Saints' woes kills fans' buzz

• Fans bond with team remains strong despite 0-4 start
• Bar patrons heading for the doors earlier when Saints lose
• Team's response to Hurricane Katrina deepened fan loyalty

NEW ORLEANS -- How depressing is the New Orleans Saints' 0-4 start?

It's bad enough that fans cramming into Tracey's Bar and Restaurant in the city's Uptown neighborhood on game days actually stop drinking after the final whistle.

Bad enough that some fans are threatening to bring out the paper bags worn over heads at home games during the team's winless stretches in the 1980s, when the squad earned the nickname the "Aints."

Still, fans here are unwilling to abandon the team that saw them through Hurricane Katrina seven years ago and won them a championship four years later.

"The love affair is still pretty deep," says Kaare Johnson, an AM radio talk show host whose broadcasts have been Saints-dominated lately. "You'll have some folks complaining, but they're still showing up on Sunday."

Saints fans expected a rocky start given the team's offseason turmoil, which included losing head coach Sean Payton and defensive star Jonathan Vilma for the season in the pay-to-injure bounty scandal and quarterback Drew Brees missing most of training camp because of protracted contract negotiations.

But no one expected them to be winless after four games. "The general Saints population is pretty frustrated," Johnson said.

Three years ago, the Saints — led by the same coach and same quarterback — shot out to a 13-0 season before winning Super Bowl XLIV. A citywide party erupted from Bourbon Street to Lakeview that lasted well into Mardi Gras nine days later. The Saints symbolized the city's resurrection from the destructive floods in Katrina's wake in 2005.

That elation has turned into stunned disbelief this season. Adding to the dismay: New Orleans is hosting the Super Bowl, allowing fans to dream of the Saints playing in the game in their home city — a feat that has never been done. Those dreams are all but dashed now.

But the goodwill garnered between team and fans in that Super Bowl season remains strong, according to season ticketholder Louis Shepard, 59, of Lakeview. He says Saints players and staff played major roles, both on and off the field, in helping the city recover from the floods. Shepard still attends each game, win or lose.

"We're willing to be a little forgiving of them when they're not playing great because of what they've done before," he said. "We remember the joy they brought to the city."

The Saints' post-Katrina success gave many fans a distraction during tough years of rebuilding homes and repopulating the city — something fans won't easily forget, says Gabe Feldman, director of the Sports Law Program at Tulane University.

The days of Saints fans wearing paper bags over their heads to games during losing streaks are not likely to return, "The Saints are such a part of the fabric of the culture here," Feldman said. "The popularity of the team doesn't hinge quite as much on its win-loss record."

The Saints today are far different from the losing Saints teams of the '80s, claims Lionel Alphonso, 65, a season ticketholder since the Saints entered the league in 1967. For one, Payton and Vilma will return next season, stoking fans' hope.

Alphonso, who dresses in a pope's cassock and headgear emblazoned with Saints logos for each home game, also points out the Saints' commitment to helping New Orleans post-Katrina . "We've never had a team that's been this good and done so much to keep the state and the Gulf Coast going," Alphonso said.

Every game day, about 300 black-and-gold-speckled fans crowd into Tracey's, owner Jeffrey Carreras says. The walls are lined with mementos of better days: a "Super Bowl Champions" banner; a framed photograph of Carreras cradling the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

But the losing record so far is hurting business, he says. The bar loses about half its daily drink revenue each time the Saints lose, as patrons leave early rather than keep celebrating.

"It's different night-and-day when they're winning or losing," Carreras said. "When they're winning, restaurants, bars, even hardware stores are doing better. It's a tremendous impact to businesses when they lose."

Despite the score, however, fans are back each Sunday. "At this point, it's like a train wreck," bartender Leslie Nash said. "You have to watch."