Dat Tuesday

The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, and a large victory parade was held on Tuesday to celebrate.

An estimated (unofficial) 800,000 people gathered along the streets of downtown New Orleans between the Superdome and the Convention Center to witness the NFL champion Saints, see the starts of the team, see Coach Sean Payton, and see the Lombardi Trophy.

The men above on Loyola Avenue are holding large versions of the front page and sports from page of The Times-Picayune that was published Monday, the morning before the big victory.

Seen about an hour before the parade, the lady below shows the support that the Saints have in the southern part of Mississippi.

It has been said that Saints quarterback Drew Brees could be elected governor of Louisiana right now.  To whatever degree this statement has merit, it might have as much merit in Mississippi, particularly the southern part of the state.

For New Orleans, temperatures were quite cold, dipping below 40F.  It has been an unusually cold and wet winter in southern Louisiana.  The mother and children above are seen in front of the Entergy building on Loyola Avenue.

Here Comes Dat Parade

On-duty officers of the New Orleans Police Department on horseback recognized the significance of the event.

Several local high school bands also marched and played in the parade.

The Lombardi Trophy Isn’t the Only New Item in Town.

On Saturday 6 February, the day before the Super Bowl, New Orleans elected a new mayor for the first time in eight years.

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, son of former New Orleans mayor Moon Landrieu and brother of US Sen. Mary Landrieu, was elected mayor in the primary.  In the above picture, he is seen leading a “Who Dat” chant to parade-goers on Loyola Avenue.

Landrieu is seen above riding with his son William.

The Main Attraction

Then came the reason why hundreds of thousands lined the parade route.  The first float of players had the quarterbacks and the offensive line.

Drew Brees, Saints starting quarterback, is seen at the top left in the above picture.  Immediately below him is reserve quarterback Chase Daniel, and to Daniel’s right is veteran quarterback Mark Brunell.

Also seen in the picture is center Nick Leckey (60), tackle Jammal Brown (70), and guard Carl Nicks (77).

The Saints offensive line allowed only one sack in the Super Bowl victory.

Breesus Christ, Superstar

Below is an image of the most popular person in the state of Louisiana and perhaps the entire Gulf Coast region.  This article on Brees’s new place in local lore from The Times-Picayune was written in the wee hours of Monday morning after the victory.

People far from New Orleans realize Brees’s significant place in New Orleans.

This article from the New York Times explains why Brees has an appeal far beyond football for the New Orleans area, as does this article from Yahoo Sports.

This article from Yahoo Sports on the parade suggests in its lead that this year’s Mardi Gras (Tuesday 16 February) in New Orleans will be the most anti-climactic ever, even if it is really good.

At left in the above image is 39-year-old Saints reserve quarterback Mark Brunnell who led the Jacksonville Jaguars to two AFC title games.

Lombardi Gras

“Dat Tuesday” was one week before Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday.)

Saints head coach Sean Payton spent the entire evening hoisting the Lombardi Trophy over his head for the fans to see, telling them repeatedly that it was their trophy.

Payton is seen above on Poydras Street near the Superdome.

Drew Orleans

After the parade, Drew Brees made his way to Lucy’s bar where he taught the ecstatic crowd his pregame chant.

Together, this video from NOLA.com and this YouTube video give an idea of what happened.

Is Irony Dead?

While the mere fact that the Saints won the Super Bowl seems ironic to many, there were some smaller ironies within it.

USMC = United States Marine Crunk?

This nearly five-minute-long video shows the one of the ironies.  The local United States Marine Corp Band plays the “Marines’ Hymn” followed by the “National Anthem” before it got the crowd wild by what some might call breaking from its usual dignified stature and playing the Ying Yang Twins’ “Stand Up and Get Crunk”.

It might be safe to assume that none of the thousands in attendance considered it a breach of protocol.

Cajun Cannon, or Cajun Cannette?

Nine days before the Saints victory parade and seven days before the Super Bowl victory, a former NFL quarterback paraded through the streets dressed in drag.  See part 1, part 2, and part 3 of the NOLA Post’s coverage of the Buddy and Bobby’s Brawds parade.

James A. Robichaux