Janice Williams Loves Austin

The season is almost over. But this afternoon of football seemed so extraordinarily LONG that I almost had a wistful desire that football WOULD be over. I know! Heresy! Right?

[I'm going to write a whole blog post one day about how I hate this new trend of "I know! Right?" that seems to be the current response to any statement one agrees with]

But I am incredibly happy that the New Orleans Saints are in the Superbowl for the first time. I have been a Saints fan for many years. I enjoyed the Saints fans that were around me one time when I got to see them play against the Cowboys. I enjoyed seeing them walking around the city and toward the SuperDome when we were in New Orleans leaving for our cruise a few years ago. And I have lots and lots of friends that either live in the south Louisiana area or that is their home. My friend Denise if from Vinton, Louisiana, and she bleeds black and gold, if that is an expression they use for their team.

I am also a fan of the Saints because of Drew Brees. Being an Austin star football player, I am excited to see him doing well in his career and leading his team through this almost undefeated season and to the Superbowl.

And, of course, after Katrina, what American didn’t have a deep respect for the support the people of New Orleans gave their team, even when their team didn’t have a place to play. I realized these players have loads of money and they weren’t devastated by Katrina, but I still admire their support for their city and the hope they inspired.

I have had an allergy attack today so even watching football was not a particularly fun thing to do. At one point I almost paused the game and took a nap, but I persevered. I do a lot of time-shifting with football… pausing the game or recording it and then I’m able to fast forward through all the commercials and nonsense and really get right to the game. I did that for the Colts and Jets today, pausing the game while I completed work and started catching up to it when they were fully 45 minutes into the game. That worked okay for a game that I was not so fully invested in. Though I stopped the Saints game at points to go move laundry or check the food on the stove, I mostly stayed in real time and felt the excitement of not knowing what was coming next and also knowing that no one else IN THE WORLD knew what was coming next. That is the fun thing about football.

Mark made it home from work during the fourth quarter, too, which makes it more fun to share a game. Mark even grudgingly admitted he likes ol’ Brett Favre even if he hates the way he pronounces his name. I like ol’ Brett Favre, too, and I admire the fact that he kept on playing even though he is an old man and was hurt. I hope he does truly retire now and enjoy his “senior” years. He will be a great commentator and I’m looking forward to that.

I am pleased the Colts are in the SuperBowl, too. Is there anyone that doesn’t like Payton Manning? I can see that you might want their team to lose (like I will in two weeks) but is there anyone that doesn’t like the guy? I even quit fast forwarding when I see his commercials on TV and, boy, weren’t there plenty today? I’m interested to see if there will be new ones during the SuperBowl.

I think my favorite thing today, besides the victories, was Jordin Sparks singing the National Anthem and that beautiful eagle flying around the stadium in Indianapolis! Did you see that? I have never seen that done before and it was awe-inspiring. I get sappy with the Anthem and the huge flag out on the field and the military and the game, but then the eagle sent me over the edge. She did a great job on the Anthem, too. No flourishes, no changing the tune, no drawing attention to herself. She gets an A+ for her singing and decorum. I’ll give Kris Allen, the current American Idol, an A for his performance. He changed the tune a little and he isn’t nearly as dynamic as she is, but he could hit the notes and that was pretty amazing as well. But no eagle. BUT— don’t you love it when they show Sean Payton and Drew Brees and other Saints players and they were singing along? Not just standing respectfully, not just holding their hand over their hearts, but singing along. I think the Vikings coach might have been singing along, but barely. I’ll still give him a check mark for it.

The weekend has gone all too fast, but a great finale for it, that’s for sure.