It was over at the beginning of the second half. Whether the Saints recovered the on-side kick of not, that was the game. The Saints were not afraid to take a chance and they were rewarded.
A great day for the city of New Orleans.
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You are thinking about betting whether the national anthem, to be sung by Carrie Underwood, goes longer than 1:42 at one gambling site and 1:38.5 at another.
And you seek out videos of Underwood singing the anthem at other sporting events to deliberate.
You can also bet on who will win the coin toss and the commercials and what color Gatorade the winning team will pour of its coach.
Personally, one vice I never picked up was gambling. I'm too cheap to gamble.
Check out the wacky proposition bets in this article.
You may have heard about a big football game this Sunday. One of the teams in it is an outfit that fled its city for greener pastures and is now successful in its new home.
And the other stayed put, even though it had reason to flee. Its stadium was a wreck. Its city was a wreck.
But the team stayed and is a huge part of community.
That's one reason to embrace America's team, the Saints.
The city of New Orleans needs something good to happen. Winning a Super Bowl isn't going to repair the damage from the storm or really do anything tangible to assist the on-going rebuilding effort down there. But it can't hurt.
I visited New Orleans three years after the storm and it was starting to come back. Still, huge parts of the city were devastated. But the people of New Orleans are tough folks. And they are perhaps the friendliest and most hospitable people you'll ever meet.
One of my favorite places there is a restaurant called Dookie Chase's, a soul food joint. Leah Chase, in her 80s, runs the place and the food is spectacular. And Leah is one of the nicest, sweetest women you'll ever meet. She stayed during the storm and cooked for rescue workers. She's an amazing person.
To give you an idea what this all means to the city, check out Mark Lorando's excellent piece in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
It begins:
"Dear Miami,
"The Saints are coming. And so are we, their loyal, long-suffering and slightly discombobulated Super Bowl-bound fans.
"While there's still time to prepare -- although a few hard-core Who Dats will begin trickling in Monday, most of us won't arrive until Thursday or Friday -- we thought we'd give you a heads-up about what you should expect.
"First things first: You need more beer.
"Yeah, we know. You ordered extra. You think you have more than any group of humans could possibly consume in one week. Trust us. You don't."
The city is a special place, even more special because of people like Leah and the rest of the survivors of the storm. They are tough, fun-loving people.
So on Sunday, I'm going have some gumbo and drink a toast to the city of New Orleans.
And pull for the Saints.
Congrats to the Saints. What a great story. The city of New Orleans deserves some good news. I know winning a football game is small consolation compared to the pain and suffering that city has endured since Katrina. But it's a great boost for the people there.
I've spent some time in New Orleans, both before and after the hurricane. Some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet.
I was in New Orleans summer before last, three years after Katrina. The city was still devastated. Whole neighborhoods were ghost towns. People were living in tents under a bridge. In America.
But now, the Saints have given the city something to rally around.
One last note on the game, Brett Favre played a great game, but you just knew that he had a game-killing interception in him.
The Saints are early underdogs in the Super Bowl. They will have one thing going for them -- they are America's team now.
Excellent column by the Balitmore Sun's Keven Cowherd on Orioles ticket prices.
It begins:
"When it comes to fan relations, the Orioles sometimes have the touch of a blacksmith.
"Take their two latest moves: raising the price of tickets bought the day of the game and charging more for 19 'premium games,' which include Opening Day and all Yankees and Red Sox games.
"Here is Cowherd's Primary Theory of Sports Commerce: If your team stinks and you're having trouble attracting fans, jacking up ticket prices is generally not a good PR move.
"I would say 12 straight losing seasons and another Titanic-like finish last year qualifies as 'stinks,' wouldn't you?
"Or are we being too harsh here?"
No, you're not.
Something called the All-American Basketball Alliance sent out a press release announcing the start-up of the league.
The weird thing?
The league would be only for white players.
It's either a joke or one of the dumbest ideas ever. If it is serious, I wonder whether one of the teams will be called The Klansmen.
So WSBA is forsaking the York Revolution to broadcast Baltimore Orioles' games this coming season.
What? WSBA couldn't get a the rights to broadcast major league baseball?
So Mark McGwire confessed he used steroids. Wow. That's surprising.
Jason Stark, baseball writer extraordinaire, tackles the subject here.
In other news, the sun rose in the east this morning and cats and dogs continued to not get along.
Well, we all saw that coming.
The Eagles stunk the place up in Dallas. Before the game, as most Eagles were wont to do, I harbored a small sliver of hope that things would be different this week. Then, I caught myself. These are the Eagles This is what they do.
Andy Reid quote of the week: "It was a team effort."
Or non-effort. They stunk on offense. They stunk of defense. They stunk, period.
And in true Eagles fan manner, let's hope the Cowboys get their butts handed to them next week.
In last night's BSC Championship Game, whoever picks the MVP of the game made the wrong call. They gave it to running back Mark Ingram, the Heisman Trophy winner who did have a good game.
But the real MVP was Marcell Dareus. The defensive lineman was the guy who knocked Texas quarterback Colt McCoy out of the game. Not taking anything away from Alabama, but if McCoy had been able to stay in the game, and perform up to his usual standards, it would have been a different game. Of course, that's a big "if."
It was interesting to me that Alabama graduates 62 percent of its football players while Texas' graduation rate for its program is a dismal 41 percent, according to the NCAA.
Think about that. Penn State's graduation rate for its football players, the NCAA reports, is 85 percent.
In recent Penn State news, star linebacker Navarro Bowman announced he was turning pro despite having a year of eligibility left. He already has his criminal justice degree. Bowman is highly thought of among pro scouts and has a good shot at being a first- or second-round draft choice -- something that would make him a rich young man. Still, he said he has his degree and if things don't work out, he'll be OK.
Defensive end Jerome Hayes also decided to try his hand at turning pro. The oft-injured Hayes said he would give the NFL a shot, but if that fails, he still has his education degree and would teach and coach football.
Star running back Evan Royster announced he was staying in school.
He said, "I wanted to return to finish my degree and for my final year at Penn State."
Royster, who majors in information systems management, on schedule to graduate in May.
That crystal trophy is nice. But when you measure the success of a college football program, keep these three guys in mind. They're what it's all about.
Yeah, I know.
They were terrible Sunday and making it worse, they were terrible against that team from Texas.
Now they have to go right back to Dallas and play the Cowboys again in the playoffs. As an Eagles fan, you know what's going to happen. They'll beat the Cowpokes, raising hope and optimism, and then, they'll find a way to lose in the most painful manner possible against the Saints.
That's what they do.
Maybe they just need a good pep talk.
Not the 1979 football team. Or the 1983 team. Or the undefeated 1994 team.
We're talking the woman's volleyball team, which won its third straight national championship Saturday night, beating No. 2 Texas in a five-set match. No. 1 Penn State fell behind 0-2 after the first two sets and stormed back to sweep three straight to win the trophy.
The team's victory was its 102nd straight win.
Amazing.
Read ESPN's coverage here.
The Steelers win on the last play of the game. The Ravens beat the snot out of the Bears.
And the Eagles clinched a playoff spot, beating San Francisco.
Funny thing, though. Because the Eagles game was moved to a late start due to the snowstorm -- perhaps you heard about that -- the Steelers weren't on TV here. Neither were the Ravens.
But the Eagles were. And they made the playoffs for the eighth time in 10 years.
A good game by the Eagles. Donovan looked sharp. That Jackson kid looks like he may work out. The defense was pretty stout when it needed to be.
Still, Eagles fans will criticize Andy Reid for going for it on fourth down in the first quarter.
For your enjoyment, here's a blast from the past...
This is the lead from a New York Times story about Tiger Woods and his relationship with the management consulting firm Accenture -- a relationship that seems to be a metaphor for his marriage.
"How do you Tiger-proof an entire corporation? At Accenture, you start by telling employees to tear down all the posters that say, now somewhat awkwardly, that 'we know what it takes to be a Tiger.'
"For six years, Tiger Woods was the advertising face for Accenture, the big consulting firm. But now that Mr. Woods has confessed to infidelities amid an assault of media coverage, Accenture wants him to disappear.
"On Sunday, hours after Accenture ended its sponsorship deal, the golfer's face was replaced by an anonymous skier on the company's home page. His name was scrubbed almost completely from the rest of the Web site. The company's advertising campaign is about 'high performance,' and Mr. Woods 'just wasn't a metaphor for high performance anymore,' a spokesman for Accenture, Fred Hawrysh, said."
Depends on what you mean by "high performance." From what some of Tiger's girlfriends have said, he was able to perform at a pretty high level.
And it bears noting that Accenture rose from the ashes of the failed accounting firm Arthur Andersen, which collapsed after its enabling relationship with Enron.
It's not a joke.
Word is he beat out Barry Bonds for the honor by virtue of a better average with women in scoring position.
Thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
