Geaux Saints

Sorry to get all Football on you guys, but it is almost Super Bowl Sunday!!

I grew up in West Virginia in the 1970s, about an hour and a half from Pittsburgh.  Needless to say, I watched a lot of Steelers growing up.

In 1990 I moved to Indiana for college and lived there for over a decade.  I was never really a fan of the Steelers, so when I moved to Indiana I decided to throw my lot in with the locals and start following the Colts.  I have considered myself a fan of the Colts now for almost 20 years.  I followed them through the bad years: 3 and 13, NOT selling out a Monday Night Football Game (ABC bought thousands of tickets so the game wouldn’t be blacked out), and Coach Mora’s infamous rants (Playoffs, anyone???).  But then along came Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy and the Colts started winning some games.  Of course, they couldn’t seem to win playoff games, but at least it became a little easier to be a Colts fan.  And then in February 2007 the Colts won the Super Bowl.  We even let the kids stay up late to watch the game!

But wait a minute, did you catch the title of this post?  Did I mention that in the early 1990s I attended Purdue University.  I was a student B.T. (Before Tiller).  I am pretty sure we didn’t even win 10 games in the 4 and a half years that I was a student there, but maybe I am misremembering.  Anyway, just like I cheered for the Colts all those miserable years, I have always been loyal to my Boilermakers.  A few years after I graduated, enter Drew Brees and Joe Tiller and my Boilers were actually playing football like a football team.  When Brees graduated and was drafted by the Chargers, my husband and I continued to be Colts fans, but my husband and I started following the Chargers as well.  Then when he left San Diego for New Orleans, we traded in the Chargers duds (except the powder blue jersey, which is just fantastic) for Saints Black and Gold.  Once again we were fans of the underdogs.  For a while anyway.

Fast forward to fall 2009.  Both the Saints and the Colts kept winning.  In our house we started dreaming of how much fun a Colts-Saints Super Bowl would be.  Needless to say, we can’t wait for kickoff on Sunday!
I have had a number of friends ask me if I am conflicted about this game – what with the team I’ve followed for 20 years playing the team I’ve followed for 5 years.  Let me just say this – not at all.  I will, of course, be happy if the Colts win Sunday – I am and always will be a fan.  However, when we get home from church Sunday evening I will be throwing on my Brees jersey and cheering for the Saints.  Peyton already has his ring.  I want to see Drew Brees – the man all the “experts” said was too short to ever be a factor in the NFL – win a Super Bowl!

Geaux Saints!