When most fans see their team playing in the Super Bowl they're totally excited, but not New Orleans Saints fans. We were more than excited, we were over the moon - and still are and may remain there until next Super Bowl. Why you ask? Because, the Saints were the Bad News Bears of pro football. You remember the movie with Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal about a misfit little league team? Disclaimer: In no way am I comparing the amazing Sean Payton to lazy ass Coach Buttermaker though.
The Saints were for the most part the joke of the NFL, the poster children for the term “you could always be worse off than you are”. To the millions of Saints fans in Louisiana and across the country they epitomize the spirit of the city they represent. Things may not always be ideal but you wake up every day and do your best. After years of being the joke of the league, the Saints are the kings of the NFL today, victors, and Super Bowl champions.
The season was amazing, some call it miraculous and refer to our quarterback Drew Brees as Breesus. I don't know how many people were praying, how many were rubbing lucky rabbit and chicken feet and I don't know how many people went down to the deep recesses of the bayou to visit voodoo priestesses, but what I do know is that something was at work in south Florida on behalf of the Saints. The season that began with the suicide of Drew's mother culminated in a sea of confetti, shouts and tears. It couldn't have been written better by Shakespeare.
If you haven't been to Louisiana, specifically New Orleans, you can't begin to understand the closeness of team and city. It's a special bond that I don't think any other franchise has with it's city, the closest in mind would be Green Bay and the Packers but even their bond isn't the same. There's something different about the Saints and New Orleans. You can feel it in the air when the Saints are playing at home or away, there's just a different feel. There's a calmness to the city, when the Saints are playing everything stops in New Orleans, everyone's on the same page. This team rallied the city and the city did the same for the team.
The only thing that can be said about these New Orleans Saints is that they are AMAZING! They went undefeated for most of the regular season.
These Saints have redeemed our city and their franchise. Drew Brees, who was counted out years ago, gave a stellar performance against the Colts and Peyton Manning. Manning is usually referred to as the greatest quarterback in the league but last night he and his Colts were no match for Brees and the Saints. Even Garrett Hartley - who was in my book the vilest Saint after missing a kick in the game against Tampa back in December - proved himself over and over. The rest of the game was like something out of a movie right down to Tracy Porters interception return for a 74 yard touchdown. The naysayers were finally shut up because the Saints, that’s right those Saints, that team from New Orleans are #1 not just in New Orleans but in the World.
The 2009 Saints will be canonized in the city of New Orleans for generations to come. Champagne bottles were popped, Gatorade dumped on folks and tears flowed like the waters that once drowned our city. Nine days before Mardi Gras and almost 5 years after The Storm, New Orleans has reason to celebrate. The Saints went marching in as underdogs and came marching out as champions. So until someone comes and knocks us down, we are the champions and although folks from south Louisiana usually don’t brag, we’ve waited a long time for this so we’ve earned these bragging rights.
The city of New Orleans is going to party from now until Mardi Gras; we have a city that is flourishing again and a football team that’s on top. Everyone who didn’t know what “Who Dat” meant on Sunday morning knew what it meant on Sunday night. If they had never seen a 2nd line or heard Iko Iko they have seen and heard now. Laissez les bons temps rouler
Everyone that knows me well, knows how much I love New Orleans and the Saints (especially #88 – Jeremy Shockey), so here’s my tribute to this group of Saints.
This is for a city that was nearly wiped off the map by floods and torrential rains
A city whose team played so bad they were once known as the Aints
Just in case you missed it, here’s the entire story
Of how the New Orleans Saints came to bask in this Super Bowl Glory
So back in September those Lions came to The Dome
We scored 45 to their 27 and sent them back to their Detroit home
A week later it was off to Philly to face those Eagles, and boy what a game
We were already beating them pretty badly then Sharper’s 97 yard TD really put them to shame
Then we were off to Buffalo to face the Bills
A victory that I’m sure made all their fans ill
The next game we faced another team from New York, the Jet’s came to town
We did what we’d done in our previous games and shut them down
Thankfully the next week we had a bye, time to reflect on the four games in a row we’d won
On October 18 we faced the Giants and beat’em by 21
Then it was off to Miami to face the Dolphins, we lost to them in a pre-season game
We left Miami with a “W”, making sure the Dolphins would remember the Saints
That’s about the time that people started noticing that these weren’t the same old Saints
We’d already won 6 games in a row, no longer called the Aints
It was now time for us to face those Dirty Birds
We plucked the feathers from the Falcons and we didn’t even have to score in the 3rd
After that we took a quick trip to St.Louis and faced the Rams - it was a really close game
But we treated them like we did everyone else and the results were the same.
There was more talk, were the Saints really 9 & 0?
Could they finally make it to the Super Bowl, Say it ain’t so
November 22, we were back in Florida but this time in Tampa Bay
The final score: 38-7 there’s really nothing more to say
Next we faced the Patriots; the New England boys took a trip down south
Our victory over them took the words out of everyone’s mouth.
The Saints were still undefeated, 11 & 0 just to be clear
We hadn’t won 11 games in about 17 years
The next game would be played in the cold weather of Washington, D.C.
The Redskins scored 30, but the Saints scored 33
We headed to Atlanta to face the dirty birds again
The result was the same as before, Saints would win
That’s where the regular season victories would end
We lost to Dallas and Tampa Bay and when we faced Carolina we only scored 10
The Who Dat Nation wasn’t worried the Saints were headed to post season games
The Cardinals and Vikings both fell to us and went home in shame
On January 24th we became the NFC champs and were closer to our goal
The New Orleans Saints were finally headed to their first Super Bowl
Making it to the big game wasn’t enough, we had to win
On Sunday, February 7, that’s just what those Saints did.
The game had been hyped - Manning and the Colts can’t be beat
They didn’t know that those boys from the bayou had something up their sleeves
When the game started the Colts were the first team to score
The redeemed Garret Hartley gave the Saints 6 on the board
Brees threw to Thomas giving the Saints their first TD
But then the Colts scored and they now had 17
Here comes Garrett Hartley again with another perfect kick
A touchdown by Shockey and 2 point pass to Moore & those Colts fans were sick.
It was 24-17 and the Saints were in the lead
Tracy Porter intercepted and that was all we would need.
Counted out more than they’ve ever been counted in, but the Saints fought on
And the Lombardi trophy is headed to my Louisiana home.
The Saints, My New Orleans Saints, the team from that city that almost wasn’t anymore are victorious. God Bless the Saints and God Bless the city of New Orleans.
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