Sports

After Katrina, Saints fans enjoying run for title

MIAMI — Mark Benfatti, who used to live and work in Chalmette, La., strolled proudly with two friends yesterday along the outdoor cafes of South Beach, a stiff breeze from the Atlantic tussling his hair and even rustling the thick black-and-gold Saints’ Mardi Gras beads around his neck.

Benfatti, a restaurant owner, knows all about the therapeutic elements of wind and water — as well as their destructive power. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina did a slam-dunk on Benfatti’s earthly possessions. His buddy, Alan Tyrone, calls him the “poster child” of Katrina.

“You want the inventory? Here’s the inventory,” Benfatti said, laughing as only a survivor can. “Two houses, four restaurants, two cars, a boat, two jet skis and every earthly possession except three pairs of shorts and two T-shirts. So, we didn’t do so bad.”

In many ways, Benfatti’s resilience and unflagging optimism is the story of New Orleans and its recovery 4½ years after one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. The bonds he formed with Tyrone, who lived on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and took in Benfatti’s family when they were homeless, have made the resurrection story of the Saints reaching the Super Bowl even more special.

“I went north, and Alan took me in,” Benfatti said, setting up his punch line. “He lost a shingle — and he was out of cable TV for almost a month. Geez, I was trying to compare our losses, and it was real close. I’m coming home from Chalmette, and I’ve got a trailer full of muddy items in two buckets — that’s everything I could salvage — and I walk into Alan’s house and he says, ‘That damn roofer. I’ve been waiting two weeks for him to fix that shingle.’ ”

The two friends have been close since they first bought Saints season tickets for after graduating from college 26 years ago. They are big sports fans, and they decided after Katrina to take a vacation trip to Talladega, Ala., for a NASCAR race. People on a shuttle bus found out they were from the New Orleans area and started poking fun that they were using their FEMA money to take a vacation.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Benfatti told them. “I only had three feet of water.”

“That’s not that bad,” a man agreed.

“But it was on the second floor,” Benfatti said.

The amazing turnaround symbolized by the Saints, who came so close to leaving New Orleans after Katrina, means one thing to Benfatti: “There is hope. There is hope. I mean, I don’t want to go 43 more years between Super Bowls, because I’ll be 92. That’s why we’re trying to enjoy every moment.”

Tyrone was old enough to remember Falcons wide receiver Michael Haynes, a New Orleans native, running down the sidelines with a pass to beat the Saints in a playoff game. Benfatti had seen too many last-second field goals go against the Saints, and he was expecting the worst when Brett Favre had the Vikings at the Saints’ 33-yard line with a minute left in the NFC Championship game.

“Brett was driving, it was like, ‘Here we go again,’ ” Benfatti said. ” ‘How many times have we seen this?’ ”

But then Tracy Porter intercepted Favre on third down, and the Saints got every break down the stretch to win in overtime. Destiny anyone?

“Me and Drew [Brees] both believe in destiny,” Benfatti said. “I think it’s our turn. Really, we love Peyton [Manning], but he might get another shot one day. We will, too, because we’ve got a good enough team. But it’s just our turn.”

In South Beach yesterday, Saints fans outnumbered Colts fans at least four to one. Among the most amazed was Michael Laurent of Marrero, La., who won the chance to purchase two $800 tickets in a lottery administered by the Saints.

On the Wednesday before the Saints beat the Vikings in the NFC title game, Laurent ordered Chinese food with two friends from the Wok To Go in Marrero, and he finally opened his fortune cookie.

The message inside gave him chills: “Traveling to the south will bring you unexpected happiness.” Four days later, the Saints were in the Super Bowl, and a week after that, Laurent and his wife Mandy had Super Bowl tickets in their hands.

“Let me tell you what that means,” Michael Laurent said. “The Saints are underdogs, right? They’re going to win unexpectedly. Right or wrong? And you know what else, I’m going to win the Powerball tomorrow.”

The Super Bowl trip for the Laurents is another resurrection story. Three members of Mandy’s immediate family lost their homes in Chalmette, and 50 to 60 members of her extended family lost houses in St. Bernard Parish. Now, the Saints are a manifestation that New Orleans is back.

“My satisfaction is going to come when we win because the national media will have to talk positive about the Saints and the city,” Mandy Laurent said. “We’re not that bad of a city.”

Benfatti has reopened his restaurant — N’Tini’s — to rave reviews on the north shore, where he has moved since Katrina. Saints coach Sean Payton came into his place to eat last August, and after a few glasses of wine told Benfatti that he had told Saints general manager Mickey Loomis to dust off the Super Bowl travel plans from 2006 that would have guided the Saints during their weeklong stay in Miami.

But, the Saints lost to the Bears in the NFC title game.

“We’re going this year to Miami,” Payton told Benfatti. “This is our year, and we already have our rooms and itinerary booked from four years ago. I just told Mickey to turn that ’06 upside down and make it an ’09. We’re going to the Super Bowl.”