I don't mind being wrong, especially when it comes to the New Orleans Saints pulling it off, beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 last night to claim the 44th Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl Champions. I picked the Colts, but it was the Saints who got off the deck from a 10-0 first quarter hole, showed some big time guts by going for it and failing on 4th and goal from the one in the second quarter, only to open the third with a stunning onside kick. Then it was a Louisiana native, who went to college in Indiana, that sealed the Colts fate as Tracy Porter intercepted Peyton Manning and raced 74 yards for the clinching touchdown that set off an epic French Quarter celebration in a town know for its ability to party. It's only February but this may be the feel good story of the year. How can you not be happy for Drew Brees and what he's meant to this franchise and how moving to the Crescent City only months after hurricane Katrina has impacted his life? I know a couple of Saints players well and I'm happy both Darren Sharper and Mark Brunell will get fitted for rings. As a rookie with the Packers in 1997, Sharper joined a Super Bowl champion and played in the big game his first year, only to be a part of the huge disappointment in the loss to Denver. It took him over a decade to get back and win it. Brunell was drafted by the Pack in 1993 and was one in the long line of talented Brett Favre understudies who was traded away. He was shipped to Jacksonville in 1995 and twice had the Jaguars in the AFC title game, only to lose them both. He's had a very productive career and while it turned sour in Washington, it ends happily as the backup man on a Super Bowl champion. Packers head coach Mike McCarthy coached in New Orleans for 5 seasons as offensive coordinator and he speaks very fondly of his time there. In my years of travel covering the Pack, New Orleans has always been one of my favorite stops, witnessing Green Bay's Super Bowl 31 victory over New England is clearly the highlight. It's such a unique place, the history, culture and cuisine are unlike any other city in the country. Next time your in the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street, look for my business card tacked on the wall along with thousands of others. It was there I got into a wicked game of liar's poker with a few media friends and former Packers GM Tom Braatz one night. Veteran Press Gazette and Milwaukee Journal beat reporter Cliff Christl and I closed down the Quarter on another Saturday night and he talked me into an establishment that stayed open all night and it was a bleary eyed Sunday covering that Packers-Saints game. My sister Lori lived in Baton Rouge for years, she's a decorated photo journalist who captured the heart wrenching aftermath of Katrina. Her poignant images conveyed the sorrow in the 9th ward, the helplessness of the residents who couldn't flee to drier ground and the determination of the city to rebuild. A single football game won't drive one nail into a new sheet of drywall, create a minimum wage job for a father desperate to make ends meet but last night's result will get the hearts of New Orleans beating a little stronger, a big step for a great city.



Comments