New Orlean Saints Came To Play & they Played to Win the Game -

And, that is about as simple as I can put it.

This is a picture I took down in Key West earlier this year that I have kept on my phone waiting to see the Saints win... knew in my heart back then that somehow this team would win the Super Bowl :) and....they did!

I can start with cute sayings like "when the Saints went marchin in" but the truth is they came to play and they played to win the way they did the whole season.

It was a great game and a great season and a team effort though the prize goes to Drew Brees...we will look back and remember Porter's interception, a gutsy on side surprise kick and a goal line stand at the end when it counted the most..in the fourth quarter.

The Colts rode into the Super Bowl with a cockiness of having a well rested Payton Manning and an assumption that they would ultimately beat the Saints. Pride goes before the fall ..or so they say and in this case there has been a smugness and a pride the whole season that they would win the Super Bowl. They gave up a chance to win a spot in history by taking Payton Manning out of the Third Quarter when they were ahead and "letting him rest up for the bigger games" and were upset by the New York Jets who wanted the win more it seems. You don't take your star player out of a football game, you come to play, you play to win. It is that simple. Who is to say they would have not lost the first play off game as on any given Sunday any team can win or lose... including Super Bowl Sunday. The Colts did not come to win when they played the Jets that Sunday back in December, they were dreaming of the Play Offs and the Super Bowl. Dreams won't get you there and ego won't get you there... not even an award winning Quarterback will assure you of a team win because it is about the total team playing to win, every game.

You win some, you lose some...that is the way of football but you show up to win. The Saint's showed up to win and despite a 10 point deficit in the early part of the game, when sports forecasters were reminding people that no team has ever come back from being down 10 - O to win the Super Bowl...they did what they do best, they played their hearts out and they won!

My father always said defense wins football games. I always hated that saying. I liked the high flying aerial shoot out games, he liked those score less games that went down to one team making a mistake. He loved no hitters in baseball, I could not stand baseball... until crazy friend drove me crazy and made me love the Red Sox. My father was right after all it seems, baseball is a great game and defense does win football games. And, this defense did not give up, even when they could not get to Payton Manning and he had all the time in the world to find a receiver, they waited til he made a mistake and took an interception into the end zone for 7 points. They had a great goal line stand to defy Payton Manning of his chance to do one more 4th quarter victory and come back to win.

I was upset when they got gutsy and went for it on 4th down and did not take an easy 3 point Field Goal, please note had they done that the score would have easily been 34-17! You always take an easy 3 that early on as those 3 points can come back to haunt you and yet in this game they didn't. Yet, it was the same gutsy play that brought us our first surprise onside that early in a Super Bowl that took the Colts by surprise and gave the ball back to the Saints. Gutsy ... it worked. And, I keep spelling that wrong and correcting myself, gusty... gutsy, it's all the same thing.

Video of one of the gutsiest calls in Super Bowl history and the longest time people around the country held their breath to see who was at the bottom of the pile with the ball.



Yes, they played a passionate game and came from behind like the Redskins did to beat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 22 and the New Orleans Saints beat the Colts in Super Bowl 44.

Again.... all the sports forecasters in the world can be wrong when they said we wanted the Saints to win, but the Colts were the stronger team with the stronger quarterback. Sportscasters like weather forecasters are often wrong and they were wrong this time. An on air sportscaster during the game, pointed out how no team had come from behind to win after being down 10 points in the beginning, he was wrong... it's been done before as pointed out in the below link. Both good games, 22 and 44!

http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=233522

So, the city made famous by a hurricane wins the Super Bowl in another city made famous by Hurricanes...both in football and in weather. Seems only right that New Orleans should get it's win in Miami.

And, for the record it's not all about one quarterback but a team effort. That PERFECT SEASON record was won in Miami WITH a second string quarterback.

They came to play, they competed, they played, they did not give up or sit back but they played their heart out.

The Miami Dolphins had a perfect season because they continued to win games with Earl Morrall as a back up quarterback when Bob Griese was injured. Again, they came to play... they played to win and the Miami Dolphins of 1972 were one hell of a team!

The 2009 New Orleans Saint are one hell of a team. I fell in love with them earlier this year, they have been so much fun to watch. Yes, I have always loved Nola and followed them years back when Craig Erickson was playing for them briefly...out of curiosity but this year being out of Miami part of the season I was able to watch the Saints play more than normal...and I fell in love with them. They were pumped, alive, kicking and not giving up. Yes, they lost a few games this year but they did not collapse or give up. They kept going, they kept playing...even 10 points down in the first quarter they just kept going.

Great game.... not a perfect season but a fun season and a great Super Bowl Game and Party. Been partying all week here in Raleigh where I attended the Bar Mitzvah of my friend's son. He did an amazing job as he has his whole life, overcoming amazing problems to persevere and beautifully read from the Torah scroll during the day and partied at night with his family and friends. A young man, adopted in an orphanage in Guatemala where many children were abandoned and dying from malnutrition by a couple in America who ended up in Raleigh. And, their winter baby born in a tropical rain forest who now lives a blessed life ....as one hell of a young Jewish man studying his chosen religion and playing sports in his spare time as well.

As I watched the snow fall through the windows during his Bar Mitzvah this Saturday I was amazed again at how complex and beautiful life is.. the twists and turns, the good...the bad... the good... what a beautiful, rich, colorful tapestry the crazy quilt of our life really is... it's filled with memories, special souls from rich diverse heritages and backgrounds blending together to make one team, like a football team. To win you need lots of good players who excel at certain positions and can work together with one goal in mind. It was an inspirational beautiful weekend up here and it ended up with us all eating leftovers at a Super Bowl Party... a friend from Nova Scotia, a couple from Denver, my friend who was raised in "The Valley" and her husband from Alabama and a few New York Jets fans who wanted badly to see the Colts go down as much as the Southerners up here wanted to see the jewel of the South win... and they did! I think it's the first time I ever cheered with someone from Pittsburgh in a football game...

Most everyone wanted the Saints to win... but the 2009 New Orleans Saints Football Team MADE IT HAPPEN!

Congratulations and... I am still proud of my Miami Dolphins for holding the record...I watched some of those games at the Orange Bowl...the 72 Dolphins will forever be my team, go Fins and YAY Saints!

Some great videos of the perfect season:



And, another with both Bob Griese and Earl Morrall speaking on that season and a very special charity they have raised a lot of money for and ...you can help as well if you so desire by donating to the link below...



http://www.miamiproject.miami.edu/Page.aspx?pid=459

Sorry for me going long on this one, but you all know how much I love football, how much I love New Orleans and this is my personal recollection of a Great Super Bowl Game during one of the nicest weekends of my life. My blog... my forty four cents ;)

As I am a big believer in helping another person...here's a link to a pretty good video, stick with it for a few seconds... and enjoy a great song and memories of the players who showed up with a musical reminder of just who won the game :)



Gonna be humming that tune all day... me and millions of others ;)

Besos Bobbi