I imagine blogs to be much like seismographs - a large event will be recorded instantaneously by those closest to the event, and will, over time, propagate further out. Well, if that is the metaphor we are using, then my seismograph isn't plugged in and running very often, and this is actually recording an aftershock.
And, for that matter, I think "aftershock" is not too bad a way to put it. I don't think I've fully gotten over the "shock", at any rate. "How bout them Saints" used to be a phrase that people around here would say when they wanted to change the subject... and merely as an indication
that they wanted to change the subject. It wasn't a lead-in to an actual conversation about a pro football team, but more of a way of saying, "There's
got to be something else we can talk about, right?"
Now, however, one winning Super Bowl later, the Saints aren't just a topic of conversation, they're a cult... and "How 'bout them Saints" isn't just a phrase of speech, it's a likely headline across the front of a newspaper. I say "likely headline" because I didn't actually
see the front of the newspaper the day after the Superbowl -
they were all bought up. Like they were the last newspaper to be printed. Not only did they sell out - everywhere - early in the morning, but that was even with the fact that the newspaper companies printed more copies than normal in expectation of the demand. There is actually a car dealership in Baton Rouge that picked up what appears to be a
truck full of papers and is advertising a free Saints Super Bowl win newspaper for coming in to the dealership.
To me, Baton Rouge has always been a sports town. Primarily, though, it's a college town, with both LSU and Southern University, there are a lot of extreme sports fans rooting for some large wild game cat or another and, with LSU colors being purple and gold (well, yellow, really) and Southern's colors being blue and yellow, it seems that "Yellow" is the most agreeable color to wear in the city of "Red Stick". (As a side note, since the Saints colors are black and gold (well, yellow, really), it's not a bad idea to buy stock in yellow if you live in the Baton Rouge area.)
It is quite amazing to me how fanatical the Baton Rouge area has become about the NEW ORLEANS Saints. Yes, they're the closest NFL team to Baton Rouge, but I was not prepared for the rush on newspapers and the merchandise vendors in tents not just on "every street corner" but more like set up in front of almost every other store. I could easily pass fifteen of these makeshift street vendors with black and gold (well, yellow, really) T-shirts on my way to work. It's just too much!
Did I watch the game? You bet your sweet bippie. I haven't watched a football game in years, I don't plan to watch another one in the coming years, but we not only watched the game, we threw together a small (very small) party to watch the game. We made a bucket of Mojitos, bought three six packs of Iron Beer (The national soft drink of Cuba) and had some generally Cuban themed snacks to accompany the Superbowl, which was held in Miami, Florida (pronounced, "Northern Cuba"). Although we invited a few people to join us, it ended up being just myself, my wife Ashley and Chris. Which was probably just as well, because we were so tied to the game - and the commercials - that we never even made it to fetch the Mojitos out of the freezer.
Besides the obvious quality of the commercials during the Superbowl and the excitement of the close game and the amazing plays, Chris had a personal interest in the game in that he grew up with Tracey Porter, the Saints player that turned and interception opportunity into a breakaway play where he covered three-quarters of the field and ended his run in a touchdown that proved to be the last points the Saints made (or needed) in the game. Chris would have had to have been much less excited to be "on the edge of his seat"; on two separate occasions, I had to remind him that it was fine for him to sit down and enjoy the game from the comfort of the couch. He would run to his house for something, then rush back and stand in the living room, watching with all-consuming determination at the television, waiting to see what happened next. I guess that comes from his covering sports as a photographer. I don't imagine you sit down much when your down on the side-lines of the field taking pictures of the action.
My poor dog had never witnessed a football game on television before. For that matter, he might not ever have seen a sporting event on TV - and definitely not one that people in the house cared a flip about. He was beside himself when there was a flag on a play, or points scored, or even a first down would cause the three of us to yell something; he would run up to the entertainment center and stand up on his hind legs and bark at the screen. (Sorry Tracey Porter, he just doesn't know you - it's nothing personal.) He also wasn't too keen on the fireworks and yelling that occurred from the streets around us just after the Saints actually won the Super Bowl. I have to say I was a bit surprised, myself. Even getting beyond the whole Baton Rouge / New Orleans thing, how did these people still have fireworks? Did they buy them specifically in case the Saints actually won? Or did they simply have leftovers after firing fireworks off to exhaustion for New Years? I guess I have a hard time with this, since they're not even legal to use in my neighborhood.
I can only imagine what Mardi Gras must have been like this year. I didn't venture toward New Orleans for it this year, but the
normal Mardi Gras crowds are more than enough for me, so I am fine with not being in parade crowds that were up to 50 people deep in places. Hard to imagine, but I'm okay with keeping it limited to my imagination. If you went to Mardi Gras 2010 (and survived), congratulations and thank you for your tourist dollars... you don't get 50 people deep from the natives here.
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