Tyler Wing WGNO News

10:54 p.m. CDT, September 16, 2011
NEW ORLEANS—

A post Katrina photo which came to symbolize disturbing behavior on the part of Chicago Bears fans is still burning Who-Dats five years later.

St. Bernard resident and Katrina survivor Michael Bayham snapped the picture that cold January day at Soldier Field in 2007 before the game, “So much was on the line.  A chance for the Saints to make it to the Super bowl.”

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Bayham says he saw a group of Bears fans outside the stadium in the process of making a sign that eventually read “Bears finishing what Katrina started.” 

To get the shot, Bayham said he at first, pretended to be for Chicago, “I took my Saints hat.  Turned it on backwards so all you could see is black.  It looked like a White Sox hat and then I said, hey, can I take a picture of your sign. The guy was so proud of it.  So he held it up.  I took out my camera and took a picture and then turned my hat the other way around where you can see the gold Saints logo and said, thanks a lot jerk.  I’m going to make you famous.”

The Katrina survivor says the sight hit home personally and foreshadowed events to come later that day, “It wasn’t just rude treatment it was hostile and borderline assault. One guy looked back and said, too bad you didn’t drown.  I lost my grandfather right after Katrina. He didn’t die from flooding but from a broken heart after losing the house he built. It was more disappointing how people would act like that than it was anything painful or hurtful.”

Bayham says he hopes there are no Saints fans’ looking for revenge because of emotions his picture stirred, “Show them what it’s like to have class.  Show them what it’s like to be a real fan. But if they make any Katrina comments I guess they take things at their own risk.”

Bayham is confident the nation will learn from this image that there's a line which shouldn't be crossed, “This picture really symbolized what a lot of Saints fans went thru. It’s the most famous picture I’ll probably ever take in my life.”