A sentence I never thought I'd utter or type in my lifetime...

[thatcrazycajun]

After a nail-biter of an NFC championship game that was finally won by a field goal in overtime, the New Orleans Saints—my hometown team and one of only five franchises in the National Football League never to have accomplished this—have become 2009 NFC Champions and are on their way to play the Indianapolis (neé Baltimore) Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, just two weeks from tonight.

Garrett Hartley, the Saints' sophomore-year placekicker who parked that sweet 40-yarder squarely between the uprights for the win, is surely the most popular guy in the Crescent City tonight (hell, in the whole damn state of Louisiana!) after Head Coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees. At least one New Orleans Carnival krewe, Alla, has already committed to rescheduling its annual Mardi Gras procession, currently slated for Super Bowl Sunday, to avoid conflict with the Saints' biggest game ever.

And in what must surely be a bittersweet irony for legendary former Saints QB Archie Manning, his son Peyton will lead the Colts against his old team. But still, after the horror of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, and the long, corruption- and incompetence-plagued recovery process since, this is just the sort of shot in the arm my favorite city needs. Bless you, boys, and good luck as you go marching in to Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. All my friends in N'Awlins, say it with me: WHO DAT?! WHO DAT?! WHO DAT SAYIN' DEY GONNA BEAT DEM SAINTS???

Comments

[crystalgee.livejournal.com]

Wonders if there's seismic activity from Buddy D's grave...*smirks*

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I will be willing to bet that at least some of the costumes in the stands in two weeks will be neither Colts blue nor the black and gold of the ultimate Cinderella team in all of football... but ORANGE.

Interestingly enough, Meachem, the guy who caught the pass that set up the Saints' winning field goal today, is *also* from Tennessee.

Either way, I just hope it's a good game. Peyton's little brother Eli two years ago guided the Giants to what was for me the best pro football game I've ever watched... bar none... I hope this is somewhere within that range of goodness (and not the yawner from last year).

GO VOLS! :)

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

ACK! How can I honestly cheer on my own crowned-and-gowned Cinderellas when their assigned rivals are still waiting for the pumpkin to pull up??

*tears hair*