… say dey gonna beat dem Saints? There’s a slight possibility that if you knew myDarlin’ you may not have known he was a die-hard Saints fan, if you met him during the off-season. Other than that, you would be able to tell by the flags on Tacoma, the large flag that flies on the front of our house, his gloves, his coat, his shirts and yes, by his constant ‘Who-Dat?’ slipped in during most conversations. Robert Kenui Pope was not a superstitious man, except when it came to not washing his Saints jersey when they were on a winning streak.
While myDarlin’ never spoke ill of anyone, he did his share of fun loving ‘smack talk’ during football season, including bets with friends that involved the loser wearing the football jersey of the winner’s team at Open Mic. I loved hearing him talk football with the kids, and was always amazed at how much they all knew about the players and the sport. People would often ask how this laid back Hawaiian came to be a Saints fan….. was it because he lived in New Orleans for a few years before moving to the ATL? No, as Robert told the story, it was that Hawaii didn’t have a pro team, so he chose his favorite underdog team, the New Orleans Saints.
myDarlin’ was the ‘Commish’ in a Fantasy Football League, Bayou Allstars, and took great delight in setting up the draft each year, keeping a weekly tally and texting between the members during the games. I honestly didn’t take a great interest in understanding the game, but used to ask Robert for just enough information to be able to do some ‘mini smack talk’ with our Falcons rivals. As you remember, or can imagine 2009 was an especially good year for the Saints and myDarlin’ was beyond excited when they won the Super Bowl.
As I hit the pause button, and come back to today’s reality, I remember the reason I chose this topic today. It was two emails that dropped into the ‘In-Box’ today that prompted me to write about the Saints; the first containing two tickets for the Saints-Falcons game on September 7th and the second a reminder for Robert to update his Fantasy Football League.
As we sit in church on Sundays, Pastor Ron refers to us as Saints. Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? There are many that make it their mission to destroy ‘dem Saints’ on and off the football field. Today I am grateful that Jesus died for our sins and that there is no need for believers or ‘Saints’ to doubt that we will see Jesus and Robert again.
“Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” John 20:27
#KeepLookingUp
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