The odd thing about this, is that it isn’t really very odd to me.

Behind the scenes at the Ellen Show, yesterday, Drew Brees spoke from the heart:

http://www.wdsu.com/video/22537645/

to tell you about the military fly-over that skirted right down the street, between the buildings in advance of the parade!!!

I have never, ever seen a flyover for a mardi gras parade, so that was something new.

When I read the police briefings, they were planning on a crowd of around 250,000, which was probably reasonable, considering the current population of the parish is around 350,000. Early estimates placed the crowd size between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people.

You know, when 20,000 people show up at the airport the day before to greet the arrival of the team, perhaps one should revise their guess upward. We missed the team arrival because we were still on the road into New Orleans.

We did get to see some of the fun on TV that evening. We were tickled to death at Sean Payton’s Monday Morning post-superbowl press conference. Please, watch this video. As my sister and I stared, we came to the realization that the man still had gatorade in his hair from the night before, was obviously wearing someone else’s shirt (because, you know, one cannot do a press conference in a white undershirt after partying all freaking night), and he had a DEATH grip on the microphone the entire time, I am sure to keep himself firmly planted in the spinning room and not go flying off.

There is absolutely no possible way to convey how emotional and exciting it was to be there, packed in, shoulder-to-shoulder, hip-to-hip with all of those adoring fans.

Unfortunately, I did not have a good camera or video-camera with me. After lunch yesterday, we had decided to take a stroll up the parade route so I could check it out. Originally, the plan was to do that, then return to the hotel to freshen up and grab the cameras and our voodoo doll. When we were down there at around 2pm, it was obvious that we needed to park our butts on the curb. The crowd was going to be huge, and we shorties need that elevated spot to see over the people who crowd into the street in front of you.

Earlier that morning, my sister and I took a brisk walk down and around the Superdome to see if the floats had been lined up at the starting gate, yet. They hadn’t, but when we stopped for a cup of coffee on the way back, look what came driving by:

So, we parked ourselves outside a daquiri shop with a $1.00 bathroom fee (which seemingly greatly offended some guy behind us who ranted for a good hour about it). And, we waited. And, we watched people.

5 hours later, the parade started crawling our way, heralded by the loudest, happiest cheering I’ve ever heard. My video (taken with the cellphone) is completely awful, but it captures a little of the excitement when Sean Payton hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.

I am linking you to a fantastic flickr stream that has photos and some great video that shows the block we were standing in. Unfortunately, it’s taken about half the block down the street, so we aren’t in it. It shows a bird’s eye view of the crowds, which lined the streets so heavily along the parade route, it took the floats nearly 5 hours to navigate the entire length.

After the parade was over, some lucky fans in Lucy’s bar, had a visitor at around 3am, who finally revealed the entire chant he created for his teammates.

but my ears are still ringing and there were only 7 people in my tv room.

Dear Saints,

Thank you for the greatest season in my lifetime. It was a long wait, but it was a worthy time. You’ve been part of my life for a solid 3 decades; longer than my husband or children.

Thank you because you care for a city that I love. You don’t just play there. Many of you have made New Orleans your permanent residence. Your varied charities give something to the city, really meaningful giving.

Thank you for the ups and many, many downs. Thank you for teaching me never to give up. Thank you for not letting me be a cantankerous old woman still waiting for something really special to happen to my team.

Thank you for playing with emotion.

Win or lose, no matter what, I’ll be there to welcome you home.

Who dat.

According to the news, Peyton Manning is a Machine that no one can possibly beat, he’s smart, he runs his offense like clock-work, nobody else even comes close.

Looks like somebody else does come close to that same level of greatness.