Congratulations, jv!

Please make this the official start of 2010 = The Year Of The Saints!

It's crazier than I thought.

Mint game. Fill your boots, JV...

What a fantastic night.

JV - Never underestimate the insanity of New Orleans in full celebration mode. Just go with it.

Congratulations JV.

It was an absorbing game. The Saints worked their way into it after a slow start, and from a drama point of view you can't really ask more than for any sort of championship/title to only be decided in the last few minutes.

The ability of sports teams of any code to lift a city/region is an often underrated thing, but one that should be celebrated whereever possible.

Well, I stayed up to watch it, even though I have to work today. And I have to say I'm glad I did! I don't know how they've done it, but that's three classic Super Bowls in a row for the BBC since they took up coverage of it over here. Shame they didn't promote it more (the game overall) in the weeks leading up to it.

I didn't post my (few) thoughts at the time last night because I simply wanted to get to bed. However, I'll see if I can remember them now.

The Saints deserved to win. Simple as that. Manning was stunningly efficient when he was on the pitch (most of the time!) so they did the right thing keeping him off it. Just like the Giants did, two years ago with Brady. Brees' completion percentage was amazing under the circumstances.

However... I have to say that some of Payton's play calling was almost idiotic at times! Not the onside kick - fair play to them for doing that. That was great inventiveness and it totally rattled the Colts, I think. No, I'm talking about that 1st(?) and goal at the 1 before halftime. Why the hell didn't they just run the ball up the Colts' gut twice in a row? Two quarterback sneaks, if necessary! Instead they threw almost certain points away by going for the supposedly unexpected choice. The end around was spectacularly unsuccessful too. Why do that - particularly on a field that was obviously quite slippy/loose - when you know you're going to have to make a cut or two. As it was, the runner got tied up even before he got a chance to attempt a cut.

Despite that, Payton did make alot of good and gutsy calls and fortunately Brees was able to make them work more often than not. I reckon Payton will be buying Porter a big old drink or two as well!

I have to admit I just about jumped off my sofa when Porter made that pick and ran it back. That was incredible! Just a blown route combined with a good read, I guess. I was glad to see at least one turnover in the game, too. Particularly since after one quarter I thought we could be seeing a 42-0 final scoreline.

So... congratulation New Orleans. I predict record sales of Ibuprofen in the city in the next day or two!

By the way - what happens to all the merchandise that must be made up for the losing team, celebrating their hypothetical win? Does it all just get chucked in a furnace or does it sometimes end up on eBay? I'm not thinking of buying a Colts' "Super Bowl XLIV champions" hat or anything! Just curious.

By the way - what happens to all the merchandise that must be made up for the losing team, celebrating their hypothetical win?

I believe it ends up as charity clothing, sent to parts of the world where a "Patriots 19-0" t-shirt won't seem weird.

I thought coaching was the difference between two otherwise well-matched teams. Payton's gutsy calls - going for it on 4th-and-1, the onside kick, risking losing a timeout to challenge the decision on the two-point conversion - seemed to fire up his players and keep the momentum firmly with the Saints.

Contrast that to Caldwell's playcalling, which was more conservative but still managed to contain one howler - asking fortysomething Matt Stover to make a 50+ yard field goal, which went wide left. You could practically see steam coming out of Peyton Manning's ears at that point.

I caught the last 10 minutes of this last night. Well to be honest I caught the last 10 minutes of game time. it actually nearly took 40 minutes to play. I recognise that as american football games go it was probably immensely exciting, and I like the pouring of bins full of sugary liquid over managers too. It's amazing what you can get away with when you're 25 stone of muscles. it's just that I don't think I can handle watching 20+ minutes of ads during 10 minutes of game play.

What does the BBC during the gaps for ads? Show extracts from david attenborough programmes.

I'd set up to record the game, planning to watch it this morning, but after Match of the Day 2 finished, I watched the start, and then got hooked into a very absorbing and ultimately exciting match. It's the first time I've watched the game live for several years (one of the benefits of being out of work at present :o)

Credit to Sean Payton for that on-side kick call, and even the decision to go for it on 4th and Goal from the 1 in the second quarter worked out OK as they managed to stifle the conservative Colts offence in the last 2 minutes and still got a Field Goal out of it.

One of the US commentators pointed out that it was the first time in quite a few games that the Colts defence had come up against a good passing attack, and maybe that made the difference in the second half.

I'm very glad for the Saints and for New Orleans, but not too sad for Peyton Manning, who's still the best there is - he'll be back.

During the ad breaks, the BBC alternated between useful analysis from Mike Carlson and Alex Smith, backed up by comments from Rod Woodson in Miami, and some overblown (IMO) and irritating Michael Johnson promos for the Winter Olympics.

To be precise and pedantic, the Michael Johnson promos were for an 'Inside Sport' special on downhill skiers.

Having watched the NFC Championship game and the Super Bowl, which were both great matches and where the team I wanted to win did, I have to say that the breaks are just too frequent for me to get back into the NFL. Fine for the quarter breaks and so on, but the gaps between drives are just infuriating. I'd love to watch the games, but there's just not enough of them.

I'm very happy that the Saints won the SB, but I'm pretty sure the book of Revelation lists that event as one of the signs of the apocalypse.

I'm enjoying your doggy pics, FF, but by the look on his face in the one you posted above, I think he's considering reporting you to the Humane Society for making him wear Saints merchandise.

Of course, now he knows better and looks like the coolest dog on the block. Kind of.

robw wrote:
To be precise and pedantic, the Michael Johnson promos were for an 'Inside Sport' special on downhill skiers.

Oh, right. Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't paying too much attention, as you can tell.

Oh, and I know I've said this before, but...

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Sean Payton:



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Andrew Weatherall:



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blameless wrote:
By the way - what happens to all the merchandise that must be made up for the losing team, celebrating their hypothetical win?

I believe it ends up as charity clothing, sent to parts of the world where a "Patriots 19-0" t-shirt won't seem weird.

Yep. The NFL works with the Christian charity organization World Vision, and they distribute the shirts and clothing like that. The "AFC Champion Vikings!" shirts are already in Haiti.

Here's a good article about a guy trying to find a "Patriots 19-0" Super Bowl shirt.

evilC - He said he would give me a pass on the Saints shirt if I didn't make him wear the Red Sox coat in NYC.

Femme Falafel wrote:
evilC - He said he would give me a pass on the Saints shirt if I didn't make him wear the Red Sox coat in NYC.

Sounds like a fair deal. It would be unfair to inflict the role of 'stunt dog' upon him.

After Hartley's game-winning FG against the Vikes, there were a few people screaming out of their houses.

Last night there were 20 people alone 2 houses away who were watching the game outside (in 40 degree weather.) For about 5 blocks in each direction, you could hear the screaming after Porter's pick.

When I posted "it's crazier than I thought," it was after the final whistle, where fireworks started exploding in all directions - and I live in a quiet neighborhood. A block away at Le Bon Temps Roulez, the Magazine St bar, people poured out and were stopping cars that had 4-5 people dancing out the windows and dancing in front of them. Again, this was a quiet neighborhood, not Bourbon St.

My daughter has taken to saying "HOO DAT", and ran out of the house to hear people screaming it in every direction. All of the parents at our house with the Baby Brigade had to put them on their shoulders and walk down Magazine St to see the cars honking and people waving flags.

My happiness is for the people of the city who suffered so much, from crappy schools to a crappy government to a crappy team to a crappy storm. I was fortunate to be a part of their joy.

I had an opportunity to move here because they needed teachers, and it gave my wife the chance to be with her daughter for the first 2 years of her life. The people of this city - my fellow teachers, my students, the parents, my neighbors - immediately threw their arms around me, and showed me love like I've never experienced. Love that is different than any other love in any other city.

There was a time I didn't pay the electric bill last year, and it got cut off. A lady I work with, whose husband was murdered 7 years before, brought me all of the tv dinners that were in her fridge so I could at least eat a hot meal at school.

Then there was my student who was so proud that his father was in a secondline parade, and asked if I could be there that weekend. When I showed up, his family was so happy that one of his teachers would come, to the point that his younger brother this year hands me every flyer of every parade that comes up.

There's the concept of people not only paying thousands of dollars to build their own floats and costumes at Mardi Gras, but paying another few hundred to throw free beads and toys to kids. (In New Jersey, for your kid to get stuffed animal, you have to spend $40-$100 trying to win one at the Jersey Shore. And that's if you even win. My daughter came home with a whole barrelfull of stuffed animals last year just for screaming her 8-month-old head off.)

I'm fortunate to live in and raise a daughter in such a beautiful city with such beautiful people. I just hope it can survive this century.