"Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts talks with Rob Nice about her love for the New Orleans Saints on Friday's edition of the Black and Blue Report (interviews starts at the 3:20 mark).
Below are some highlights from the interview:
On if she will be watching the Saints-Cowboys game Sunday:
"I always watch. I have to tell you, last week was tough because I live in the New York area. I work with a lot of people who are Jets fans so when I came in they had me put on a Jets hat. They wanted be to tweet it but I will not be seen wearing anything other than Saints gear. But I really look forward to it. It kind of connects me back to home, when I was a kid watching the games. My father was a season ticket holder.
"Sally-Ann, my sister Sally-Ann Roberts, her husband unfortunately passed away from cancer, would go to the games with my dad. I remember one time we thought for sure the Saints were going to win this particular game so they left the Superdome and they headed to New Orleans East. By the time they got home they had lost the game. My dad would say 'Once again they snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory, the Saints.' So to have that kind of history with them, to have suffered with them but all along the way, I'm going to tell you Rob, I never put a bag over my head. I was never an aints fan. I never did that. But to see where they have come in recent years and just what they mean to all of us. Even when you're not there in the area anymore, you still follow them. You're still a part of Who Dat Nation.
On seeing Saints fans around the country:
"Well it makes you appreciate what we have now. It really does. I know a lot of people have been jumping on the bandwagon in recent years and that's fine. The more the merrier. I'm not going to be a hater but we know who the true Saints fans are. We know who we are. It is kind of hard to forget some of the past. We mean this in an affectionate way. I'm just so happy. Drew Brees has meant so much and Sean Payton, it just goes on and on. I'm just so grateful that the rest of the country is catching up to what we've known all along. This is a very special franchise.
On the commercial she did for the NFL: (watch here)
"I have to tell you when the NFL approached me about being a part of this. I think it's wonderful with everyone telling his or her football story. That's my story. I was in the hospital for 30 days and it's just such a scary time. There was somebody from the Northshore that sent me the blanket and I put it on my hospital bed. I would be wrapped up in it watching the games. I think it was something, Rob, that we all have some kind of Saints gear. Whether a cap or what not. To know that at the time when I really needed a break to stop thinking about the illness that I was facing at the time and to just have something to cheer about that's what they did. As I said in that spot, it's not a cure for cancer but it just makes you forget you have it for a while. I think that's the beauty of our Saints. That we can put our cares aside, be together, cheering for the team and it's just a wonderful feeling for all of us. I was at the Super Bowl a few years back and I was thinking about my dearly departed Dad and my brother-in-law and I was looking up at heaven saying, 'They made it boys! They're here! They're in the Super Bowl!' I think a lot of people felt that way.
"When you're watching a football game or you're watching a season, the Saints are 6-2. They could very well go to the Super Bowl. They could lose more games but it's all about knowing that you might lose that game. You might lose that quarter. What was that game? It might have been Tampa Bay. How in the world did they come back? You would have thought no way they are going to win this game and they did. It makes you feel that anything is possible. Keep hope alive. If you lose a game, if you lose a quarter, it doesn't mean that you're not going to win the championship.
"Because I'm having a couple of tough days because of the cancer that I'm battling doesn't mean I'm going to succumb to it. I'm going to have a bad day but I am going to come back. I think that's all we all want is the possibility. Just to know that there is hope for a better tomorrow and that's what the Saints do. I think about where they came from and how long it took for them to have a winning season then to win the Super Bowl. I was in the dome when they played the Falcons the first game back after Katrina. There were so many people saying, we'll the people aren't back in their homes yet, why are y'all so excited about the Saints and the Dome and I was like you don't get it. They just give us this wonderful outlet where we can be one, together, a community, with a common bond and something that we're cheering for. That's what it does for me. It just give you hope."
