Super Nola truly a sight to behold

It's less than 48 hours since the New Orleans Saints became Super Bowl champions, and I'm still trying to figure out how it happened.

I knew the Saints were legitimate, and I knew how great the national media said the Colts were. Still, a win seemed unlikely – maybe inconceivable.

But it happened.

The Saints put an exclamation point on the end of a story that began four years ago when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city and most of the gulf south.

The Saints played 16 games on the road that season, then began the rebuilding process alongside the city they represented.

From San Diego, they signed couldn't-win-the-big-game quarterback Drew Brees. From New York and Minnesota they acquired washed-up linebacker Jonathan Vilma and safety Darren Sharper.

They took overrated Reggie Bush and relatively unknown Marques Colston in the same draft, and they put together an offensive line which featured two players who didn't even play division 1 football in college.

It all came together Sunday, and the Saints out-hearted the Colts.


You had to be there
I was in New Orleans when "Who Dat?" turned into "Pinch me."

The scene in the French Quarter following the Saints' 31-17 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV is one this reporter won't ever forget.

I've been through Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, Saints playoff games and Sugar Bowls that included the LSU Tigers, but it all paled in comparison to the size of Sunday's party on Bourbon Street.

As soon as New Orleans corner back Tracy Porter intercepted the Peyton Manning and returned the pass for a touchdown with just over three minutes left, the "Who Dat Nation" streamed out of the bars and into the streets of New Orleans.

In fact, the day afterwards it was hard to find anyone who remembered the final two minutes of the game.

At 11 a.m. Monday – a statewide holiday in Louisiana – hundreds of people were still partying on Bourbon Street, some catching their second winds and others their fourth or fifth.

New Orleans' sports talk and news leader WWL reported a conservative estimate of 20,000 fans arriving at Louis Armstrong Airport an hour before the team was set to land. It seems everyone wanted to welcome their team back to Metarie, where the the Lombardi Trophy will reside for at least one year.


For those we lost
Watching the game, I couldn't help but think about my grandfather.

It's not an uncommon story down in the Crescent City, but he took my father and uncle to games every week starting in 1967 when New Orleans got the franchise.

He pulled for the team for the first 21 seasons, when the team never won more games than it lost. He was there the night Tom Dempsey kicked the 67-yard field goal to beat the Falcons. He watched Archie Manning get beat to death for season after season, and he often had a pocket full of tickets he couldn't give away.

How many Saints fans died not knowing this feeling? If there was a party in Heaven on Sunday, I'm guessing it rivaled the one on Bourbon Street. If there was one in Hell... well, you know.