If you haven't sworn off Saints football in the preseason after watching or listening to that somnambulant affair the Saints had with the Patriots on Thursday night, I would like to make a recommendation for your viewing pleasure.
I hate to be a tease, but can't help myself, and I'm hoping you won't be able to help yourself either, so please, and for Pete's sake, make the jump to read more...
Each year, as part of the NFL Yearbook series, NFL Films creates a half-hour film for every NFL team, chronicling the team's previous season. Typically, NFL Network shows these films numerous times during the preseason, and I always look forward to watching the one about the Saints.
But this year, I had kind of forgotten about it, until a few weeks ago while in the hotel at night during a visit with Mrs. Hans' family in St. Louis, I happened to catch a few seconds of the NFL Yearbook for the 2011 New Orleans Saints on the TV, and vowed to check the program guide on my TV upon returning home, so I could record a future showing of it.
Well, I have finally found it on a re-air, and it is scheduled to be shown at 6:00 am EDT on ESPN2, this Sunday morning. Now you can set your DVR, just like me! Or, just set your alarm so you can wake up and watch it.
The only drawback to this is that it will cause you to relive the infamous Saints-49ers 2011 NFC Divisional Playoff Game, which ended kind of badly for the Saints. I am pretty sure the film ends with some bullcrap uplifting music and hopeful words to inspire us for 2012 (I wonder if it will mention the 2012 offseason at all), but that's not going to be nearly enough for me.
Ah, what to do, what to do. If you, like me, want to watch the show, but dread the ending, you might need some sort of coping mechanism to help you get through it. Stopping it before that part begins, or simply fast forwarding through it just won't cut it, because the image of Vernon Davis making that catch in the end zone will already be in your mind's eye.
Not to worry friends, for HansDat has just the ticket for you that will allow you to watch it and survive with sanity intact. Pay close attention, because I'm only going to type this once.
It's a two stage process - first, also set your DVR to record the NFL Yearbook show for the 2011 Atlanta Falcons (which conveniently airs at 6:30 am EDT on ESPN2 this Sunday, too). Then, after watching the Saints show, just cue up the Falcons show, and skip through it to the two segments about the Saints games that are sure to get some coverage. In the November game, you'll get to relive head coach Mike Smith's epic coaching decision fail in overtime, and in the January rematch, you'll get to see how they deal with Atlanta getting rolled over by the cool Drew Brees as he topped Dan Marino's season passing yardage record.
Ha! What better way to chase those bad Niners nightmare scenes than with visions of the Falcons in their squirmy, awkward, painful, heartbreaking and then ass-whupping losses to the Saints from 2011. That's all I need to cure what ails me.
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So, what do you think about this plan? Am I some kind of fool, or crazy...like a fox? ...with a fleur-de-lis tattoo? If you end up joining me in this exercise, please revisit this thread afterwards and let us know how it goes. I'll be right there with you!
Please also use this thread to share any of your connections to this NFL Films series. I'll start. In the pre-NFL Network days, I was so excited about the Jim Haslett era's first year that I had to buy the video from the 2000 season when it came out, and it was subtitled: Rebirth on the Bayou. It was so much fun to watch that I must have viewed it at least 10 times in 2001. And, I still have this video in my media collection.