Buddy D: The Voice of the Saints

The Pirate of Bourbon Street

Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar sits at 941 Bourbon Street, and it might be the oldest bar in America. The building dates to the 1720s or 1730s — nobody knows exactly — and legend holds that it was used as a front by Jean and Pierre Lafitte for their smuggling operations. Whether or not the Lafittes actually drank there is debatable. What's not debatable is that the building has been standing for nearly three centuries, and people have been drinking in it for most of that time.

But this essay isn't about the bar. It's about the man it's named for, and more broadly, about a New Orleanian who deserves his own entry: Buddy "D" Diliberto.

For three decades, Buddy D was the voice of New Orleans sports. Born in 1932, Diliberto was a radio and television sports broadcaster who covered the Saints from the franchise's earliest years. He was loud, opinionated, unfiltered, and completely beloved. When the Saints were terrible — which was most of the time — Buddy D ranted and raved and demanded better on behalf of every long-suffering fan in the city.

His most famous moment came in 1980, when he promised to wear a dress on his television show if the Saints made the playoffs. They made the playoffs. Buddy D wore the dress. It was the most New Orleans sports moment imaginable — a promise made in jest, honored with total commitment, witnessed by the entire city.

Diliberto was also famous for his feud with Saints owner Tom Benson, his catchphrase "the Saints are on a roll, baby," and his ability to capture the emotional rollercoaster of being a Saints fan in a way that no professional broadcaster could match. He wasn't polished. He was real. And in New Orleans, real beats polished every time.

Buddy D died in 2005, just months before Hurricane Katrina. He never got to see Drew Brees, the Super Bowl win, or the vindication of everything he'd spent thirty years believing the Saints could become. But every Saints fan who remembers him knows: Buddy D would have lost his mind with joy.