Who Dat Nation Expected in Large Numbers

The New Orleans Saints, winners of Superbowl 44 in Miami are set to arrive at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport at 1:30 PM today.

Who Dat Nation fans are expected in large numbers to greet the team upon their arrival. If you’re looking for more proof that New Orleans Saints fans are the loudest, craziest, most intense fans anywhere in the National Football League, you need look no further than a half-mile stretch in Kenner.

The party began in earnest after the Saints beat the favored Colts 31-17. Thousands of fans packed the French Quarter after the win. Throughout the city residents could be seen riding atop cars, setting off fireworks and blasting their horns. And most could be heard chanting “Who Dat Who Dat Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!”

The city, known for its penchant to throw a party, began their Mardi Gras celebration a week early. After the teams arrival back in New Orleans, a parade will be held to honor the teams Super Bowl win. The parade will be held on Tuesday, February 9th, 2009 at 5:00 P.M. The parade route will begin on Poydras St. in front of the Superdome. It will end on Convention Center Boulevard.

Upset the Favored Colts

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees completed 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns to outshine the Colts’ Peyton Manning in a match-up of MVP quarterbacks. Brees later said, We just believed in ourselves”. “We knew we had an entire city and maybe an entire country behind us.”

Mardi Gras-style started early in Dolphin Stadium when Louisiana native Tracy Porter picked a Manning pass with just over three minutes left and raced 74 yards for a score to give the Saints a 31-17 lead.

“I’m proud of this team, these coaches and everybody back in New Orleans,” Saints coach Sean Payton told the crowd after the game.

The Colts’ last gasp ended with 44 seconds left when Manning’s pass slipped through the hands of Reggie Wayne in the end zone, giving the Saints their first NFL title in their 43-year history.

Manning, who was hoping to lead the Colts to their second Super Bowl championship in the last four seasons, finished with 31 completions in 45 attempts for 333 yards, one touchdown and one costly interception.

The Saints entered the fourth quarter trailing 17-16 but Brees hit Tight End Jeremy Shockey on a two-yard scoring pass to give the Saints a 22-16 lead with under six minutes to go.

Brees, named the game’s Most Valuable Player, found receiver Lance Moore on a two-point conversion attempt that was ruled incomplete. But New Orleans successfully challenged the call to take a 24-17 lead.

Porter, who had a key pickoff against Minnesota in the NFC championship game, sealed the victory with the interception of Manning’s pass, pointing towards the end zone during the last 20 yards. “It means so much,” Porter said. “Words can’t describe how much this means for New Orleans.”

“The Who” that’s who.

One of the Worlds greatest and most dynamic rock bands, “The Who”, will perform at the 2010 Superbowl, during the Bridgestone halftime show. The Who is expected to play a 15 song medley during the performance. The identities of the songs contained in the medley will be unknown until the Super Bowl performance, but, really, they’re all good.

It is actually quite curious that The Who was chosen to perform. They have not released an album of songs in four years. However, the Superbowl is a great way for the band to promote it’s new greatest hits album. The band, which originally formed in 1964, rose to fame in the UK with a series of top ten hit singles. The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, their first year of eligibility.

The Who’s original drummer, Keith Moon, died in 1978. The band released two albums after his death, Face Dances in 1981 and It’s Hard in 1982 with Drummer Kenney Jones. The band disbanded in 1983 but have performed for special concerts and reunion tours in ’89, ’96 and ’97. In 2000 original bassist John Entwistle died as well. Vocalist Roger Daltry and guitarist Pete Townsend continued to perform as The Who. In 2006 they released an album titled “Endless Wire”.

Besides The Who, there will be other star-studded performances as well. Country sensation Carrie Underwood will be performing the Star Spangled Banner to kick off the game. Underwood rose to fame after her season 4 win on American Idol. Underwood will be followed by Queen Latifah who will be singing America the Beautiful.

  Question posed on Answerbag Website

I came across a website earlier, Answerbag.com. The site has a question posed from a user that asks: “What do I need to know to shut down New Orleans Saints fans? Here is their answer.

So your friends are whooping it up about the New Orleans Saints making it to the Super Bowl and you can’t wait to quiet them down before the game kicks off on Sunday. Luckily, there is a lot of evidence that can keep them humble and their taunts in check.

The Saints’ pitiful history

For decades, the Saints were the example of failure in the NFL. From 1967 to 1987, the Saints missed the playoffs. It took the team that long to have a winning record. As recently as 2005, the Saints were 3-13. This year marks the team’s sixth playoff appearance in 20 years.

Who Dat Saint’s Reply: As recently as 1998 The Colts had back to back 3-13 seasons.

The Aints

In 1980, when the team started the season 0-14, fans developed a new tradition of wearing paper bags over their heads. This is when the team developed the nickname “Aints,” meaning they ain’t winning. New Orleans finished the 1980 season with a 1-15 record.

Who Dat Saint’s Reply: Hmmm, Let’s see. The Colts were originally a Baltimore team that went 2-14 in 1980. And in 1984 couldn’t be given a name like the Aint’s. Oh, yeah because they snuck out of town and went to a different city.

Stats don’t lie

The Colts come in with a more well-rounded team, ranking higher than the New Orleans Saints in total defense (allowing just 19 points a game), defensive interceptions (16), passing yards (282 per game) and fewest sacks allowed (13). While the Saints have put up gaudy offensive numbers, the Colts are the more well-rounded team.

Who Dat Saint’s Reply: Apparently, in this case, stats do lie. Indy doesn’t lead the Saints in defensive interceptions. You are right, the Colts do have 16. The Saints on the other hand have 26. I wouldn’t say the Colts are a more well rounded team based on the numbers you posted. They only lead the Saints by 2 points in the points allowed category. On the offensive side of the ball they only lead the Saints by 10 yards a game in passing.

Manning is better than Brees

When it comes to comparing the two quarterbacks in the Super Bowl, Drew Brees is nowhere near as good as Peyton Manning. Manning already has a Super Bowl title, along with his fourth MVP Award. This season, Manning had 4,500 yards to Brees’ 4,300. Brees didn’t even start for San Diego his first season in the league.

Who Dat Saint’s Reply: I will give it to Peyton, he does have a Superbowl ring. And yes, he does have 4,500 yards to Brees’ 4,388 this year, a difference of 112 yards over 16 games. What you failed to mention is that Brees only played in 15 games as compared to Manning’s 16. When you break it down Brees actually leads in passing by 10 yards per game. To top it off Brees has thrown for more touchdowns 34 to 33, has thrown less interceptions 11 to Manning’s 16. Oh, and did I mention Brees leads Manning in passer rating by 10 points.

Saints fans are bandwagon fans

Where were all these Saints fans a few years ago? New Orleans has become a popular pick because of its stars like Brees and Reggie Bush, but when the team was missing the playoffs in the early part of the 21st century, no one was showing up. Any fan now is a bandwagon fan.

Who Dat Saint’s Reply: The Who Dat Nation was as strong then as it is now and will be for years to come! WHO DAT

Please feel free to discuss or comment below.

I was on my drive around Louisiana today and was listening to WWL 870 when I heard them discussing a segment on ESPN. Apparently the segment pitted Peyton Manning against Drew Brees and the likelyhood of winning the Superbowl based on their facial features as well as some other aspects, such as the state where past Superbowl winning quarterbacks were born. Apparently the segment was titled “Sports Science: The Golden Mask”.

I did not get a chance to see the segment, but after listening to the radio announcers discuss it on WWL I thought to myself, “This sounds more like science fiction rather than actual sports science. I remember the video that was produced in which it highlights Drew Brees’ accuracy as compared that that of a World Class Archer. In fact I really enjoyed watching that segment and still do today. That video was titled “Sport Science” and if I recall correctly was made by Fox Sports Net (FSN). Since I did not get to see the ESPN segment, I am not sure if it was the same production company or just a nearly identical title.

As I stated above, it sounds like science fiction. Well apparently ESPN came to the same conclusion. All instances of the video segment have been removed from their website as well as other sites where they posted the video. These sites include the following:

ESPN

YouTube

AOL Video

Gawkk

Video New Live