Saints and city celebrate after beating favored Colts

Congrats, New Orleans. It looks like the French Quarter will host a party of Mardi Gras proportions a few weeks early this year.

Hopefully the revelers will be loud enough to block out any memories of Roger Daltrey's horrible halftime performance.

It may not have been the most exciting game, but the Saints' 31-17 triumph over Peyton Manning and the Colts represents all that is good in sports. Going up against most teams, New Orleans would have been the Vegas favorite, but arguably the best quarterback of this generation was standing in its way last night.

Manning wasn't far removed from a Super Bowl, and was coming off his fourth MVP season with the Colts. The pressure was on Manning to win another Lombardi Trophy, but tonight was not Manning's night. Drew Brees was the better quarterback on Super Bowl Sunday, as he completed 32 of 39 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns. I'm sure Brees is completely fine with being the Super Bowl MVP after losing out to Manning for the regular season trophy.

The Saints, who entered the league in 1967, had never been to a Super Bowl until this year. After Tracy Porter took Peyton's pass 74 yards the other way late in the fourth quarter, there was no looking back. Thought I didn't really have any rooting interests in this game, I couldn't help but yell a "who dat" or two when it became clear that New Orleans was going to win.

Before hiring head coach Sean Payton in 2006, the Saints had only made five playoff appearances in their history. In his first year with the team (and their first back in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina), the Saints went 10-6 and were one game away from facing Manning in Super Bowl XLI. They finished a mediocre 7-9 and 8-8 in 2007 and 2008 respectively, but this year was much different.

Representing a city that has gone through so much strife the past few years, the Saints were the best possible team to root for in a matchup of the two best teams in the league. For the Saints, so many parts just came together at the right time. From Brees and Reggie Bush, to Darren Sharper and Jeremy Shockey, this was a great victory for the Saints franchise.

As much as I hate Shockey the Giant, the Tight End finally got to be a part of a Super Bowl team after a broken leg kept him on the sideline during the Giants' run in 2007. Sharper, who lost his last Super Bowl in 1997 when the Packers lost to the Denver Broncos, finally got his ring. Bush was supposed to resurrect the franchise when he was drafted out of USC in 2006. He finally learned how to be a part of a team, and I think Bush will be happy with the results. Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams, who was on the Tennessee Titans' staff when they lost to the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV got a ring in his first season with the Saints. And of course New Orleans finally has something the whole city can cheer about.

There has already been speculation that the Saints could be the team of the next decade. But whether or not they win again doesn't matter for now.

The parade down Bourbon Street should be quite the spectacle.