Colts Got Fooled By Saints, 31-17

It's party time on Bourbon Street, as all the denizens who chose to remain in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina are celebrating the Saints' Super Bowl championship.  It's been a long time since they had a reason to celebrate anything.

The Saints, who had been big-time losers from the day they joined the National Football League, defeated the Indianapolis Colts in Miami 31-17.  Saints' coach Sean Payton's risk-taking and Drew Brees' MVP-caliber quarterbacking are what won them the game.  On the second-half kickoff, they recovered an on-side kick, which led to a touchdown.  Then in the fourth quarter, they went ahead with another touchdown, followed by a two-point conversion that initially failed, but was overturned after reviewing the replay.

Peyton Manning of the Colts threw for two touchdowns.  But it was those two interceptions he threw towards the end of the game, the first of which was run back for a Saints score, that defined his performance in this game.  Now he and Brett Favre of the Vikings have one thing in common.  Also, do the Colts have any second thoughts about not playing to win at the end of the regular season?

The Who provided the halftime musical entertainment, continuing the NFL's policy of showcasing only Baby Boomer talent after the Janet Jackson fiasco of a few years ago.  Here Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and whoever they could round up to complete the band played the Reader's Digest version of hits, which should be familiar to anyone who listens to KQRS, or watches the "CSI" shows.  (The game was televised by CBS, after all)  But they still knew how to rock.

Maybe you watched the game for the commercials.  There was the usual array of moronic beer ads (mostly Bud Light), movies that won't open in theaters for months, and ads that depict guys as spineless doofuses.  Then there was the one where Tim Tebow's mother told us she was glad she made the "choice" to keep her son, the superstar college quarterback.  No matter what you think of Focus On The (Christian) Family, the organization that sponsored this ad, hot-button political issues should be off limits on Super Bowl Sunday.

The Saints' winning a championship won't magically transform a city still trying to recover from Katrina, nor will it calm the lingering resentment over the government's handling of it.  But it will bring a lot of self-esteem to a region that sorely needs it right now.