‘This year we care about who wins’

There is another Del Norte County Super Bowl connection as the New Orleans Saints keep racking up local fans.

This Sunday, Rene’ Shanle-Hutzell and her family have a vested interest in the big game.

Shanle-Hutzell, general manger of Bicoastal Media in Crescent City, will be cheering on her second cousin, Scott Shanle, a starting linebacker for the Saints. His father Roger is her first cousin.

While her family watches the game each year, for Shanle-Hutzell, the highlights have been the food, drink and halftime show and not so much the game.

This year will be different.

“We’ve bought a big screen TV and everyone will be wearing a Saints jersey,” she said. “This year we care about who wins ... It’s just cool, cool, cool.”

For many years off and on Shanle-Hutzell has gone to the Shanle family annual reunion in Genoa, Neb., a small town of about 800 where Scott Shanle is from.

“Most of them are Shanles and that’s no joke,” Shanle-Hutzell said.

She last went to the family reunion around three years ago and hopes to return this year and talk to her cousin about his Super Bowl experience.

She describes Shanle as  “a nice guy. He’s just down to earth and smart.”

 Shanle played his college ball at Nebraska and was picked in the seventh round of the 2003 NFL draft by the St. Louis Rams. He also played for the Dallas Cowboys before joining the Saints in 2006.

He started 14 games for the Saints this season and had 69 tackles and two interceptions in the regular season.