Sports Redux: We Are All Sort Of New Orleanians Now

Sure, the Colts just did the world a great service by not inflicting the Jets and their fans on the Super Bowl. But you can't root for the Colts. You just can't. Even if we're grudgingly acknowledging Peyton Manning's clutch performance, and saw coach Caldwell kind of almost crack a smile, we just can't.

When we last checked in on the Saints, when they were treating their guests from New England the worst way possible without actually slipping them a mickey, tying them up and throwing them into a nutria-filled canal, we gave them our blessing to go all the way if the Pats couldn't do it. Since the Pats clearly couldn't, we see no reason to rescind our blessing.

The NFC title game was an overtime thriller, with both teams squandering opportunities, as the Vikings kept turning it over and the Saints kept not turning into the offensive juggernaut they were most of the season. Finally, a dumb "12 men in the huddle" call and a Brett Favre interception (kudos to the TV guys for allowing four full minutes of celebrating Louisianans before cranking up the Brett Favre Retirement Speculation Machine) killed a Minnesota drive in the closing seconds of regulation. The Saints won the OT toss, got a couple of friendly calls and spots, and got kicker/hobbit Garrett Hartley into position for the game-winning field goal.

Meanwhile in Indy, the Jets led after the first half, but someone in the locker room must have remembered that this was one of the games the Colts were trying to win, and so they came out with their guns blazing in the second half and steamrolled the Jets, ending the game on 24 unanswered points. The best silver lining we can think of for a Colts win will be all the questions about whether they now wish they had gone for the perfect season. But we're still going for the Saints.

In case you were wondering (we weren't, but we knew there were people who would), Archie Manning has decided that blood is thicker than bourbon, and will root for his son Peyton over the city that he's been publicly identified with for his whole life. "That's just the way it is. Anybody who thinks it's different must not have children," he says. We don't, so we have no problem calling him a sellout.