I’m still really at a loss for words as to how this all feels.  I think the whole city feels like Drew Brees’ kid right now.

But wait.  Because I’m a monster.  There’s one more thing:

Bring it on.  We’ve seen worse.  We heard it all after Katrina.

Remember Chicago, 2006?

I was pissed off about that then.  Now, I’ve just grown used to it.  I heard all the “Why rebuild in a flood zone?” idiots in Atlanta.  I let it eat me up inside.

Not anymore.  You want to taunt us with the Federal Flood?  Go right ahead.  We took it for the past five years, and we will keep on taking it.  In that typical New Orleans way, we will wear it with pride:

In other news, I am so fucking excited about the Super Bowl that I am totally mentally crippled.  Can’t focus, can’t concentrate, can’t sleep.  I just sit and think of new things about Saints football.

PS: Raheem Brock, go fuck yourself.  Thanks for the motivation.

It happened.

Oh and we did it despite the black pants.

He’s already almost totally incomprehensible when he speaks.  Now he is exploding in the press box.

I was never a big fan of the Cajun Cannon, but this warms my heart a little.

QB Brees, Drew
QB Garrard, David
RB Westbrook, Brian
RB Bush, Reggie
RB Lynch, Marshawn
RB Jackson, Fred
WR White, Roddy
WR Bennett, Earl
WR Ochocinco, Chad
WR Smith, Steve (NY)
TE Olsen, Greg
TD Vikings, Minnesota
TD Saints, New Orleans
PK Bironas, Rob

Then Reggie Bush, who had these gems:

reggie_bush: Man why is it that Chipotle and Taco Bell seem to go right thru you literally 15-20 minutes after eating it! But it keeps you coming back!
Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/reggie_bush/status/3409168884

reggie_bush: Just had some Chipotle and it feel like an Alien inside my stomach! Lol! Shheeesh!!!!!
Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/reggie_bush/status/3409188390

I accept that football players are idiots.  I just can’t believe they would eat at Taco bell.

Also, I realize I just wrote about twitter.   I apologize.

The last time I was in New Orleans during the Super Bowl was in 1997.  Jamie and I marched up and down Bourbon Street chanting “DITKA AND SAINTS IN NINETY-EIGHT.”   I’m pretty sure that Jamie, a Rams fan, was laughing at the Saints, but I believed.  What a fool I was.

Even better, this Super Bowl will fall on Bacchus weekend.

Let’s hope they redesign that logo.  I like the idea, but the execution is awful.  “A Perfect Ten”?  Yes, I know it’s the city’s 10th SuperBowl.  It’s still dumb.  The street sign looks like a license plate.

New Orleans Saints and Louisiana work out a deal for team to stay at Superdome through 2025

After more than a year of negotiating, the Saints say they have reached a tentative agreement with the state that will keep the NFL franchise in New Orleans through 2025, remove the need for a new stadium by upgrading the Superdome and resurrect an abandoned section of the Central Business District with a refurbished office tower and a new sports entertainment district.

This still has to be approved by the legislature, so it’s not done yet.

Basically, Benson buys the empty office building next to the Superdome and rents it to the state at a higher-than-normal rate.  He also buys New Orleans Centre and its parking garage, and reopens it.  The state pays to remodel the Dome for more luxury boxes.  Most importantly, the deal puts the state’s obligations to pay the Saints on a yearly basis on a sliding scale.  If the team makes more than $12 million in a year, the state pays nothing.  They won’t pay more than $6 million a year.  Right now, everything is paid for by the state.

So yeah, Benson got a sweet deal.  But the state does too.  They pay out less money and the Saints assume part of the risk of operating an NFL team.  And hopefully, there will be a revitalization of that area of the CBD as state agencies move their employees there.

I walked down by the Dome the other day, and there is no one out there except the folks coming out of the LSU clinic in New Orleans Centre.  Just a few blocks south on Poydras, there were office workers every where.

Hopefully the state legislature approves the deal, considering that they like to complain about anything related to spending money on New Orleans or the Saints.