FROM THE REAL ART SPORTS DESK
WHO DAT? N.O. SAINTS GO MARCHING IN
TO THE NFC TITLE GAME FOR FIRST TIME

From the AP via ESPN:

Deuce McAllister and rookie sensation Reggie Bush gave this battered city a reason to throw itself a party, carrying the New Orleans Saints where they've never been before -- one game from the Super Bowl.

To constant chants of "DEUCE!" or "REG-GIE! REG-GIE!" the Saints used an assortment of spectacular plays to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-24.

And

It was the veteran McAllister with his two touchdowns and team playoff mark of 143 yards rushing, and the rookie Bush with his collection of magnificent moves, that made the difference in the raucous Superdome.

"It's my first opportunity to be in the playoffs, I didn't want to be one and out," McAllister said. "I didn't want to say, 'If I had done this or prepared differently, we would have been successful.'

"It's just the determination of this team and this city -- to give them everything we have."

Click here for the rest.

The article notes how the victory celebration after the game included live jazz, which was played in the traditional New Orleans style, I'm sure. Of course, jazz is entirely appropriate for the Saints because New Orleans is the birthplace of the musical form, my favorite, as Real Art readers know. But it is also appropriate because the Saints are headed to Chicago to play the Bears: starting in the 1920s, after the forced closing of the city's red light district known as Storyville, which necessarily included a collapse of the job market for jazz players, many musicians hopped on river boats and headed up the Mississippi looking for work, which took them first to Kansas City, and then to Chicago, where Big Easy style jazz quickly dominated the city, and, from there, the entire nation.

That the Saints are playing against Chicago, in Chicago, is a very good omen indeed.

Beyond that, everybody here in Baton Rouge seems really excited. I hear from friends in New Orleans that the Crescent City is really, really excited. And this state fucking deserves it. Not only have the Saints been more disappointing over the years than my hometown's former team, the Oilers (yes, yes, and now the Texans too), but Louisiana is still recovering from the twin battering rams known as Katrina and Rita. We need some good shit here; that's for sure. This win fits the bill quite nicely.

On a more personal note, because as far as football strategy goes my preference is the old-school smashmouth "three yards and a cloud of dust" approach, I'm extraordinarily happy to see the Saints having so much success running the ball. Man, Bush is great and all, but McAllister really reminds me of Earl Campbell, the great former Oiler and one-time Saint. Did you see the Deuce moving all those dogpiles downfield with him? That's football!

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