Hell has frozen over.
As a lifelong fan, I honestly never thought I would see the Saints win a Super Bowl. As illogical as this may seem, I’d always assumed that Mississippi State would win a BCS National Championship before the Saints won a Super Bowl. It’s always seemed that the Saints were just cursed.
The Saints began in 1967 and even ran back the opening kickoff in their first game ever. It was all downhill from there, though, as it was 20 years before the Saints ever had a winning record.
And sure enough, despite going 12-3 in the 1987 regular season, the Saints were demolished in the first round of the playoffs at home by the 8-7 Vikings.
The Saints stayed at .500 or above through the 1993 season, but they never even won a single playoff game.
The Saints finally won a playoff game after the 2000 season (their 34th), but didn’t build any longterm momentum. For much of last decade, they hovered around .500 but seemed to always miss the playoffs.
In 2003, they were eliminated from playoff contention after completing one of the greatest, most amazing plays in football history to get within one with no time left . only to miss the extra point.
The 2006 run to the NFC Championship was nice, but the expected Hollywood ending of a football team fixing the city after Hurricane Katrina wouldn’t even happen. And when it didn’t happen then, I began to firmly believe it never would.
So obviously, when this season rolled around, I was skeptical. Even as the Saints built up nine, 10, 11 wins, I knew that somehow the Saints would screw it up at the end. Apparently fate doesn’t exist after all.
Even as the Saints led by 7 late in the fourth quarter Sunday, I still felt this for some reason. The Saints have a history of always screwing up and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Even after Tracy Porter’s pick six, I was hesitant. I feared fate had something especially cruel up its sleeve. If any team could ever screw this up, it would be the Saints. That’s just what the Saints do.
Before the game, the Saints-haters were out in full force. They accused all Saints fans of being fair-weathers who were just jumping on a bandwagon.
If you’re one of those people who just jumped onto the bandwagon, by all means, welcome to the fanbase. However, when the Saints inevitably return to the bottom of the NFC standings, you better still be with us. Only by leaving the bandwagon then will you become a terrible person.
Even if you aren’t a Saints fan, we should all rejoice in the victory, as it reminds us that in sports, anything can happen. A horrible team truly can break out of an eternal slump, even if it’s just one year. As Mississippi State fans, we all can take inspiration from that.
Truly, any team could win a championship in any year. Who knows, maybe it’s time for the Clippers, the Thrashers, the Indians or any other bad team.
Except the Cubs. They’ll never do it because God hates them.