Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about football and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the football urban legends featured so far.

FOOTBALL URBAN LEGEND: The Saints’ field caught fire in the middle of a game!

On November 10, 1991, the Saints were hosting the San Francisco 49ers.

At halftime, there was a fireworks display inside the Superdome.

As the third quarter got underway, it turned out that the fireworks had set a small fire on the rafters of the Superdome. A valiant worker was sent out to extinguish the flames with a blanket…

Eventually, he seems to have put out the fire…

However, NO HE DID NOT!

A piece of the blanket (or whatever) falls from the rafters!!!

The field already was getting rained on from above with cinder, but now, a fire actually started at midfield!!!

The Saints (who were deep into Niner territory) actually tried to keep playing all the way up until the field caught fire. At that point, the officials called a timeout.

During the timeout, the flame was FINALLY put out with a bucket of Gatordade…

It sure is lucky that the Saints finally got to (and WON) the Super Bowl, because otherwise, stuff like the fire was liable to give them a complex about the luck of the team!!!

The legend is…

STATUS: True

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future urban legends columns! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com