Former New Orleans Saints QB will parade down Bourbon Street in a dress made by his daughter

BY HANK GOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Saturday, January 30th 2010, 12:06 PM


Davies for News
Cammy Lynn Hebert shows off dress she made for dad Bobby (below), ex-Saints QB who will be toast of New Orleans tomorrow when he’ll wear it in parade celebrating team’s first Super Bowl.


Brandon/AP
Bobby Hebert

Bobby Hebert will be the best-dressed man on Bourbon Street tomorrow.

The former Saints quarterback will be in a black and gold sequined dress, custom-designed and sent to him from New York by his daughter, Cammy Lynn, who describes it as "very Who-Dat-esque."

Lady Gaga, eat your heart out.

Hebert is picking up the promise made by the late New Orleans sportscaster Buddy Diliberto to parade down Bourbon Street in a dress should the Saints reach the Super Bowl. Diliberto, a Big Easy icon, died five years ago. Hebert has hosted Buddy D's radio show since his death.

Tomorrow, Hebert won't be alone on Bourbon Street. He will be joined by "thousands" of other men in drag as they sashay from the Superdome to the French Quarter.

"This parade has gotten totally out of control," Hebert said. "We had men calling the station and wanting to form a club to march in all these Mardi Gras parades. I said, 'Wait a minute, I just said I would do this one time.' I'm not going to go to monthly meetings. I'm sure you will see a few characters. Some of these guys probably dress like this every day. It's a way of life for them.

"My daughter who is in New York in the fashion industry, she made me a dress. It's black and gold sequins, all of that."

Actually, it's all of Dat.

"We've known I guess for three or so years now that if the Saints ever went to the Super Bowl, my dad would have to wear a dress," said Cammy Lynn. "He kind of inherited the challenge from Buddy D. That was one of the first things I thought about when the Saints won last week: 'Oh my gosh, my dad's going to be in drag walking around New Orleans, most likely in front of a large number of people and it will probably live on YouTube forever.'"

Cammy Lynn, 23, happened to be starting a line of mumus with her roommate, Cologne Schmidt, called "Show Me Your Mumu." The one she designed her for her dad is the "Mu Dat Nation Mumu."

"We usually only make dresses for girls so we had to go a few sizes up to make sure it would fit him," she said. "He's 6-4. I don't think we've ever had a customer taller than 5-11 maximum. We wanted to make it super fun, super Saints. It's a full-out sequined gold ensemble, so it will be very flashy, over the top."

The mumu is mini-length, to be worn with a slip underneath.

"We sent him two slip options so he could put his own little twist on his dress," Cammy Lynn said. "One is black fringe and the other is something with a lace trim. So he'll either go lingerie or flapper girl."

Asked what she saw her dad in, Cammy Lynn said, "Flapper girl because I also see him dancing down the street so I think the fringe will move a little bit better with his dance step."

Cammy Lynn, who loves Manhattan and wants "never to leave," will be here a year in April after graduating from Cal Berkeley. Her dad, she says, is ready for her to come back to the South. Still, she'll always remain a faithful Saints fan. No Jets or Giants for her. It's Super Bowl or bust.

"I have been waiting for this since before I was born," she said. "Every single year I can remember it's been like, 'It's going to happen this year, it's going to happen this year.' That's one thing about Saints fans. We're the most positive fans. Every year they didn't make it, just walking around New Orleans with my dad, they'd say, 'We'll get 'em next year.' Some cities seem to get mad at their teams when they don't win. New Orleans just gets sad with their teams. It's a family. I couldn't be more excited."

She's also trying to get back to New Orleans for Super Sunday. If not, it's Brinkley's bar in SoHo.

"I like partying watching football but when it's the Saints I have to be sitting down concentrating," she said. "Brinkley's is a little place down in SoHo. They have amazing food and big booths, pretty mellow and I think I've now converted all the fans who hang around this restaurant into Saints fans. There are lots of Australians who now root for the Saints."

Cammy Lynn said her father tried the dress on Thursday night.

"My dad was like. 'Is this supposed to be this short?' I said, 'Yes, it's a dress.'"

And the hose?

"The last I heard, my stepmom was on the hunt for hose that fit him," she said. "She couldn't find any in his size but I imagine they have to have a drag queen store somewhere in New Orleans. I want him to wear fishnets. That would really complete the look. We were trying to get him into high heels but I believe the parade is 12 blocks. He's very tough but not tough enough to walk 12 blocks in high heels."

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/2010/01/30/2010-01-30_saints_drag_str...

left shoe shuffle wrote on Jan 30^th, 2010 at 6:16pm:

Yeah I saw that as well. I remember first watching games and listening to him. Good brodacaster. I remember listening to him and pat summerall before madden and summerall teamed up.

Quote:


People from N.O. are going just to be going, tickets or not.

left shoe shuffle wrote on Jan 31^st, 2010 at 3:02pm:

I think the fact that this is in Nawlins will cause too much murkiness even for the mighty NFL.
Too many peeps have claim on Who Dat.  There's a Who Dat Inc which has been in business for a couple of decades.  The phrase goes back over a hundred years.  As one lawyer told me, the more entities who claim a piece of this, the greater the chance no one owns it.  Combine that with the fact it's in New Orleans, NFL will look mighty small trying to take joy out of this after all that the Crescent City & environs have survived.  As well, lots of underground in Nawlins which will go right on despite the NFL big dogs.

Oh yeah, Super Bowl week is on!

New York Post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POlboWtgMI4

Edith Grove wrote on Feb 1^st, 2010 at 3:05pm:


please...no hail mary references....

http://www.wwltv.com/news/Miami-Hurricane-center-has-die-hard-Saints-fan--832960...

I'm gona bet big on the Bowl. If I win I'm going to a strip club and making it rain.....If I lose I'm still going to a strip club. But I'll bring a roll of quarters and make it hail.

I'm going Saints but I fear it might be the Peyton Manning show.

gimmekeef wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2010 at 2:19pm:

Tough call GK. I'm leaning towards the Colts. But I'd like to see the Saints win. Maybe I'll just play the over. Espicially with Freeney questionable.....Bucky If I were you, I'd blame the Vikes loss on that God awful Prince song. Worst fight song ever.

Dear Miami: Get ready for the Who Dat Nation coming for the Super Bowl
By Mark Lorando, The Times-Picayune
February 01, 2010, 2:06PM


Scott Threlkeld / The Times-Picayune
Saints fans celebrate the overtime win for the NFC Championship on Jan. 24 -- and the chance to go to Miami.

Dear Miami,
The Saints are coming. And so are we, their loyal, long-suffering and slightly discombobulated Super Bowl-bound fans.

While there's still time to prepare -- although a few hard-core Who Dats will begin trickling in Monday, most of us won't arrive until Thursday or Friday -- we thought we'd give you a heads-up about what you should expect.

First things first: You need more beer.

Yeah, we know. You ordered extra. You think you have more than any group of humans could possibly consume in one week. Trust us. You don't.

New Orleans was a drinking town long before the Saints drove us to drink. But it turns out beer tastes better when you're winning. (Who knew?) So let's just say we're thirsty for more than a championship; adjust your stockpiles accordingly.

And look. When we ask you for a go-cup, be nice to us. We don't even know what "open container law" means. Is that anything like "last call"?

It's Carnival season in New Orleans (that's Mardi Gras to you), and we'll be taking the celebration on the road. So don't be startled if you walk past us and we throw stuff at you; that's just our way of saying hello.

Oh, and sorry in advance about those beads we leave dangling from your palm trees. We just can't help ourselves.


Times-Picayune archive

February is also crawfish season, and you can be sure that more than one enterprising tailgater will figure out a way to transport a couple sacks of live mudbugs and a boiling pot to Miami.

When the dude in the 'Who Dat' T-shirt asks if you want to suck da head and pinch da tail, resist the urge to punch him. He's not propositioning you. He's inviting you to dinner.

And if you see a big Cajun guy who looks exactly like an old Saints quarterback walking around town in a dress ... don't ask. It's a long story.

We know that crowd control is a major concern for any Super Bowl host city. Our advice? Put away the riot gear.

Reason No. 1: Indianapolis is going to lose, and their fans are way too dull to start a riot.

Reason No. 2: New Orleans showed the world on Sunday that we know how to throw a victory party. We don't burn cars. We dance on them.

Reason No. 3: Even if we did lose, which we won't, leaving the stadium would be like leaving a funeral, and our typical response to that is to have a parade.

Speaking of which: If you happen to see a brass band roll by, followed by a line of folks waving their handkerchiefs, you're not supposed to just stand there and watch. As our own Irma Thomas would say, get your backfield in motion.

And hey, Mister DJ! Yes, we know you've already played that stupid Ying Yang Twins song 10 times tonight, but indulge us just one more time.

To us, "Halftime (Stand Up and Get Crunk)" isn't just a song; it's 576 points of good memories. It's the sound of a Drew Brees touchdown pass to Devery Henderson, a Pierre Thomas dive for first down on 4th-and-1, a Garrett Hartley field goal sailing through the uprights in overtime.

It's what a championship sounds like. You may get sick of hearing it. We won't. Encore, dammit.

Inside Sun Life Stadium, you may find your ears ringing more than usual. We're louder than other fans. Seven thousand of ours sound like 70,000 of theirs.

Don't believe us? Ask the 12th man in the Vikings huddle.

Some people think it's just the Dome that heightens our volume. But you're about to discover a little secret: We can scream loud enough to make your head explode, indoors or out.

It's not the roof. It's the heart.

Well, OK, and the beer.


Susan Poag / The Times-Picayune

Don't be surprised if there are more Saints fans outside the stadium than inside. A lot of us are coming just to say we were part of history, even if we can't witness it up close. The Saints are family to us, and you know how it is with family: We want to be there for them, whether they really need us or not. Because we know our presence will mean something to them, whether they can see us or not.

Come to think of it, seeing as how you're taking us in for the week, we pretty much regard you as family, too. So we're warning you now: If you're within hugging distance, you're fair game.

Hugging strangers is a proud Who Dat tradition, right up there with crying when we win.

Most sports fans cry when their teams lose. Not us. We've been losing gracefully and with good humor for 43 years. Tragedy and disappointment don't faze us. It's success that makes us go to pieces.

Hurricane Katrina? We got that under control. The Saints in the Super Bowl? SOMEBODY CALL A PARAMEDIC!!!

So anyway, don't let the tears of joy freak you out. We're just ... disoriented.

OK. Let's review:

Order more beer. Throw me something, mister. Suck da heads. Wear da dress. Stand up. Get crunk. Hug it out. Protect your eardrums. Pass the Kleenex. Hoist the trophy.

See you at the victory party.

Faithfully yours,

The Who Dat Nation


Features editor Mark Lorando can be reached at [email protected] or 504.826.3430. Comment and read more at NOLA.com/superbowl.