Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.sports From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Turn up the volume Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 15:07:21 EST Message-ID: Lines: 124 \SE C;SPORTS \HD Turn up the volume \SH Fans ensure that Saints never feel Dome alone \BY Brian Allee-Walsh \CR SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES \DT NEW ORLEANS NEW ORLEANS - These days, New Orleans Saints fans have plenty to shout about. Their team won its first division championship a year ago. It is contending again this season, and Mardi Gras is only three months away. The Who Dats should be at their rollicking best for Monday night's nationally televised showdown in the Superdome between their beloved Saints and the defending Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins. Just add a few libations and stir. "Whew! It's going to be extra loud in there," Saints inside linebacker Vaughan Johnson said. "Over the years, the fans get really fired up for Monday night games." What can the Redskins expect to hear in the Superdome? "Not much," Johnson said. "It's tough to hear anything . . . except noise." What's that? "The Superdome is the loudest of all the domed stadiums," Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert said. "By far." Excuse me? "It gets so loud in there you can't even hear yourself talking," Saints wide receiver Eric Martin said. ABC-TV will bring Monday Night Football to Luu-weee-zee-anna for the first time this season, and folks here have been saving their vocal cords for just such an occasion. A sellout crowd of 68,591 is expected, but when the fans get revved up, they sound like a whole lot more than their numbers. Consider: In 1989, a controversial call against the Saints got the fans so riled up they made it impossible for Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason to call a play during a preseason game. The game was delayed 11 minutes in the second quarter before the crowd of 51,150 could be quieted. The Saints lost all three first-half timeouts to penalties called by referee Gene Barth before he called a yardage penalty. The game was delayed again for nine minutes in the third quarter, but no penalties were called because an official spotted Esiason asking for noise on the Bengals' sideline. Afterward, Esiason said he took advantage of the rule. The rule remains in effect, but Saints general manager Jim Finks, who also serves as chairman of the NFL's competition committee, said officials are doing a much better job of managing the game. "Boomer made a farce of the rule," Finks said. "But really it wasn't his fault as much as it was Gene Barth's fault. He should have stepped in and made Boomer run a play. Now the referee says 'Get back in there and run the play.' " Some teams - for example, the Chicago Bears before Game 2 this season - prepare for the Superdome's loud conditions by practicing with simulated crowd noise in the background. The Redskins are working on ways to combat the deafening noise, but aren't talking about what that entails. Though the simulated crowd noise gives opponents an idea of what they will encounter in the Superdome, it just isn't the real thing. "A lot of times our fans dictate the game," Saints outside linebacker Rickey Jackson said. "They're tough on the defense, too, because sometimes we can't hear each other. If you don't know what you're doing out there, it can be tough. People have a hard time communicating with each other." Hebert said quarterbacks have ways of communicating with the offense other than the spoken word. "You can do other things than call audibles," Hebert said. "Like hand signals. Actually, the tackles might have more problems than the quarterback. The snap probably affects them more than the quarterback. But then you can turn the cadence and the snap over to the center." The Superdome crowd can have an effect on the defense, too. Riding a season-opening, seven-game winning streak in 1991, the Saints had their backs to their end zone during the game's waning minutes against the Bears. Unable to hear a defensive call over the din, Bears wide receiver Tom Waddle caught the Saints' secondary flat-footed and snared a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jim Harbaugh with 54 seconds remaining for a 20-17 victory. "It gets so loud down on the floor that [Saints inside linebacker] Sam Mills and me are constantly screaming our lungs out," Johnson said. "You don't realize how loud you're screaming. But after the game, your throat feels it. The next day I can tell there's been a whole lot of hollering going on." The Redskins will be making their eighth appearance in the Superdome. They hold a 5-2 advantage and have won their last three games played there, including a gut-wrenching 16-14 victory in 1989. Under coach Jim Mora, the Saints are 34-17 in the Superdome, a .677 winning percentage. Good by most standards, but not good enough, Mora said. "We should have a distinct advantage in the Superdome," Mora said. "We always sell out. We get great enthusiasm from our crowd. We should have a better home record than we do. "I know this: I've never been in a domed stadium louder than this, and we've got to take better advantage of that and win these games." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM