My Saintly Super Bowl Pick

It's Sunday.. How can you not root for a team named the Saints?

Despite the religious connotation to their name, I was planning on rooting for the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl today anyway.

Back in 2001, I remember watching the Patriots upset the Rams for New England's first Super Bowl victory ever. Jumping up and down with my brother and his friends (I'm sure their downstairs neighbors loved us) celebrating the win, I knew I would remember that moment forever.

And I have. Now I want another nation of fans to enjoy that same feeling.

I'm not rooting against Peyton Manning and the Colts because I can't stand those Manning brother Oreo commercials with Donald Trump or because I prefer Kim Kardashian's man (Reggie Bush) over Kendra Wilkinson's man (Hank Baskett, does he even play?)...

The Colts have already won a Super Bowl title, and very recently... three years ago, also in Miami (thanks to 20 ESPN features we all understand the parallels). Besides, we can't have Indianapolis fans spoiled rotten like Patriot fans, can we? (come on, admit it, we ARE spoiled.. Boston teams won a handful of major sports championships for the better half of the 2000's).

Winning is so much sweeter when it doesn't come so often (alright, that sounds snobby and ungrateful... but it's true). When winning becomes a habit, you begin to expect it and it ruins your entire perspective of your team and sports. For example, even though what the Patriots pulled off last year after Brady went down was tremendous (a 12-5 record with a QB who hadn't started since high school), we were all still a little pissed we didn't win the Super Bowl. No wonder a lot of people hate New England fans.

Anyways, I believe it's time to share the love with New Orleans, whose Saints have not only ever been to the Super Bowl, but have been through plenty of hard times. I'm not saying they deserve to win because they had to deal with Hurricane Katrina, but a little love goes a long way when it comes to the banged-up confidence of an entire community.

Take this parallel for example: The Saints play in a newly repaired Super Dome. The Colts play in the brand new Lucas Oil Stadium. Everyone loves an underdog story. Here you go, served on a silver platter via CBS and the NFL.

The Patriots were the underdog nine years ago IN New Orleans. Let's hope there is a little more Mardi Gras magic left for the Saints. The fans deserve it.