Saints' Super Bowl trip emotional for New Orleans native Greg Fassitt

Greg Fassitt knows what the Saints’ magical Super Bowl ride means to New Orleans. He was born there.

A reserve cornerback on the team, the Grambling product insists the Saints aren’t a happy distraction from the ongoing reconstruction efforts in the wake of Katrina. They are a metaphor for that recovery, a group of overlooked and undervalued cast-aways who never, ever gave up.

“I’m able to be in a position where I am on both sides — being a New Orleans guy, but playing for the team as well, it just makes getting to this first Super Bowl a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Fassitt told me. “That carries big weight. Being born and raised in the city of New Orleans, my grandparents, parents, my entire family are Saints fans. My grandfather passed away wishing for the Saints to get to a Super Bowl, and here we are. It’s means a whole lot to me.”

Fassitt, a prep standout at New Orleans’ Kennedy High, played for Grambling over the 2003-06 seasons, twice earning all-conference nods while collecting 110 tackles and seven intereceptions and defending 31 passes. His best year came in 2005, as Grambling went undefeated in league play on the way to a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship. Fassitt made 57 tackles and three picks that year, even as New Orleans began its long journey back from the hurricane’s devastation.

Signed by Chicago in 2007, Fassitt spent the entire season on the Bears practice squad. He was a reserve for the bulk of the 2008 campaign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — where his Grambling coach in 2003, Doug Williams, works in the front office. But the Saints have kept an eye on him, bringing Fassitt in for training camp before the ’08 and 2009 seasons. Fassitt was signed again as a midseason reserve after New Orleans endured a rash of injuries in the secondary, in time to make the trip to Miami for Super Bowl XLIV against the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday.

“It’s special,” Fassitt said, and paused. “I guess it’s almost to the point where you can’t put it in words. It’s most definitely emotional.”

The players are aware of the game’s implications, not just to football fans but to the city itself, as it struggles back. Fassitt said the players welcome that responsibility. Their journey has become the Saints’, as well.

“It’s not a burden, its priviledge to get to this point,” Fassitt told me. “Everyone from across the city will be able to see that it’s possible to reach for the stars. That means a lot to me.”