Old-time European Saints fans, AFN and the horror of the Opera Singer :) (1 Viewer)

[Geldo]

Hope you don't mind me sharing some old memories....I was watching some old Saints footage on youtube and it reminded me of the hilarious experience we old-time European fans had in supporting our beloved black and gold!

Anyone else remember:

• Listening to AFN Europe on 875am in the vain hope they might occasionally broadcast a Saints game and instead have to listen through 3 hours of 4-5 Kansas City vrs 1-8 Baltimore while desperately trying to catch a rare game update, which always faded out at just the wrong time as the signal seemed to get lost precisely when the saints score was announced.
• Finally getting a Saints game live on AFN and just as the game came to a nail-biting conclusion the signal would fade out and the dreaded opera singer from 873am would suddenly boom across the airwaves.....
• If AFN failed having to wait until Tuesday to find out the result in the Independent newspaper
• Excitedly travelling to a big city to an NFL clothing shop only to be told - 'no mate, there's no call for a Saints shirt' but I have got a Steelers one - it's black after all....
• Watching the game a whole week later on a one-minute highlight because every week they showed either the Redskins or the Bears. (Though in the 80s this often softened the heartbreak)
• After celebrating a huge win over a division rival like the Rams I'd spend a few days excitedly waiting for the publication of the only weekly publication NFL publication on Thursday morning. When it came out I'd flick the pages to the game reports and discover it had devoted all of 2 short paragraphs to it. The offensive stats they published would always be horrible anyway we had zero idea of who played well and the angle would be Rams fall to shock loss and be about LA.
• No youtube, no nfl.com, no streaming, and I can honestly say I think the first time the Saints were ever shown as the main attraction in the weekly TV highlight show was late 1987 - four years after the first show.

Anyone else remember the same or similar?

I feel spoiled with the coverage now!

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Hope you don't mind me sharing some old memories....I was watching some old Saints footage on youtube and it reminded me of the hilarious experience we old-time European fans had in supporting our beloved black and gold!

Anyone else remember:

• Listening to AFN Europe on 875am in the vain hope they might occasionally broadcast a Saints game and instead have to listen through 3 hours of 4-5 Kansas City vrs 1-8 Baltimore while desperately trying to catch a rare game update, which always faded out at just the wrong time as the signal seemed to get lost precisely when the saints score was announced.
• Finally getting a Saints game live on AFN and just as the game came to a nail-biting conclusion the signal would fade out and the dreaded opera singer from 873am would suddenly boom across the airwaves.....
• If AFN failed having to wait until Tuesday to find out the result in the Independent newspaper
• Excitedly travelling to a big city to an NFL clothing shop only to be told - 'no mate, there's no call for a Saints shirt' but I have got a Steelers one - it's black after all....
• Watching the game a whole week later on a one-minute highlight because every week they showed either the Redskins or the Bears. (Though in the 80s this often softened the heartbreak)
• After celebrating a huge win over a division rival like the Rams I'd spend a few days excitedly waiting for the publication of the only weekly publication NFL publication on Thursday morning. When it came out I'd flick the pages to the game reports and discover it had devoted all of 2 short paragraphs to it. The offensive stats they published would always be horrible anyway we had zero idea of who played well and the angle would be Rams fall to shock loss and be about LA.
• No youtube, no nfl.com, no streaming, and I can honestly say I think the first time the Saints were ever shown as the main attraction in the weekly TV highlight show was late 1987 - four years after the first show.

Anyone else remember the same or similar?

I feel spoiled with the coverage now!

I toured Europe plenty in the early 90s - didn’t know from AFN - all I could do was hope the International Herald Tribune had some mention of the game
Kids today don’t know

 

[Sailorsaint]

I feel your pain. I spent a good portion of my time in the Middle East in the late 80's to early 90's. Absolutely NO news on my Saints. Oddly enough, on the rare occassians when we pulled into Diego Garcia, there would be old news!

 

[UFCSaint]

Not in Europe but I felt some of your pain reading that. Some old memories for me:

1. Even in the States as a kid I would listen to the Saints games on radio if it wasn't on TV.
2. Before the internet existed, my Saints updates came from being subscribed to the Saints digest. A weekly publication that I would get in the mail...about a week after the game it was discussing.
3. Before the Sunday ticket, bars could only get a few NFL games per week. So the group with the biggest fan base that week would get the game. So I put up fliers all over town and at school in order to make sure they showed Saints games. We would have up to 50 fans some weeks at the bar.
4. Yes, it was almost impossible to find Saints merchandise outside of NOLA. Before the internet your only shot was a sports store in the mall. So whenever we would visit different States I would always check out the mall first in hopes of scoring some Saints gear. Where I lived (Tennessee), they never had Saints gear. I finally complained to the manager one day and asked why. He said, "Because they're not very good." To which I replied, "Neither are the Jets but you have their stuff."
5. I would sit waiting on weekly highlights on ESPN so I could see the Saints game clips. I would wait the whole segment only to see them skip them completely, or show a 3 sec clip with a score.
6. In one of my classes in college a guy sitting next to me noticed my Saints gear (shirt, backpack...no clue what it was.) He said, "So you're a Saints fan?" I said, "Yep" (always ready to defend myself in these situations.) He said, "Well....they have a kicker." He then went on to say he was a Browns fan and we became close friends from that day on lol.

Our team certainly has come a long way.

 

[saints4eva]

Hope you don't mind me sharing some old memories....I was watching some old Saints footage on youtube and it reminded me of the hilarious experience we old-time European fans had in supporting our beloved black and gold!

Anyone else remember:

• Listening to AFN Europe on 875am in the vain hope they might occasionally broadcast a Saints game and instead have to listen through 3 hours of 4-5 Kansas City vrs 1-8 Baltimore while desperately trying to catch a rare game update, which always faded out at just the wrong time as the signal seemed to get lost precisely when the saints score was announced.
• Finally getting a Saints game live on AFN and just as the game came to a nail-biting conclusion the signal would fade out and the dreaded opera singer from 873am would suddenly boom across the airwaves.....
• If AFN failed having to wait until Tuesday to find out the result in the Independent newspaper
• Excitedly travelling to a big city to an NFL clothing shop only to be told - 'no mate, there's no call for a Saints shirt' but I have got a Steelers one - it's black after all....
• Watching the game a whole week later on a one-minute highlight because every week they showed either the Redskins or the Bears. (Though in the 80s this often softened the heartbreak)
• After celebrating a huge win over a division rival like the Rams I'd spend a few days excitedly waiting for the publication of the only weekly publication NFL publication on Thursday morning. When it came out I'd flick the pages to the game reports and discover it had devoted all of 2 short paragraphs to it. The offensive stats they published would always be horrible anyway we had zero idea of who played well and the angle would be Rams fall to shock loss and be about LA.
• No youtube, no nfl.com, no streaming, and I can honestly say I think the first time the Saints were ever shown as the main attraction in the weekly TV highlight show was late 1987 - four years after the first show.

Anyone else remember the same or similar?

I feel spoiled with the coverage now!

Brilliant! I commend you for your perseverance and loyalty all these years. Need more fans like you in the Who Dat Nation.
Very well done indeed

 

[LA_Steve]

Navy Japan Yokosuka. If a game is Monday or Sunday night game ever come on at like 3 a.m.. the only place on base with TV at 3 a.m. was the laundromat. So it was always packed with the other team's fans and me. I was the only Saints thing every time. It was the Jim Everett years. And the demise of the Dome Patrol.

You would get the Saints Digest a week after the game is over. So it was useless. But if we were at sea we would get updates from Pilots. Some people would use plain old telephone service (POTS) line, and call home to get updates. You could get a operator and have her transfer you to any person you know that is at any base in the world. That's why its always good to know an ICman. and other ways I can't discuss here lol.

Watched a Rickey. Williams game in a Singapore Hooters.

In San Diego housing I had to rig a job up like the photo because we couldn't attach a dish to gov. property. Roll it out the garage and align it before every game. Then roll it back in after.

 

[boutte]

I can remember when we would wait at the drug store for the afternoon paper to come in so we could read latest news. Then we'd wait for Buddy or Hap on Tv followed by stuff like the Jimmy Taylor show or some other schlep.

Watching Buddy interview Danny Abramowitz was hilarious. It was like watching a foreign film with no captions. You couldn't understand either one of them.

 

[VPCajun]

78-80 when I was stationed at Hahn AB, Germany, my dad would mail the Monday Time Picayune Sports page with the Saints info.

[The Saints finished the 1979 season at 8–8, the franchise's first non-losing season. Woot!] [sigh]

89-93 when I was stationed at Ramstein AB, Germany, my dad would mail the Monday Time Picayune Sports page with the Saints info AND a VCR tape of the game!