Saturday, February 11, 2012
Johnson City Record Courier :  : Hometown of President Lyndon Baines Johnson
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Who Dat Made Dat Brees Do Dat?

"Oh when the Saints came marching in." And by golly they marched right over the Colts and against all odds. In fact the Saints were the underdogs by 10 points before a football ever became air born. If you wanted to be in that number then you should’ve started saving your money for game tickets years ago, they were not cheap.

We were more than willing to watch right here from the comfort of our own couch in our den. I am sure there were super bowl parties all over Blanco County, but I prefer making a fool of myself right here at home. For someone who wasn’t a football fan period, this has been my year to whoop and holler. I have even learned a bit about the game.

This much hyped football game has been on everyone’s minds since the Saints became eligible for this bowl game. I guess everyone wanted to see them get a chance to do their stuff. For me, I had picked the Saints and their young quarterback. Drew Brees is from Austin. He was playing against the old pro, Peyton Manning, of the Colts to win this game, but I understand I was in the minority. I think losing the game was a total surprise for Peyton Manning, I found him a bit cocky.

New Orleans, and the Saints in particular, can use something to cheer about and it’s a shame they had to be away from home to play. You know New Orleans, down deep in the French quarter, didn’t waste a minute to get out and cheer their team and Drew Brees on! I bet the celebrating is still going strong in the Cajun country. It wouldn’t surprise me if they held a parade for Drew and the team when they got back home. Wouldn’t it be nice if Austin, Texas did the same, since Brees is a native and a Westlake High graduate?

I was disappointed in the commercials for the Super Bowl. While they weren’t offensive, they were kind of ‘nothing’. Perhaps political correctness has put a lid on harmless poking fun. I did like listening to and watching "The Who" perform at halftime although I must admit that I had no idea ‘who’ "THE WHO" was. I am thinking they might be the band that wrote the musical score for the CSI Miami TV show, since that is what they played and I really liked that. I have checked this fact out and "THE WHO" is the band that wrote the theme for CSI MIAMI. I thought those two older guys who did the singing might fall off the stage before they finished the number, but I guess they were ‘jazzed’ and that drummer guy, he beat the daylights out of those drums.

The onside kick by the Saints was certainly the turning point for them and I suspect it caught the Colts off guard as they looked like a herd of deer caught in the headlights. The young kicker for the Saints was amazing too. I will confess right here that if I ever knew what an onside kick was, I had forgotten it, because I shouted at Pat, "Look the kicker missed the ball it went side ways!" Oh big duh, Cynthia.

I have noticed that the Saints consider Reggie Bush’s girl friend, Kim Kardashian to be a good luck charm rather than a ‘jinx’ as Jessica Simpson, the former girlfriend of Tony Romo, was to the Cowboys. I didn’t see Kim in the crowd but of course our own Tom Benson was in the crowd and even kissed the Saints coach!

I thoroughly enjoyed the game especially the second half. What is almost more fun than watching the game is watching the people at the grocery store pile their baskets with adult refreshments and dip making equipment and pizza’s. The shelves were looking pretty bare by noon time on Sunday morning.

I thought Pat’s eyes might glaze over before the pre-game stuff was finished as it started before noon time and the game didn’t start until sometime after 5 o’clock. I don’t remember the last time I mostly sat still and watched television for what turned out to be almost 4 hours of hit ‘em high and hit ‘em low football. I can’t get interested in a game if I don’t know something about the team or have an interest in the quarterback. For me a quarterback has to have these few characteristics (at least for me) 1.) Smart 2.) Humility 3.) Good legs. I don’t mean strong legs particularly I mean nice looking, good legs, like my son in law, Donnie Garrett has, old jock that he is!

I noticed early on that Drew Brees does have the good legs that I admire and also the other qualities I have mentioned, plus being one heck of a great quarterback, wouldn’t you agree?

There are many stories about where the ‘Who Dat’ phrase came from, and I have read about it, but I like it no matter why it came to be. It makes at least as much sense to me as Arkansas’ chant, ‘SOOIE PIGS’. I think the Colts didn’t realize what a big breeze the Saints brought to the field as they had in Drew Brees who was ‘Da Man’ on Sunday.