Who are the Saints players or Coaches you have met and what was your interaction/thoughts on them?

Oh my god. More than I can say.

I’ve met every Saints head coach starting at Mora. I was maybe 8 or 9 when I met him, and my childhood takeaway was “I bet he’s a great dad”

Met Ditka at his live studio show. It seemed like something he felt he had to do. My family members appeared to like talking to him but for the occasions over his three years which I’d be dragged to the show, usually for not having a sitter available, I got “he wishes he was at happy hour” vibes.

I met Haslett the day after I graduated high school. Quick hi-bye, wished the team success after how the previous season ended, off we went. Too quick to really form an opinion of him from that interaction.

Sean Payton was warm & friendly, and didn’t feel so in a corporate media-trained way that some guys can be. This was at a benefit through a non-profit here in 2009. I met Dennis Allen & Gregg Williams the same year at different city events, maybe GW was 2010, but definitely all three around that time.

Through United Way and other childhood/K-12 enrichment programs I was involved in, I’ve met several dozen Saints players. Many were the hi-bye-thanks for the autograph types, but others were at “meet the players, past and present” type of events where I actually got to say sentences to them. These range from PJ Franklin & Marvin Powell III (3 combined career touches) to Rickey Jackson & Willie Roaf (Hall-of-Famers). I have friends who used to and currently date Saints players and behind-the-scenes folks. I’ve waited on players and players’ families who hid (or didn’t hide) their relation to players.

In a similar vein and one of my favorite experiences just living here, I was on a date at a pretty well-known restaurant in town (ain’t dere no mo’) when a player who was from the area had arrived with his family for a celebratory dinner, as the player was recently elevated from his team’s practice squad to active and a game in the Superdome was coming up. Nearly 20 people wearing either his pro or college jersey, or shirts with his name on them. I know they were excited to see him play live on the biggest stage, even if the game itself didn’t carry much in the way of stakes.

I’ve only encountered one Saints player who was kinda a jerk. Details are in that thread, don’t feel like retyping it lol