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Colts

February 9, 2010

Signs were all there for New Orleans’ team of destiny

MIAMI — According to New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, his team’s destiny was written in the stars.

His quarterback certainly believes it. So do many of the Saints fans, who made the trip from Bayou Country and packed Sun Life Stadium for Super Bowl XLVI Sunday night.

The signs were all there, they’ll tell you. Prior to Hurricane Katrina devastating the gulf coast region in 2005, Super Bowl XLIV was scheduled to be played at the Superdome in New Orleans. The Who was the halftime entertainment. Don’t see the connection? Try on some ‘Who Dat?’

Saints quarterbacks coach Joe Lombardi — last name ring a bell? — is the grandson of former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi, whose name graces the silver trophy that is awarded to the Super Bowl winning team.

“Joe Lombardi, his father, Vince Jr., and his two brothers sat and posed with this trophy, the four of them, while pictures were taken. And I just thought to myself, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ ” Payton said Monday during the annual post-Super Bowl press conference.

“If you believe in heaven, and you believe Vince Lombardi is there looking down on his grandson, it doesn’t get any better. This is a guy that coaches our quarterbacks, coaches Drew Brees and here a trophy that’s named after his grandfather.”

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell believes in the Saints’ karma.

“I keep thinking of the word ‘magical,’ ” Goodell said. “When you think about the relationship between the Saints and the Gulf Coast and the city of New Orleans, it was more than just a football game and more than just a football team. The hopes, the dreams and the struggles of that community were all reflected in that football team. It was a great night for the people in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.”

n Payton takes time to appreciate Super Bowl win — The former Eastern Illinois quarterback and Indiana State assistant coach celebrated until around 3 a.m. Monday. Then he went to bed for a few hours, clutching the Vince Lombardi Trophy while he catnapped.

“You can’t get enough of this,” Payton said. “Rolled over it a couple times. I probably drooled on it. But man, there’s nothing like it.”

He also found some quiet time to think long and hard about the route that it took to become the Saints’ head coach.

“I said a prayer of thanks for these special times that don’t come around too often. For that I’m very appreciative and very humbled,” Payton said.

“When [Saints general manager] Mickey Loomis hired me in 2006, not having been from New Orleans, it would be hard to describe the relationship between the fans and the players there, and it became apparent to me that football was obviously very important but it was much bigger than football. When we got into coaching or playing, we got into it for certain reasons and yet the reasons in New Orleans far exceeded what we ever expected.”

n Brees still trying to comprehend Super Bowl win — Drew Brees may have been selected as the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLIV, but he is not sure if it’s for real or just a very nice dream.

“I’m not sure if it’s completely sunk in yet,” Brees said Monday. “It seems like as the minutes go by, it slowly does. Our victory [Sunday] night was the culmination of four years of hard work, fighting through a lot of adversity, ups and downs and more importantly than that, representing a city that has been through so much.

“Our city, our fans, gave us strength and we owe this to them. That’s made all the difference. There’s no people that you would want to win for more than the city of New Orleans. So it’s an honor.”

n High ratings — According to the Nielsen Company, Sunday night’s Saints-Colts Super Bowl clash received the highest ratings in over 23 years.

Super Bowl XLIV earned an average overnight household rating/share of 46.4/68. Only Super Bowl XXI in 1987 scored better (47.8/68).

There’s a chance that when the ratings are adjusted that Super Bowl XLIV could end up being the highest-rated Super Bowl of all time.

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