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Feb072010
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Black and Gold Super Bowl |
Today was the big day. The New Orleans Saints playing in Super Bowl XLIV versus the Indianapolis Colts. As for me, I would be working at WVUE this evening through the game but would be free to watch it in the newsroom.As dad was concerned about possible traffic congestion and having a stop to make, we left early at four. Traffic wasn’t too bad in spite of all that was going on in town. Dad had something to pick up at Rite-Aid on Canal Street. I picked up some drinks, chips, ice and cups to bring to the station. I arrived at WVUE at 4:30. Plenty of people were already at the station. We had no pre-game broadcast but we did have a post game show to do. That was mostly the domain of people above my pay grade. Myself and the other desk personnel were largely free to watch the game which started at 5:30. The game itself, and what a game it was. It certainly didn’t start in fine fashion for the Saints who fell behind 10-0. The Saints answered with two field goals in the second quarter but the Colts had a fine goal line stand preventing the Saints from scoring a touchdown. The second half was the quite something. The Saints opened the half with a successful onside kick and turned it into points. Going into the fourth quarter, the Colts lead 17-16. The Saints scored a touchdown after a good drive in their first possession of the quarter and a successful two point conversion. In the closing minutes of the game, a Peyton Manning pass was intercepted by Tracy Porter and returned for a touchdown. With that, 43 years of waiting came to an end and the Saints won their first Super Bowl. I suspect the Saints have cured global warming.Immediately following the game I had to prompt our post game show although it was all live shots from around the city including Bourbon Street which erupted in celebration, perhaps unlike the city has ever seen. As our post game show aas not going as scripted in any way, shape or form, I was eventually relieved of prompter duties. Around 11, myself and Dannah were dismissed for the evening. By then things were pretty quiet in the newsroom even though we would remain on the air until one. I heard from Andrey who was in the quarter with some friends and went down to meet them. Danna gave me a ride down Canal Street as far as she could before hitting the traffic jam. That put me a couple blocks from the Claiborne overpass. I walked down canal Street and soon saw the most cheerful gridlock of my life. Everyone was honking. Some people were hanging out of their cars, standing of the roofs. It was quite a spectacle.I eventually made my way to Pat O’brien’s where I found Andrey, Patrick, David, Chelsi and another friend of theirs whose name escapes me. They were at Pat O’s waiting for me so we left when I arrived and walked around the quarter a bit. We stopped in a bar called Bourbon Oh! for a little while and wandered around some more. Eventually we made our way back to Chelsi’s car which was parked on Poydras Street. There were still six in our party including myself which made for a tight fit in the small car. Andrey, David, Patrick and myself were dropped off at David’s house. From there we went to Patrick’s place in River Ride so he could go home and Andrey could pick up his car.I wasn’t quite ready for bed yet so David and I headed back into town around three. We first stopped at a gas station and I went in to pee. As I was about to leave I noticed the next day’s paper was in stock. The Monday edition featured the Saints Super Bowl win with “Amen!” topping the page. Below that was a picture of MVP Drew Brees hoisting the Lombardi trophy. I bought six copies. I suspect I will be glad I did in the coming years. Nor David or I wanted to head back to the quarter so we went to Bruno’s and found it closed. Oak and Maple Street were deserted so we headed to a place that had to be open still, Snake and Jake’s. Sure enough there was a crowd there. We stayed for a couple drinks including the obligatory round of Schlitz. Shortly before we left, someone walked in with a couple boxes of cold pizza and proclaimed there was free pizza for whoever wanted it. He also said this was a limited offer… only when the Saints win the Super Bowl.David was kind enough to offer me a ride home. On the way we wanted to stop for something to eat. We waited until we hit General De Gaulle drive to try a place. Rally’s was closed. McDonalds was open but they were only serving sausage biscuits for some reason. We got four… no drinks though. We tried nearby Burger King for that but apparently they were closed. Someone was there to tell us though. We had to wait to get home for that. I finally arrived home around five in the morning and went to bed after quite a day, to say the least.