Recently in pro football Category

Twenty-four hours later, and I still can't believe the New Orleans Saints have won the Super Bowl. A week, two weeks, ten years from now, it still won't feel quite real. I could watch the whole game again and probably be just as enthralled as I was the first time -- just because the idea of a Saints Super Bowl victory seems other-worldly.

So, reasons last night was totally kickass:

1) Obviously, the Saints won. And it was actually pretty decisive. The Colts went up 10-0 in the first quarter. After that, the score was 31-7 Saints. A lot of people thought the game would be high scoring and close, and thought the Colts would win. A few thought it would be high-scoring and close and the Saints would win. Some thought it would be high-scoring and the Colts would win going away. Few people if any thought it would be high scoring and the Saints would win decisively.

Of course the obligatory NFL commercial advertising the winning team's championship gear immediately aired after the game. And most seasons you just kind of roll your eyes but this time, that's actually going to be some highly in-demand stuff. I mean, the whole story behind this season for this team in this city with these characters. The Championship DVD's and the literature and stuff, all chronicling the team's history of extraordinary badness and the city's recent catastrophe and road to recovery. It's like the MIghty Ducks meets Rocky meets We Are Marshall.

2) The Doritos Dog. CLASSIC:

3) It was one of the few times in my life that I can remember that my dad was actually genuinely surprised by what he saw. He's usually right about things, so not a lot surprises him. But he has been watching the Saints get whip-creamed for 43 years, and he never ever ... ever ... thought that he would live to see the Saints win the big one. I don't think I will ever forget how, when Porter returned that interception for the touchdown to put the Saints up 31-17, dad waved his arms in the air.

4) Drew Brees is from AUSTIN TEXAS BABY. I remember when he was a quarterback for the Westlake Chapparrals. They used to beat the ever-loving crap out of us ("us" being Leander High School) every single year, and one year for our homecoming game. We lost 49 to 7. Scheduling Westlake for Homecoming. There's a mistake there's no excuse to make twice.

5) When Pierre Thomas scored that amazing 16-yard touchdown, I got to cry out: "My name is Pierre! I come from Paris!" Eddie Izzard-style. (Three minutes in and you'll see what I mean.)

6) Gutsy won out. Sean Payton was the definition of gutsy, and even when it didn't quite work the way he wanted, like when they failed to punch it into the endzone of fourth down near the end of the first half, it still paid dividends, like pinning the Colts deep so the Saints could get the ball back in time for a field goal right before the half. And then of course there was the onside kick to start the half. It changed the entire feel of the game.

And last, and in some ways most spectacular or all ...

7) Betty White makes up for the PetMeds commercials!