The story lines for the game have seemingly been written. A son of New Orleans facing his father’s team with the hopes of padding his Hall of Fame legacy. A city still rebuilding almost five years after Katrina, placing it’s hopes for a turn in fortune squarely on the shoulder’s of a quarterback they have dubbed “Breesus.” Two cities, two teams, but only one title.
After all the hype, two players on opposing teams will take the field in south Florida joined together not only by a common bond, but a shared burden. Simultaneously faced with tragedy and triumph, there is little doubt that these are bittersweet times for Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, and Colts receiver Pierre Garcon, two Haitian-American athletes with deep ties to the country that was ripped asunder by a devastating earthquake.
On any other given Sunday, their only task would be to embarrass one another on the field, with the second-year receiver doing his best to find holes in the veteran linebacker’s defense, and Vilma looking to return the favor by delivering bone-crunching hits. Yet, when the final whistle has been blown, and the confetti has fallen, Garcon and Vilma will join together and turn their attention to rebuilding the tiny nation that they have never lived in, but have always called home.
Their paths to the NFL could not more disparate: Vilma a first round draft pick from a collegiate football powerhouse, and Garcon a Division III standout who the Colts took a chance on with a sixth round pick. But both players are the children of Haitian immigrants and both grew up in Florida spending much of their formative years in the bosom of the tight knit community of Little Haiti. And though their paths to this point may have differed, they both are using the platform of the sporting world’s biggest stage to draw attention to the darkest moment in Haiti’s troubled history.
“To make it to the Super Bowl is very tough,” Garcon says, “but to be here with everything that’s going on in Haiti, it means a lot for me and the Haitian people. I’m very proud to represent Haiti.” Garcon and Vilma plan on returning to Haiti to aid in the rebuilding effort, and the league partnered with the NFL players Association to make a million dollar donation to the Red Cross, and Partners in Health. Vilma has gone as far as designing a T-shirt, the proceeds of which will go directly to aid Haitian relief efforts, and Garcon has partnered with the Northwest Haiti Christian Missionary Group to aid in rescue and rebuilding.
“I want to go down there and help,” Vilma said at this week’s Media day, “whether it’s clearing out the devastation, trying to help build homes, whatever it is. I don’t just want to look around and say that it’s a sad situation. We all know it’s a sad situation. What can I do to help that situation?”
For now the task at hand is to make Haiti proud, and offer up a welcome distraction to a country, and a community, that both Vilma and Garcon proudly call their own.
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Vilma photoby EricMStrauss via Flickr
Garcon Jumbotron photo by ringfrenzy via Flickr