No Place like Dome
OCT. 17 >> MINNESOTA VIKINGS AT NEW ORLEANS SAINTS >> 8:30 P.M. EST
[1] GARDEN DISTRICT Yard where Saints QB Archie Manning and sons played Amazing, a game in which Archie lobbed spirals from the Mannings' porch and Cooper, Peyton and Eli jumped and dived to make dramatic snags. Neighbors now include Nine Inch Nailer Trent Reznor. [2] NEW ORLEANS ARENA Home of New Orleans VooDoo, Saints owner Tom Benson's arena football team, which went 11--5 in its inaugural season. [3] VOODOO MUSIC EXPERIENCE The music weekend (Oct. 16--17) includes the Beastie Boys, Green Day and a Pixies reunion. [4] TULANE STADIUM Since demolished (a rec center is there now), this was the Saints' home from 1967 to '74, the filming location of the '69 Charlton-Heston-as-Saints-QB schlockfest, Number One,and the site of Tom Dempsey's record 63-yard field goal. [5] HILTON NEW ORLEANS RIVERSIDE Bears stayed here for Super Bowl XX in '86, and hotel received bomb threat after it was reported, falsely, that QB Jim McMahon had called local women and men "sluts" and "idiots," respectively. [6] FREAKY TIKI TATTOOS Where ex--Saints OT Kyle Turley got ink. [7] SAINTS HALL OF FAME MUSEUM The team is 228-334-5 alltime, so highlights are scarce. See portraits of venerable Saints, and Dempsey's custom shoe. [8] LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN Says wideout Donte' Stallworth of the brackish, 625-square-mile lake, "A lot of times I just sit there watching the water. Nobody bothers me, and I can just kind of chill. The water has a calming sound." [9] BOURBON STREET Main artery of Mardi Gras. In '84 Ken Stabler--then a banged-up Saints QB--watched the parade from above at The 544 Club. Some of his cronies yelled to women below, "Show us your [breasts]!" One shot back at Stabler, "Show us your knees!" [10] THE HUDDLE Former watering hole where Saints DE Doug Atkins ('67--69) fired at pictures of QBs Sonny Jurgensen and Billy Kilmer with a pistol. [11] JEFFERSON DOWNS Track, now defunct, where ex--Saints coach Bum Phillips raced his horse King of Gold, who pleased him because "he didn't even ask to renegotiate" after he won. [12] FRENCH QUARTER Where Stanley Kowalski bellows "Stellaaaa!" in A Street Car Named Desire. Elia Kazan's 1951 screen version, starring Marlon Brando, was shot in the Big Easy. --Adam Duerson
What the Vikings like about New Orleans
Visitors' View
Go to Popeyes. They've got a buffet. They've got a big selection of food. I like to go over there."
--Daunte Culpepper,
quarterback
"I like to go to the French Quarter. I took my girl on a horse-and-carriage ride, and they give you a tour of the city. There's a lot of stuff they tell you, but I challenge it because I know about it too. An old U.S. mint was there. New Orleans was one of the richest cities, because they had the best of two ports--the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico."
--Chuck Wiley, defensive end
and Louisiana native
693 MILES NNE
Ludlow, Ky., DURO BAG MANUFACTURING CO. Largest paper bag manufacturer in the U.S. and likely supplier to the Bagheads of the 'Aints-era 1980s.
911 MILES NE
Newport News, Va.
TODD STADIUM Ferguson High field where Saints QB Aaron Brooks starred. Watching in the stands: eighth-grader Michael Vick, also a Newport News native and Brooks's second cousin.
1,622 MILES WNW
Cardiff Reef, Calif.
Kicker John Carney's fave surf spot since his days in San Diego.
952 MILES N
WISCONSIN--LA CROSSE Saints rookies had to run a human gantlet with pillow cases over their heads at '98 training camp. Kyle Turley bruised his right knee, Jeff Danish gashed his left arm and hand, and Cam Cleeland sprained an ankle and missed most of the preseason.
SUPERDOME
FIRST REGULAR-SEASON GAME: Sept. 28, 1975, Bengals 21, Saints 0
• IN USE: 48 weekends a year
• SUPER BOWLS HOSTED: 6, most of any stadium
• AMOUNT OF ANODIZED ALUMINUM: More than 550,000 square feet
• CONCERT CROWD CAPACITY: 87,500 for Rolling Stones, 1981; largest indoor concert crowd ever
• HIGH SCHOOL PROMS HOSTED IN 2003: 3
• SCHOOLCHILDREN ON HAND TO SEE POPE IN '87: 80,000
• BUSH VISITS: 1 (In '88 H.W. nominated by GOP)
COLOR MAP
MAP BY STEVE STANKIEWICZ
COLOR PHOTO
AP (DEMPSEY)
COLOR PHOTO
TOM CAMMETT/WIREIMAGE.COM (TURLEY)
COLOR PHOTO
MICHAEL DEMOCKER/THE TIMES-PICAYUNE (LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN)
COLOR PHOTO
ANDREW J. COHOON/AP (BAGHEAD)
COLOR PHOTO
KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE.COM (BEASTIE BOYS)
COLOR PHOTO
CRAIG LASSING/GETTY IMAGES (CULPEPPER)
COLOR PHOTO
JAMIE SQUIRE/GETTY IMAGES (BOURBON ST. SIGN)
COLOR PHOTO
DILIP VISHWANAT/SPORTPICS (BROOKS)
COLOR PHOTO
FRED JEWELL/AP (MCMAHON)
COLOR PHOTO
BILL FRAKES (MANNINGS)
COLOR PHOTO
BETTMANN/CORBIS (BRANDO)
COLOR PHOTO
COURTESY OF ARENA FOOTBALL LEAGUE (VOODOO LOGO)
COLOR PHOTO
MICHAEL DEMOCKER/THE TIMES-PICAYUNE (TULANE STADIUM)
COLOR PHOTO
JOE MCBRIDE/CORBIS (SURFER)
COLOR PHOTO
CHRIS GRAYTHEN/GETTY IMAGES (SUPERDOME)
COLOR PHOTO
COURTESY OF UNIV. OF WISCONSIN--LA CROSSE (LOGO)
COLOR PHOTO
RICHARD MACKSON (PHILLIPS)