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Abstract
This critical essay examines the intersection of sports, journalism, and collective memory through a case study of media coverage of the National Football League's (NFL) New Orleans Saints' unexpectedly successful 2006 performance following Hurricane Katrina. I argue that sports journalism invoked and negotiated the memory of Katrina and produced a largely uniform media narrative—one which relentlessly employed a winning team as the trope for metaphorical recovery and a means of the collective simultaneously coping with and escaping from traumatic memory. Moreover, I problematize the fact that, at a time the city was still in need of real—not just mythic—solutions, a storyline of triumph was diffused with little critique.
Acknowledgements
He extends his sincere gratitude to Barbie Zelizer, Carolyn Marvin and the anonymous reviewers and editorial staff of CSMC for their generous time and insightful assistance. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the 2009 International Communication Association conference in Chicago.