The cheer, with its inside joke of a “French” spelling for go, serves as the standard greeting among New Orleanians these days. The NFC champions have become so much more than a football team to the citizens of Cokie’s hometown – those big guys in black and gold stand as a symbol of resurrection and resurgence.

Words such as “faith” crop up when people in the Crescent City talk about their gridiron heroes. “It’s not because we’re selling it,” team owner Rita LeBlanc told ESPN. “You cannot watch this football team and not have faith.”

Faith sustained New Orleans after the storm when boats sat atop houses and cars toppled onto the “neutral ground”; it was faith that brought people back to this quirky and querulous city. Rita LeBlanc, the grandchild of Saints owner Tom Benson, was among them.

Wary New Orleanians worried that the Bensons would take the team out of town after the Superdome became the public image of disaster. Instead, the family improbably turned the stadium into a church (as well as the home of exuberant obscenity-laced cheers). A private mass before home games often finds the local prelate presiding: “I pray for all the saints,” says Archbishop Gregory Aymond, “those in heaven and those who will be on the field.” On the Sunday of the championship game, the archbishop cut quite a picture greeting St. Louis Cathedral churchgoers – the Saints’ spirit moved him to pull a Drew Brees jersey over his white cassock.