Perhaps nothing will ever erase the dreadful images in and around the Louisiana Superdome in 2005, but anyone who cares about New Orleans had to take a little comfort in the pure joy of LSU’s national championship victory at the stadium last night.

I’m not a football fan, but there seemed to be a karmic inevitability about the outcome of the BCS National Championship game from the start. LSU is not a New Orleans team, of course, but Baton Rouge is only 80 miles away and as the state capital has borne its share of the post-Katrina mess. (Click here to read an insightful Washington Post piece about how Katrina has “permanently transformed Baton Rouge.”) The New Orleans Saints played four “home” games at LSU’s Tiger Stadium while the Superdome was closed; it seemed only fitting that the Superdome should at some point return the favor. (By the way, it’s technically the “Louisiana Superdome,” not the “New Orleans Superdome.”)

I lost count of the number of times word “Katrina” was uttered during and after the game coverage last night, but few of the 79,651 fans in attendance (a record) and millions more watching on TV could have forgotten what transpired in the Superdome little more than two years ago.

There have been other wonderful moments at the Superdome since it re-opened in September, 2006, most notably the Saints’ unexpected playoff victory last January. New Orleaneans these days get few enough opportunities to celebrate. No one should underestimate the psychological importance of these moments for the rebirth of the city.

But at the same time it would be a mistake to invest the LSU championship with too much symbolism about the future of the city. Did anyone ever doubt that the Superdome and Convention Center would be rebuilt? Those are the easy fixes. The larger question is whether the lives and homes of the people who took refuge in the Superdome in August, 2005, will be rebuilt. And no football game can make that happen.

The city deserves its celebration. How often does the Times-Picayune get to print an oversized headline bearing the phrase “No. 1″? It is certainly wonderful to see the Superdome as a site of giddiness and celebration again. We’ll no doubt see more of the same during the upcoming Mardi Gras celebrations. But let’s not allow the excitement of these moments to obscure the fact that there is still a great deal of work to be done.