By Keith Spera, The Times-Picayune

February 07, 2010, 5:30AM

MIAMI BEACH — On Friday night, Who Dats overran the 900 block of Ocean Drive, South Florida’s upscale Bourbon Street-on-the-beach.

Pooled between a bar called Fat Tuesday and a big white tent and stage, they stood up and got crunk to the New Orleans Saints anthem “Black and Gold (Who Dat!).” Standing anonymously on the crowd’s fringe, Kwame Gates soaked in the ecstatic scene, pleased.

Not just another Saints fan in a Robert Meachem jersey, he is known as K.Gates in hip-hop circles. And “Black and Gold” is his creation.

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By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

February 07, 2010, 6:00AM

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. – This game is about a devastating hurricane and a city’s inspiring recovery.

It’s about a franchise that has struggled to get here for more than four decades, and a loyal fan base that has kept the faith.

It’s about the hometown hero, Peyton Manning, who now rides into this game wearing the “black hat, ” hoping to lead the other team to victory.

It’s about Manning’s legacy and Drew Brees’ legacy, and Sean Payton’s legacy and Jim Caldwell’s legacy. And it’s about the Indianapolis Colts cementing their place in history and the New Orleans Saints changing their reputation forever.

Read more of the story here.

For decades America’s National Football League paid little attention to the chants of “Who Dat?” from fans of the New Orleans Saints, as the team stumbled from one losing season to the next. “Who Dat? Who Dat? Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints?” crowds would chorus in a display of false bravado, masking the unspoken reality that just about everybody beat the downtrodden club.

Now, after breaking a 43-year run of bad luck to win a place at this weekend’s Super Bowl, the NFL’s multi-billion dollar corporate machine has taken a sudden interest in the “Who Dat” catchphrase, claiming that it owns the rights to its usage. It has even issued “cease and desist” notices against small-time souvenir vendors for using the words on T-shirts and demanding royalties on their profits.

The move prompted uproar among the Saints’ fan army, known as the Who Dat Nation, and turned into a political crisis when the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee passed a motion calling on the State Governor, Bobby Jindal, to set his attorney-general on the NFL.

Read the rest of the story here.

By Jimmy Smith, The Times-Picayune

February 06, 2010, 5:19PM

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Former New Orleans Saints linebacker — and now Hall of Famer — Rickey Jackson is in route to South Florida. And, he’s a happy man.

Reached by phone, Jackson — who at the time didn’t even know he was in — said that the announcement that he is going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was overwhelming.

“You just don’t know … I’m very happy,” Jackson said. “It means everything to me.”

When Jackson retired in 1995, he was third in NFL history in sacks.

“It means that you’re one of the best in the world,” Jackson said. “And I proved that I was one of the best in the world.”

Read the rest of the story here.

By John DeShazier, The Times-Picayune

February 06, 2010, 11:30AM

So much for no team ever reaching the Super Bowl after losing its final three regular-season games.

No, that dig doesn’t come courtesy of Sean Payton.

It’s mine, but, in fairness to the Saints’ coach, there are those (guilty as charged) who prominently mentioned that fact when New Orleans tumbled against Dallas, Tampa Bay and Carolina to end the regular season. And that opened the door for Payton to rebut the historical data with a new truth: The Saints lost their last three regular-season games but are the George S. Halas Memorial Trophy holders and NFC champions and will be playing against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7 in Miami.

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Written by Les East

MIAMI – The Saints players met with the media Thursday for the last time before their Super Bowl XLIV game against Indianapolis on Sunday night. It’s left to Coach Sean Payton to hold one last news conference Friday morning, then the entire team will be sequestered until kickoff.

NewOrleans.Com navigated the interview area at the team’s downtown Miami hotel Thursday to canvass Saints players for their final pre-game message for the New Orleans fans. So here, in their own words, are what the Saints players wanted to say to you, the Saints fans, as a sort of pregame message from South Florida.

There’s no more appropriate person to kick this off than punter Thomas Morstead, who handles New Orleans’ kickoffs:

“I’ve tried to let the fans know through the media this year that when we play at the Superdome, I perform better – kicking, kicking off – because the crowd’s going nuts and I’ve got the adrenaline going and that helps me kick the ball further. This week I’ve been thinking – I haven’t kicked off away since Atlanta. I didn’t kick off the last game of the season (at Carolina).

“So the last four games I’ve kicked off have all been home games. So I’ve actually been mentally rehearsing the “Stand up and get crunked” song that they play right before kickoff because the moment that first note comes on, it gets so loud, I get an adrenaline shot in my body, and that’s when I know I’m going to do well. So I’ve been mentally trying to rehearse that song …  we know they’re all  watching and supporting us.”

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NEW ORLEANS SAINTS HEAD COACH SEAN PAYTON

(Opening statement) “It’s been a good week of practice. We have two more; one today and a walk-through tomorrow at the stadium.”

(On the importance of Drew Brees’ comfort during the game and how they will achieve that) “Well I think the flow of a game is important for a quarterback. You try to look at the defense that you’re getting and try to get some rhythm for him. He’s a guy that can get real hot early and I look at it as a coach, our coaches look at it, as certainly an objective of ours. Sometimes it’s through intermediate throws, sometimes a screen, sometimes a throw down the field. Just having the right balance and mix is important, but I do think that (comfort) is important in any big game.”

Read the rest of the story here.

By Mike Triplett, The Times-Picayune

February 06, 2010, 12:00AM

MIAMI – Pierre Thomas has a mean streak in him.

The New Orleans Saints‘ tailback talks about how he wanted to kick down doors to break into the NFL, and he says all the time that he likes to run over defenders and break their will on his way into the end zone.

But when he does those things, he does it with a smile on his face.

That familiar smile has been plastered across Thomas’ face from the day the Saints picked him up as an undrafted free agent out of Illinois in 2007 to the night he emerged as the go-to guy in their NFC championship game victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

Read more of the story here.

By Pat Yasinskas

MIAMI — I’m clearly in the minority here and I know it. But I’m going to pick the Saints to win Super Bowl XLIV. I’m taking them 31-24 over the Colts.

Yeah, that might have something to do with the fact that I’m the NFC South blogger. But that doesn’t mean I’m being a homer. I’m basing my pick on the fact that I saw most of the Saints’ games this year and I believe it’s their time. I believe they’re a team of destiny.

The Colts are a great team and I fully understand why they’re the favorite. But I don’t think the people who determine favorites have seen enough of the Saints. They’ve got an offense that’s capable of staying with the Colts. They’ve got a defense that’s capable of producing a turnover or two, no matter how difficult that is against Peyton Manning.

Besides, all the pressure is on the Colts. They’re supposed to win. Even if the Saints lose, they’re still having a parade in New Orleans. But I think it will be a victory parade.

From Pat’s NFC South Blog.

By Mark Lorando, The Times-Picayune

February 05, 2010, 8:13PM

It’s not exactly Poydras Street an hour before a New Orleans Saints game. But walk down Ocean Drive, the South Beach boulevard of Art Deco hotels, bars, restaurants and boutiques that is ground zero for hard-partying Super Bowl fans, and there’s only conclusion the objective observer can reach:

The Saints are the home team Sunday.

“Oh man, it’s 10-to-1 Saints fans out here,” said Mark Wallace, area manager for Fat Tuesday, the daiquiri bar chain that has a location in South Beach. “And I’m talking about what I’m seeing walking around on the street. Inside our place, it’s 100-to-1 Saints fans.

“It’s absolutely crazy. We had planned for a big weekend, but we didn’t expect anything like what we saw Thursday night. And (Friday) is already off the charts.”

What Wallace and others in town have observed, but the event’s organizers are unable to quantify and loathe to acknowledge, is that south Florida is shaping up as perhaps the least neutral Super Bowl site in National Football League history.

It is an indisputable, if immeasurable fact: In bars and nightclubs, RV parks and hotels, Saints fans are blowing out Colts fans. It’s not even close.

Read the rest of the story here.