Great game. Highly competitive. And the team so many people were rooting for won. Wait, are you thinking Super Bowl? I’m talking about Georgetown and Villanova basketball. Wait to go Hoyas!!

Okay, we are talking about the Saints and Super Bowl XLIV. Another great game. Seems the actual Super Bowl game is now consistently matching the hype of the event or at least coming close to it.

So much was made of the positive feelings and overall impact generated by the Saints over the past 4 years and certainly this year, starting off 13-0 and having many people rightly think of them as true Super Bowl contenders. There is no denying the effect on the psyche of so many people in that city and as the owner of the team said, the whole state. “We’re back, we’re back” Mr. Benson proclaimed, holding up the Lombardi Trophy.

            Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune

Feeling good about something, whether it is something you have done, or that achieved by a family member or friend, or even accomplished by a sports team that maybe you don’t even follow that closely but surely love the place they represent, can be a turning point in recovery from whatever plagues us. Alone it won’t be all that does it, but sometimes the small things give us that lift to do more, to fight a bit harder.

It was that type of hope that was implied with each step forward taken by the Saints. The players, the staff and team ownership seemed to not only recognize their influence but they heartily embraced it. Winning a Super Bowl is pressure enough. Winning it for some greater purpose could be potentially stifling. But the Saints, as Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees said, found energy in that pressure. Tennis HOFer and overall legend Billie Jean King has said that “pressure is a privilege.” The Saints were obviously privileged to be representing New Orleans.