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NFL 2023 Fan of the Year | NFL.com

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New Orleans Saints

2023 Week 9 New Orleans Saints vs Chicago Bears at Caesars Superdome on November 5, 2023.
(Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./New Orleans Saints)
2023 Week 9 New Orleans Saints vs Chicago Bears at Caesars Superdome on November 5, 2023. (Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./New Orleans Saints)

Jonathan Matherne

My entire life revolves around my love for football But more importantly, my love for the New Orleans saints. I prioritize mostly everything around the saints, except my immediate family. I wear saints clothes daily besides to work and if they would let me wear saints gear to work, I would wear that daily. My Sundays are spent in the dome during football season and if I'm not at the away game, I'm cooking BBQ with family outside for the games on the big screen. This organization has lifted my spirits at my worse of days. In 2006 I was deployed to Iraq. That year we had an outstanding year but fell short of going to the Super Bowl to the bears. Had it not been for that year, my life in Iraq would have been so much longer. I had a winning team to get me through those difficult times. That year, my love for the saints has grown tremendously and I thank the organization and Drew Brees for getting me through there and even though they don't know it, getting me through one of the most difficult year of my life.

I'm a special victims detective with the terrebonne perish sheriff's office. My job duty is to investigate sex crimes on children, child exploitation, and child neglect. I use my experience throughout the years of football to help build bigger bonds with my victims. We use football and Saints talk to help us build report to help ease the mind of the victim to where they feel comfortable enough to talk to me about their emotional incident. I'm also able to share my story of 2006 deployed to Iraq and how I used the saints positive and motivating season to get me through my most terrifying and tragic times. As a sheriffs office detective, I use my career to reach out to trouble youth and help them find a path to a better them. I use the talk of NFL players stories and let them know, some of those guys were in their shoes but made the best of their lives by keeping football priority and stop getting in trouble. I have two known young men who had since change their lives and are now striving in college football. I enjoy seeing the looks on these kids faces. I go as far as giving them tickets to the game free, just so they can experience great things in person.

As described before. On away games, I'm cooking. I have inflatable saints gear in the front yard and the speaker blaring who dat chants. Time to let the neighborhood know, the saints are playing today baby! When we travel to away games, we always make an effort to communicate and take over a local bar with saints fans. Which we have about a 95% success rate lol. I like to dress up in my saints wrestling mask and coat and parade around the yard.