31-17 . . . and then we danced

If you read my previous post "How a Midwest Girl comes to love the Saints" I explain how much of a football fan I am not. But why I love the New Orleans Saints.

In fact, I have been talking football so much with my husband lately he said one night, "Am I married to a football fan now?" I said, "NO! I am a Saints fan, not a football fan. Don't expect me to watch other teams on TV with you." LOL!

He is so excited about my new passion he is wanting to buy me Saints gear. I proudly noted to him that Porter made the game changing interception in the NFC Championship game as well as the one in the Superbowl. I joked that maybe Porter should be my "player". Because every fan needs a team and player. And right now I have just a team. Drew Brees is the natural choice and I have to admit he is not only easy on the eyes but has an incredible attitude and personality. Hubby says he would rather I have a Porter Jersey because that would be sexier - his wife wearing a Jersey of someone a little less known. LOL!

I also wrote on Facebook "Forget the immaculate reception. We had the immaculate interception" after the NFC Championship. Hubby found that very entertaining. Only reason I know about the immaculate reception is because I lived in Pittsburgh and how could you not! (Just don't ask me who did it. I forget.)

I have always been a fan of a good sports story though. In fact, hubby always found it interesting that I will watch a football movie but not a real football game on TV. I really get into movies like "Rudy", "We Are Marshall", "Remember the Titans", "Invincible" and I know I will love "Blindsided" when I actually find time to see it!

There is no question why I like these movies. They are passionate, a true story and a good story that tugs at your heart and has a real meaning behind it we can all learn from. They hold the magical formula that makes a good cinderella story.

The story of New Orleans and the Saints is well known by the world I imagine at this point. It is a real life cinderella story but this time I was involved by just being a resident.

Having a background in advertising I usually watched the Superbowl only because I wanted to see the ads. And often times it was during commercials that I actually sat down in front of the tube. When the game resumed I got up and did something else out of lack of interest.

Not this time . . .

I had a rough time the day of the Superbowl with the kids. Hubby was in Miami. I honestly think I was a little nervous which makes me almost laugh out loud! I was irritable with the kids and kinda sick to my stomach. I refused to watch the game alone so I stuck to our plan to join our friends at their house to watch the game.

The party consisted of two couples I knew and 3 other couples that I did not. And oodles of kids everywhere. When we sat down to watch the game I had a headache and stomach still felt sick.
Well, until the first touchdown. Then, the whole pace erupted and the music got cranked up and the we danced! (I mean, this is New Orleans, that is what we do best) We crunked to be specific. (The song "Stand up and get crunk"). After that, I felt nothing but a high. And those damn commercials were boring, dumb and got in the way of the game in my opinion.

We just wanted to watch the game. So during every commercial we danced. And after every good play or touchdown the Saints made, we danced. And we danced. And we danced. For the rest of the game, we made sure we all sat in the same seats we were in for the first touchdown.

At one point in the second half I kept saying, "We just need that game changing interception like we had last game." Eventually I had everyone yelling "Interception!" everytime Peyton got his hands on the ball. And then Porter got that interception we were all hoping for and my friend's husband pratically tackled me screaming "They did it!". Man, did we dance like maniacs after that one!

When we held the Colts back from making a touchdown and less than a minute left one of the husbands broke out the first of three bottles of champagne! He was in the process of popping the cork when they called the game. It was so damn loud and everyone was hugging and toasting.

And then we danced . . . for 2.5 hrs straight.

We crunked, who dat'd, secondlined and not one person left to go home or sat there and watched. Every single woman, man and child was dancing. We were dancing with each others kids, each other and just letting go . . . letting go of a past and welcoming in a future.

This was our time to shine. This was our time to officially say goodbye to "K" and remove that stigma from our name. This was our time to show the rest of the world the persistence, resilence and faith we have.

This was a life lesson for ourselves and the rest of the world that if you just believe . . . and you dance . . . all will be ok.


~end~