00:00And, boy, Mike, 20 years, can you believe it's been that long?
00:03And I don't know.
00:04I mean, what will that mean?
00:05And what does that moment mean tonight when you see all those fans rolling into that great stadium?
00:10Well, for a lot of us, it means everything.
00:13I wish we could celebrate the 06 reopening every year.
00:17You know, we celebrate.
00:18We talk about Katrina.
00:19That was in 05.
00:20And so, but, yeah, you can never recreate the electricity that was in the air that night.
00:27You can never really kind of equal what it means because it meant something different to everybody.
00:32Everybody was in different stages of rebuilding their lives.
00:36Think of a stadium where 65,000 people are all rebuilding their lives together.
00:43So the fact that they were able to get that building opened, the building that I'm sitting in right now,
00:49my office is in the Superdome, ready for football that night was kind of amazing.
00:55And the game itself, I can't tell you much after that, the blocked punt by Steve Gleason.
01:02It was cathartic, the release of the fans, because I was supposed to be anchoring the 10 o'clock news
01:10that night, but I worked for CBS.
01:12The game was on ESPN.
01:14Wasn't nobody watching our 10 o'clock news.
01:16So I took the night off, sat in a seat.
01:20We got season tickets that year, 2006, for the first time ever.
01:23That was my first game ever in New Orleans as a fan sitting in a seat.
01:30That was a pretty good night to pick.
01:33Boy, I'll tell you what, too, Mike.
01:34Every time I've been in there, the place is electric.
01:37The place is loud.
01:39I mean, tonight, are you expecting that same kind of passion?
01:44Because, you know, certain places love their building.
01:47Like, Packer fans love Lambeau.
01:49You know, and there were stadiums and there's certain things that matter.
01:54I mean, Mike, all the catastrophe that went on during Katrina, the building was used as a rescue place.
02:00They were putting, unfortunately, bodies in the building as well.
02:04I mean, the building was used as kind of a centerpiece during that disaster.
02:09And to see the fans rolling back in, that place must mean a lot to the city of New Orleans.
02:16Right.
02:17I look at the flip side.
02:18It was also used as a symbol of rebuild, as a symbol of hope.
02:24If they can rebuild this building in less than a year, people can come back.
02:28Yeah, I can come back.
02:29The city is alive.
02:31The city is going to continue.
02:32So, it has been a beacon of hope, really, since 06 when it did reopen.
02:38And so, you'll have this magic tonight.
02:42Now, because a lot of people weren't around.
02:44Well, the players were three and four years old.
02:47Kellen Moore had to sit them down and explain what this night is going to mean.
02:51It is not going to be a typical game.
02:54Not to mention, Kellen Moore has never coached in a Superdome during a primetime game.
02:59Tyler Shuck has never played in a primetime game here at the Superdome.
03:03So, it's a first for everything.
03:05So, you'll have a certain amount of just craziness, electricity.
03:11But then, the game is going to start.
03:14And I use as a perfect example, you mentioned Lambeau Field.
03:18Those crowds are enormous.
03:20They love their Packers.
03:22Played the Falcons Thursday night, a couple, ten days ago.
03:26Booed at halftime.
03:27That's how, once the 2006 electricity is over, you kick that football off.
03:34It's a football game.
03:35And a very important football game to both teams.
03:38Forget the first two games the Falcons played.
03:40Forget them.
03:41Cooper Rush, that's where all their turnovers were.
03:43I just look at the game against Green Bay.
03:47And that team against the New Orleans Saints tonight.
03:50But the electricity will be there.
03:53But then when you kick off, what happens?
03:56Will the team give them something to continue celebrating?
