Saints Win! Saints Win!

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Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Nobody, that's who. With the Colts leading 10-6 at halftime, I told T. that I thought things lookes pretty good for the Saints even though they trailed. The Saints had made several mistakes, the Colts hadn't made any, and all the Colts had to show for it was a four point lead. Plus, the Saints had dominated the ball in the second quarter. All they had to do was batten down the hatches in the second half. Then came the onside kick to open the third quarter...All I can say is that Saints coach Sean Payton has big brass balls that clank when he walks. If the Colts recover, Peyton Manning has the ball on the New Orleans 40 and there's every reason in the world to think that the Colts will open a 17-6 lead. But the gamble worked and the rest is Super Bowl history. This may go down as the single guttiest call in the annals of the game...nola.com has complete -- and I mean complete -- coverage here...

Rasta, if the Saints can do it, so can the Bills and the Seahawks. Our day will come. In the meantime, let's let Cliff savor the moment...

Meanwhile, back in the unreal world, Sarah Palin comes out against hope, change, and law and order. Apparently, she thinks that things are fine the way they are and that people should accept their lots in life. You betcha...

Meanwhile, Paul Krugman an actual serious person, writes that the only people worried about the deficit are the ones who don't know anything about economics. It's all cynical posturing, he says, and the media has gone willingly along for the ride while

All the talk is about how to shave a few billion dollars off government spending, while there's hardly any willingness to tackle mass unemployment. Policy is headed in the wrong direction — and millions of Americans will pay the price...

NPR got in hot water recently over its choice of David Horowitz to rebut Noam Chomsky's encomium of historian Howard Zinn as part of an obituary on All Things Considered. Whether one agrees with Noam Chomsky or not, he is a distinguished scholar, writer, and MIT professor with formidable reputations in linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science. David Horowitz is a flack whose reputation stems from self-flagellation and denunciation of the ideals of his youth. To claim that his commentary is a fair "balance" to Chomsky elevates Horowitz to Chomsky's level and lowers NPR to the level of Fox News. Couldn't they have found at least one conservative historian with actual credentials? Maybe not...

As if you needed any more evidence that the Senate is dysfunctional and that Republicans are jerks, earmark king Little Dick Shelby (R-AL) provides it here...

Who Dat!?

(Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune)

The great thing about professional sports is that it can galvanize a community across class, color, economic, and political lines. In this polarized age, sports are about the only thing left that can lay claim to that. I'm not going to write much about the New Orleans Saints -- make that the National Football Conference Champion New Orleans Saints -- great overtime victory against Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings yesterday. I didn't grow up rooting for them throughout 42 years of frustration, and there are other writers can express the unique satisfaction of accomplishment better than I can. Not only that, their steadfast loyalty has earned them the right to do this without out static from someone like me. So don't miss Cliff's Crib:

This morning I got on the elevator with her and she looked like she had never been to sleep. As she was yawning and trying to get herself together I couldn't help but making a comment..."You haven't been to sleep either have you?" Turns out she was down in the French Quarters last night and had to get up this morning for work. I started with this story to prove that New Orleans is home to the people who can party real hard and grind out 8 -12 hour work days afterward with no problem. That's how we roll. I have never seen people look so tired and be so happy at the same time.

And while you're at, don't miss this at NOLA.com. They've compiled the over fifty songs that New Orleans musicians have written and recorded about the Saints. The Sonics had one when they went to the NBA Finals back in '95 and I'm pretty sure that even the Red Sox had only one in history-making run to the 2004 World Series. NOLA.com adds to the playlist as new music becomes available and has streamed it, so you can listen continuously. Music can bring a city together, too.

So, even if you're not a Saints fan or a sports fan, be happy for the people of a city who had this coming to them