The Return of Football Sunday

When last we met, I was brilliantly expounding on the possibility that the Saints could make the playoffs this year. Some of you thought I was completely out of my mind, while the rest of you patted me on the head and gently smiled at me in that patronizing way reserved for crazy people.

Well, well, well, looks like the old Shark is not so far off his rocker after all.

I went to sleep on October 27th disgusted after the Broncos blowout. A week later we got power back in time to watch the Saints dismantle the listless Eagles. Living where I live, if I'm not being annoyed by arrogant Giants fans, I'm being aggravated by obnoxious Eagles fans, so its extra fun to watch them get beat down.

But beyond the satisfaction of beating the Eagles and the fact that I was able to actually watch the game because we had power, something else made me a very happy Saints fan: swagger. There was swagger back in the Dome.

A day or two after the Eagles game the power went out again, because seriously, the most damaging hurricane to ever hit the East Coast just wouldn't be as miserable without 15" of snow to cover over all of the destruction.

Luckily, the power came back on, once again, in time to watch the Saints end the Falcons undefeated season. We had heat and the Saints beat the Falcons all in one day! Maybe there is hope after all. And how much fun is watching Matty Ice lose? Right? It's awesome.

By now you all have the details and have seen the pictures--of the last three weeks of the NFL season and the fun we've been having up here in New Jersey. It's been a busy three weeks, but things are slowly returning to normal for most of us. She Who Lives In Nashville, or as my wife and I refer to her, our daughter, came home Friday for an extended Thanksgiving visit and we spent Saturday doing some work at shelters and food pantries near the Shore. Sunday was spent doing what we usually do on Sundays in the fall: eating and watching football.

Sometimes those of us who are die hard fans, or are involved in football beyond just a way to kill time on the weekends, forget the pure and simple joys of kicking back, yelling at the television, eating some outrageously good tacos and drinking a beer or four, all while wearing a football jersey on your couch in the living room. Sometimes a hurricane comes followed by a massive snowstorm and your routine gets thrown out the window, and the last thing on your mind is anything resembling football.

But every once in a while, your kid comes home from Nashville, you've replaced all the food that got destroyed when the power was out, and the fire in the fireplace is there because it looks nice, not because you need it for warmth. Sometimes spending a day watching football reminds you of what's really important.

The Saints won again Sunday, but to this Saints fan it wouldn't have mattered if the Raiders blew them out. It was just fun to be able to watch my team without the madness of the world we've all been living in up here for the past three weeks knocking on the door during the game.

Thanks guys. We really appreciate it.

(Note 1: A special shout-out of thanks to the 25 Louisiana State Troopers who came up the week after the hurricane and provided their invaluable experience to our law enforcement agencies)

(Note 2: Thanks to the line crews from CLECO and Entergy Louisiana who came up and helped restore power to communities in New Jersey)

(Note 3: Depending on the weather this week, in next week's installment I may just take all of you who beat me up over my support of Malcolm Jenkins to task. You cannot deny that the man is a force to be reckoned with and that one reason our defense is better now is that he's hitting his stride)