Make room for another Payton

Maybe there is finally room in our hearts for another sports figure named Payton.

How could you not appreciate Sean Payton, who gave it his all to bring a much-needed psychological boost to a city still hurting from a devastating hurricane five years ago - a city whose football fans had been unsatisfied for all 43 years of their team's existence?

How could you deny the go-for-broke guts of a guy who opened the second half of the Super Bowl with an onside kick?

Payton, after all, is one of us. In Tuesday's sports section, we took a look at the great history of professional sports figures coming from Naperville. WNBA phenom Candace Parker, figure skating world champ Evan Lysacek, Jerry Hairston for the 2009 World Series-winning Yankees. And Payton. He wasn't born here, but he did attend high school at Naperville Central, leading the then-Redskins as its quarterback. And then he regularly threw for 300 yards a game for the Eastern Illinois University Panthers.

He even returned to Chicago for brief stints in arena football and the strike-era Bears.

Payton went to New Orleans and his first head coaching job in 2006 - the Saints picked up Brees about the same time - just months after Katrina hit while the city was at its lowest.

The people of New Orleans needed inspiration, something positive to dwell on.

And in the months and years of receiving help from others, they needed something of their own creation to lift their spirits.

In Payton, they could sense they'd found someone special.

Payton guided the lowly Saints, who'd racked up only three wins the previous year, to a 10-6 record that year, losing to the Bears in the NFC Championship game. After his first season in New Orleans, he was named NFL Coach of the Year.

New Orleans needed rebuilding on so many levels, and Payton was the architect of the fulfillment of many dreams.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodall summed it up well.

"It was more than just a football game and more than just a football team," he said. "The hopes, the dreams and the struggles of the community were all reflected in that football team."

So many sought refuge during the aftermath of Katrina huddled in the Superdome just trying to stay alive. It's fitting that that place of misery could be transformed into a place of such joy.

We Chicago sports fans can appreciate a guy like Payton who's proved he can break a league-record losing streak.

For many of us, it's been 102 years.

Maybe when he feels he's done all he can for the game of football he could come home and coach the Cubs.