Political Quotes

“I am here to speak about honoring Steve Gleason with the Congressional Gold Medal. Steve is well known in Louisiana and throughout the gulf coast and to football fans across the country. He is a Washington State native, as Senator Murray recently spoke, but he lives in New Orleans with his wife Michel and son Rivers. Steve played in the NFL for 8 seasons, mostly with the New Orleans Saints. He is famous as a New Orleans Saint. On September 25, 2006, on ``Monday Night Football,'' the first game back in the Superdome when it reopened after Hurricane Katrina, the Saints were playing their archrival and division opponent, the hated Atlanta Falcons. The Presiding Officer probably likes the Falcons. The Falcons were punting from deep in their own territory. Steve broke through the line and blocked the punt. Fellow Saint Curtis Deloatch recovered the ball for a touchdown. The stadium erupted. There were 70,000 fans in the Superdome stadium. I was watching on TV. Al Michaels was blown away. It was an incredible moment, not just for the football team but because it was the first game in the Superdome, having just been reopened after Hurricane Katrina, which had almost destroyed the city and, indeed, the whole gulf coast, and it had much more meaning. The emotion was for the play but also for what the play symbolized for the game.…”