Another great story from Pat Yasinskas

NEW ORLEANS — If you weren’t in the Superdome on Sunday night, and a lot of New Orleans Saints fans are going to claim that honor for years, let’s make you feel as if you were.

Let’s turn it over to Jerry Romig, the official public address announcer in the Louisiana Superdome. If you’ve been to a Saints game, you’ve heard the voice because Romig has been here for a long time. Here’s the microphone, Jerry:

“Ain’t this beautiful?” Romig said over the speakers a couple of minutes after the Saints defeated the Minnesota Vikings 31-28 in overtime in the NFC Championship Game. “The Saints are going to the Super Bowl.’’

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

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By John DeShazier, The Times-Picayune

January 25, 2010, 12:34PM

For now, it’s OK to bask in the aftermath of the hangover to surpass all hangovers in New Orleans.

That’s right: “Bask,” not “suffer” or “endure.”

Unofficially, Jan. 25, 2010, will be remembered as a holiday in New Orleans. Records will indicate that no substantive was done on that day in the city, the day after the New Orleans Saints’ 31-28 overtime thriller over Minnesota in the NFC championship game, which sent New Orleans to the NFL’s championship game, Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, for the first time in franchise history.

Wise, prepared workers phoned in sick if they hadn’t already set aside the day as a vacation day. The ones who reported probably didn’t get all that much done, with a skeletal staff on hand and the likelihood that they were sleep deprived. Because the Saints were all that was on the brain in the Saints-loving region, their victory on Sunday at the Superdome a reward for long-suffering fans just as much as it was for the men in uniform.

The moment was all that mattered.

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By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune

January 25, 2010, 4:15PM

Some New Orleans Saints ticket holders will learn Tuesday whether they’ve been selected to receive a pair of tickets for Super Bowl XLIV, to be held in Miami-Dade County on Feb. 7, the team announced Monday.

The Saints will make available an initial allocation of 4,000 tickets, with recipients chosen through a weighted lottery based on the number of years as a season ticket holder and the number of tickets in the account. That’s the same process used in the past for season ticket holders winning lotteries for tickets to Super Bowls held in New Orleans.

Those winning the lottery will be notified by the telephone number and/or e-mail address listed on their account. Accounts also can be checked on the Web at NewOrleansSaints.com.

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By Dave Walker, The Times-Picayune

January 25, 2010, 4:40PM

The New Orleans Saints’ overtime playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings was the most-watched non-Super Bowl TV broadcast since the May 1998 “Seinfeld” finale.

And it had a better ending.

With an average national audience of 57.9 million – 40 percent larger than last year’s NFC Championship Game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals — Sunday’s game was also the most-watched NFC Championship Game in nearly three decades.

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By Nakia Hogan, The Times-Picayune

January 25, 2010, 1:10AM

New Orleans Saints kicker Garrett Hartley kicks the game-winning field goal in overtime of the NFC championship game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at Superdome.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune

There were 42 years worth of demons, 42 years of mostly struggles, 42 years of waiting until next year.

Not anymore. This, the 43rd year of the New Orleans Saints, will be different.

In one swing of Garrett Hartley’s right leg Sunday night, the Saints kicked away their demons, booted out their past struggles and ended the wait.

The Saints are going to Super Bowl XLIV. Hartley’s 40-yard winning field goal in overtime of the Saints’ thrilling 31-28 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC championship game guaranteed them a spot.

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By John DeShazier, The Times-Picayune

January 23, 2010, 9:58PM

There was a time in New Orleans Saints history when today was unimaginable, when viewing the franchise through the rosiest-colored glasses couldn’t have produced this kind of look, when the football-given right of Who Dats to allow hope to soar necessarily had to be tempered because the franchise routinely was propeller-less, wingless and engineless — often during the same season.

Now, officially, that’s B.S.

Before Sean.

In four seasons, Sean Payton has become the most accomplished coach in franchise history. In less than half a decade he has delivered on the promise of making the Saints annually relevant, among the list of usual suspects when NFC contenders are listed.

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By The Times-Picayune

January 24, 2010, 6:09AM

After a lull around Christmas when the Saints lost three games in a row, sales of anything bearing the NFL team’s logo spiked over the past week as fans once again began snapping up merchandise. And several retailers are already making tentative plans to roll out NFC Champion paraphernalia should the Saints win a trip to the Super Bowl today.

Local stores and Web sites that sell sporting goods have seen significant increases in revenue in recent months due to the success of the Saints season. As jerseys flew off the shelves week after week, business only seemed to get better as the season went on.

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By Jaquetta White, The Times-Picayune

January 24, 2010, 6:15AM

One could credit the New Orleans Saints’ unexpectedly successful football season with sending team merchandise sales skyrocketing, canceling a few Carnival parades and inspiring many local musicians to pen celebratory songs. And today the team’s winning season will get credit for one more feat: halting local commerce.

“Nobody’s going to stay open and miss that,” said Greg Dombourian, who owns Dombourian Rugs on Magazine Street and is president of the Magazine Street Merchants Association. Instead of closing at 5 p.m., Dombourian Rugs will remain closed all day.

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By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

January 23, 2010, 6:00AM

Sean Payton and Drew Brees have their own secret language.

Or at least that’s how it looks from the outside sometimes, when their endless hours of film study and game planning sessions during the week are translated into a few simple gestures between the New Orleans Saints’ coach and quarterback on game day.

“They’ll just kind of look at each other and point, and they’ll (nod their heads), like, ‘Yeah, ‘” Saints guard Carl Nicks said. “And you don’t know what they’re talking about. But something’s working right.”

Indeed it is.

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