I've been on a bit of a break since last Monday. Why? I've been basking in the glow of a win.
As my last post may have suggested, I've been thinking more and more about history and rivalries. Do they really exist in rugby union any more? The Wellington Lions' loss to Taranaki in the Air NZ Cup barely caused a ripple in the Wellington community last year.

But then along came this game. This glorious game. Which showed, more than ever, the difference between fans and teams in American Football and rugby union.

What're you babbling about now then?

I've been a closet fan of the New Orleans Saints for four years now - since the 'Domecoming' game of 2006. The Domecoming was the first game the Saints played in the Louisiana Superdome since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2004. You'll remember it from stories like this when Katrina survivors were being housed in the Dome. I don't know how, but somehow I got to watch the Domecoming match. If you can last past the god-awful song for the first minute of this clip, here's some highlights [and further context].

That was their first year with Head Coach Sean Payton, Quarterback Drew Brees and Running Back Reggie Bush. This year, those three led the team to a 13 game winning streak - with help from Pierre Thomas, who wasn't picked up by a single team in the 2007 draft, Marques Colston, who fell to the 7th [and last] round of the 2006 draft - and is now considered one of the best players to be picked up so late - Robert Meachem, a first round pick in 2007 and Devery Henderson, who grew up playing college football in the area.

Last Monday, they beat the Minnesota Vikings, led by a man who's name has been surrounded with cliches his entire career - Brett Favre. Favre is basically a fuckhead who gets a lot of TV time because he's been playing for longer than most of the commentators have been doing their job. He started with the Green Bay Packers in 1992, before retiring at the end of the 2007 season, then coming back in 2008, then retiring, then coming back this year. Each time he came back from retirement he played for a different team. First, the Jets, which was kind of ok, except he almost screwed over the Packers 2 weeks before the season began. This season, he decided to play for the Vikings, a divisional [and historical] rival of the Packers. Basically, it'd be like Dan Carter retiring, then going to play for America or somewhere we don't mind, retiring, and coming back to play for Australia [though I should note, IRB laws prevent this from happening].

Favre also had a pretty good running back in Adrian 'All Day' Peterson. Though AD's performance has dropped a wee bit, he's still a great RB.

Last week's game was for the right to go to the Superbowl. A game the Saints have not played in a Superbowl. Ever. Since they were formed in 1967. The Vikings have been to four, but they've not won one. This year, the winner of this team will play the highly favoured Indianapolis Colts. The Colts' quarterback, Peyton Manning, is actually the son of the Saints' famous quarterback Archie Manning - A man largely recognised as the best QB to never win a Superbowl, because the team around him was crap. Manning ended his career at the Vikings. Here's the NFL.com 'mic'ed up' recording of that game [if you've not seen a mic'ed up video before, they're fucking awesome].

So yes, my team is going to the Superbowl, following Garrett Hartley's kick to clinch the game in golden-point overtime. It feels amazing to say that, more so than to say the Hurricanes are going to the Rebel Sport Super 14 final [though I hope that happens]

Oh, and if you're in Wellington next Monday with nothing to do, feel free to come along and watch with us.
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