Saints Win 31-17, You Believe Dat?!

WHO DAT?!

I woke up this morning still in shock from the game lastnight. The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, as in they are THE champions of the ENTIRE NFL! I am speechless...

On my way into work this morning (with surprisingly very little traffic on the road) I heard a few lyrics of "When the Saints Go Marching In" on ESPN radio, and I immediately had goosebumps. The win has not quite sunk in, but come Sunday, when I am down in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and I am partying it up in the heart of the Who Dat Nation, you had better believe that I will have no doubt that indeed the New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl 44 (XLIV) champs!

As a southern Louisiana girl, you are raised to root for LSU and the Saints (or if you have parents like mine with northern roots, you are raised to also root for Michigan and the Lions). Before my college years (scary to see this in writing, but I have to keep it real), I have to be honest, I was not a huge Saints fan. In fact, when people would assume that I was a fan because I am from Louisiana, I would make certain to mention that while I casually pull for the Saints, I am not gung ho about the Saints.

Forgive me. You have to understand that for most of my life the Saints were terrrible! I mean why would a kid want to root for a team that never wins? I would consider myself a normal child and normal children only care about teams winning. Again, forgive me because now I am old(er) and wise(r), and I am not ashamed to admit that yes, I am a Saints fan (except when they play the NY Giants). Go ahead, call me a bandwagon fan, but deep down, regardless of whether or not I was afraid to admit it, I have always been a fan. After all, it's a cultural thing.

Until the refs had announced that indeed the Saints had recovered the onside kick at the start of the second half, I had convinced myself that the Colts had control of the game. Boy did Payton, Morstead, Reis and Casillas prove me wrong! From that moment on, I knew that if the Saints could successfully execute that play, they could pull off the win.

Being champs requires taking risks, taking risks requires having faith and having faith requires believing in your team. The New Orleans Saints executed risky plays, kept the faith and believed in their team.

Now what? Laissez les bon temps rouler!