Now that was a game. And it really was a lot more than that. I always find the psychological aspects of a sporting event’s effect on a community to be very interesting, but in this case the role the Saints played in uplifting New Orleans last night was worth the millions of dollars that was spent on the stadium. Some New Orleans folk are conflicted about the decision to invest so much in a single building when there’s this, you know, housing problem, but I’m with those who think that this was a good and important way to spend it. To understand why, we need to return to the theme of the Common Good.

During the summer, Mike Tomasky suggested the Common Good as a good organizational theme for Democratic politics in general, and campaigning in particular. I thought it was a neat idea but poorly expressed, partly because he didn’t seem to know what the term actually meant.

What happened last night at the Superdome was a great illustration of this. You could have indeed distributed that money to homeowners, and good could have been done with it. (Of course, that’s not really the pile the money was taken from. Taking money from the Superdome would not have led to more money presently allocated for the rebuilding. The Superdome got its money first, but delaying it would not have gotten money to housing any quicker.) But what the Superdome offered was a place to re-establish the collective identity of the city. Even more than Mardi Gras (I think), it was a public space where New Oreleanians have traditionally gathered to celebrate their (for a long time) only major professional sports team. The role of the team in the city’s identity is a little disproportionate, but there it is. It’s a piece of New Orleans that has been recovered that no single person can claim ownership of – it’s a common good.

(Update: See this first-hand account from Chris Rose to see what I mean.)

I’m not particularly a fan of the Saints (the Patriots are my team), but I think I became one last night. Part of the city’s identity is that we’re spectacular hosts who throw great parties. We’re an event city. And last night was an event. That we hosted. In our city. And everyone had a great time. And the Saints were central to it, and I think that makes them my team.

What the Saints did last night is what New Orleans does, and what New Orleans is now doing again. And for so many people, it awakened that little bit of joy (oh yeah! Now I remember what it feels like to live here and love it!) that will sustain us through the immense amount of crap we still have to wade through to get our lives back together. That's worth a lot.