Thousands of men sporting dresses and makeup marched through the New Orleans French Quarter on Sunday, chanting “Who Dat?” and carrying signs that read “We made it!” The parade, which began at the Superdome and culminated at Bourbon Street and Conti, was in honor of the late Buddy Diliberto, a legendary New Orleans sportscaster. After years of frustrating Saints losses Diliberto, known affectionately as Buddy D, vowed to wear a dress if the boys in black and gold ever made it to the Super Bowl. Though Diliberto passed away in 2005, former Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert, the “Cajun Cannon”, honored Diliberto’s promise, donning a blonde wig and gold sequin dress and leading a crowd of roughly 85,000 Saints fans dressed in drag.

“Buddy and Bobby’s Brawd’s Bunch-Of-Men Dress March” began at noon in front of the Superdome and took the form of a giant second line which included everything from a brass band to the scantily clad men of the 610 Stompers, with locals jumping in and out of procession as they pleased. Saints fans carried a variety of signs mocking the Indianapolis Colts, criticizing the NFL’s recent battle over “Who Dat” ownership, and celebrating Buddy D and the Saints. Toy pigs with wings strapped to their backs were seen flying over the crowd as Saints tribute songs blared from the speakers of a truck float carrying Hebert and several other WWL 870AM radio personalities. For three hours, participants danced their way to Oceania Grill in the 700 block of Conti Street, where the festivities ended with “best dress” and “hairy legs” contests, followed by a block party.

Today is the Saints playoff game against the Arizona Cardinals, and I find myself feeling a mix of excitement and anxiety. Thinking back on the season, I remembered something I told a friend of mine when she asked why her Louisiana friends were suddenly celebrating the Saints so much. My answer was this:

All of the Saints fans that I know have been die-hard fans since day one (since the days of Mora, Hebert, & Anderson for my generation, and earlier for my parents’). Then again, all of the Saints fans I know are locals, so we grew up watching and cheering for the Saints, win or lose.

It goes without saying that there are more important things to be concerned with, but I think the overwhelming excitement this season is about more than just a winning football team. It’s our first winning team in the history of the franchise. This is a first that any of us have ever seen — the first that all of us have been waiting for. Football is one of our nation’s passions, whether you’re a fan or not, and we’re finally getting to experience what other states have known for years with their winning teams.

All of that being said, something that most people are forgetting is that this is more than just team support. It’s unity. It’s the city coming together to celebrate something. Louisiana fails at politics, education, disaster recovery, and everything else except food, and the rest of the nation sees it. We’re finally succeeding at something nationally. It may not be the most important thing, but it’s something. And for those of us who watched everything we loved be obliterated four years ago, it’s nice to have something to come together over and celebrate.