By The Times-Picayune

January 26, 2010, 9:20AM

Here is a video interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer with President Barack Obama, who says that he is pulling for the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl.

By Nakia Hogan, The Times-Picayune

January 26, 2010, 9:45AM

The New Orleans Saints soon will have to temper their emotions.

The raucous partying and backslapping following the Saints’ thrilling 31-28 overtime victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC championship game Sunday at the Superdome was fun.

But by the time the Saints report for practice on Thursday, the historic game will be a distant memory. By then, their full attention will be on the Indianapolis Colts, the team New Orleans will meet in Super Bowl XLIV on Feb 7 in Miami.

Their mission, several Saints said, is not complete.

Read the rest of the story here.

Technology is amazing. There are dozens homemade videos from Who Dats in the Dome for Saints winning kick in overtime. They are all awesome to watch and give me goosebumps. What they all have in common is the crowd noise and everyone hugging each other. Old, young, black, white – all members of the Who Dat Nation.

Blood is thicker than water — even the muddy water of the Mississippi River.

Archie Manning played most of his 16-year NFL career for the New Orleans Saints and still lives in the Big Easy. But his son, Peyton Manning, plays for the Indianapolis Colts.

So despite his allegiance to New Orleans, there’s no question about which team the elder Manning will be pulling for in Super Bowl XLIV. He erased any doubt about that after the Colts beat the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game, according to The Indianapolis Star.

“It’s a game I’m going to pull for my son,” the elder Manning said, according to the report.

Read more of the story here.

By Jan Moller, The Times-Picayune
January 25, 2010, 5:15PM

Gov. Bobby Jindal today issued what might be the least controversial proclamation of his political career: making this the official “Who Dat Nation Week” in Louisiana.

The proclamation singled out the team’s fans, who “won the championship last night for the most loyal, compassionate, dedicated, passionate, outrageous and downright loud-as-heck fanbase in the league.”

Jindal attended his first Saints game of the season on Sunday as they hosted the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship. He had originally planned to stay in Baton Rouge and watch from the Governor’s Mansion, but changed his mind and decided instead to view the action from a luxury suite in the Superdome.

According to the resolution, “whether you attended every home game this year, some of the games or simply rooted for the Saints in your living room, the fans of the Saints deserve praise at the conclusion of their ‘Superdome Season.'”

O wait.. wrong Will Smith but the story is the same except we have a SUPERBOWL !! : )

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

Read the rest of his story here.

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.

Read the rest of the story here.

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.

Read the rest of the story here.