal and started looking up exactly what it represented -- the symbols were used by search-and-rescue teams to record when they searched homes and whether any people or bodies were found, among other information.

Payton filled the spaces in his X with the letters "N," "O," "L" and "A."

Beyond that, Saints senior vice president Ben Hales said the team just wanted to play its role as "a bit of normalcy and refuge" on Sunday after an emotional week filled with various Katrina commemorations.

Longtime Superdome manager Doug Thornton was feeling some of that return to normalcy before Sunday's game against the Texans -- a matchup the NFL specifically chose to feature on national television because Houston took in so many of the Gulf South's evacuees after the storm.

This weekend was especially emotional for Thornton, who had been in the dome during those harrowing days after Katrina hit, then led its remarkable revival in the 12 months that followed. But he was relaxed and smiling on the sideline before Sunday's game as he pointed up to the roof.

"I still marvel at this. How did we do it?" Thornton said.

"I was thinking this morning as I was getting dressed, 'You know, I've been in this building hundreds of times for hundreds of events, but you're gonna come in here today, and it's gonna feel a little bit different,' " said Thornton, who said he flashed back to what he was doing on the morning after the storm hit -- which was the day he and National Guard members had to work feverishly to save the generator from being consumed by flood water.

Among others on the sideline doing some media interviews before Sunday's game were former Saints players Deuce McAllister and Will Smith, who were part of the team that had to relocate to San Antonio in 2005 and made a triumphant return in 2006.

Texans owner Bob McNair also said he appreciated being in town for the anniversary weekend. McNair played a small but key role in the recovery himself. McNair put former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue in touch with New Orleans business leaders Tommy and Jimmy Coleman in the months after Katrina. The Colemans helped arrange invaluable support from the business community when the Saints' future in New Orleans was in serious doubt.

"The Saints are so important to the city of New Orleans," said McNair, who also helped to raise millions of dollars, including his own contribution, to aid the region's Katrina recovery. "To see the way the city has embraced them and then the way the Saints were fortunate enough to have some great performance back then -- which was really uplifting for the city -- that's really very satisfying."

Longtime Superdome security guard Mike Foster was almost done with his shift as kickoff approached Sunday. Foster, who helped secure the building during those days after Katrina even as his own 9th Ward home had been washed away, went about business as usual this weekend. He helped get the building ready for Sunday's game after helping to set up operations for the city's big anniversary event at the neighboring arena Saturday.

Foster said he has been most pleased by the progress of the dome and the city while reflecting back this week.

"We've still got a long way to go, but I always did say when they rebuilt the dome, everything around the dome was gonna rise up. And look around you: That's just what happened. This was the catalyst," Foster said.

"I never doubted the dome would be back. Just listen to the name, 'Superdome.' It's self-explanatory."

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