Saints Super Bowl Parade Features Mardi Gras Floats, Mass Crunk-ness

The popular line after an athlete wins a championship is:

Turns out, they actually do go to Disney World.

Mardi Gras officially begins on Fat Tuesday, Feb. 16, but it unofficially begins Tuesday night, with the Saints victory parade.

If you’re not near a TV (ESPNews is broadcasting it), and not in New Orleans, you can still enjoy the fun thanks to NOLA.com, who is showing the parade live from Mother’s restaurant. And don’t worry, the stream is (or at least should be) SFW: with a group of 250,000 expected, and it being a party in New Orleans, the police have already announced they will be issuing summons with the threat of jail time to anyone who “makes a trade” involving beads. Ahem.

The New Orleans “Black and Gold Super Bowl Parade,” set for 5 p.m. local time today, will look a little something like this:

We’re certain Indy would’ve had a similar celebration had they won.

The New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl champions after 42 years of virtually nothing, but their upset victory wasn’t the only historical factoid from yesterday’s game. SB Nation’s In Historic provided a list of records that occurred during Super Bowl XLIV, and here is a sampling of those records:

The numbers are in and they’re big.

Very big.

Way back in 2004, the San Diego Chargers drafted Eli Manning with the No. 1 overall selection knowing full well that Manning had publicly declared he wouldn’t play for the Chargers.

So, the Chargers traded his rights to New York Giants in exchange for the fourth overall pick, which turned into Philip Rivers.

Despite losing to the Saints in the Super Bowl on Sunday night, the Colts are the early favorites to take home the Lombardi Trophy in Dallas, Texas next year.

As of now, the Colts have 13/2 odds of pulling home the 2011 Super Bowl.

Whitlock also goes on to make perhaps the best comparison for the Colts: They are the baseball version of the Atlanta Braves, who went to the playoffs in 14 consecutive years yet walked away with just one title.

The Colts have won over 12 games a season for the majority of this decade including 10 playoff appearances in the last 11 years.

From the AP:

The overnight ratings are a quick look at the country’s 55 largest media markets, which garnered a 46.4, compared to a 42.1 last year.

Here are a few photos from the Saints 31-17 Super Bowl victory over the Colts last night.

Saints coach Sean Payton told reporters this morning that he literally slept with the Lombardi Trophy last night when he crawled into bed around 4:00 AM.

Payton’s words this morning come from the Boston Herald:

Saints RB Reggie Bush was elated with the Super Bowl victory over the Colts last night. Still in his pads, Bush was speaking to reporters (and, uh, me) about the victory.

He had already sent his message to New Orleans but got another one in later in the interview process:

The big storyline for this year’s Super Bowl, besides all the Peyton Manning stuff, was defensive end Dwight Freeney’s ankle. Was he going to play? How effective would he be? How big would the swelling be? Would it ever be as bad as this?

In the end, Freeney played, but he clearly wasn’t himself. He showed flashes when he sacked Drew Brees on a key third down play in the first half that held New Orleans to a field goal, but otherwise, he was invisible. As it turns out, according to ESPN’s Elizabeth Merrill, Freeney’s ankle got worse during the extra-long halftime break.

However, Manning was outdone in the film room on the biggest stage in all of American sports.

Facing a crucial, 3rd and 5, Manning dropped back to pass and tried to hit Reggie Wayne but Saints CB Tracy Porter jumped the route and took it to the house sealing New Orleans first ever Super Bowl win.

I was standing just a few feet from Reggie Bush when he walked to the podium following the Saints 31-17 victory over the Colts. He sat down, breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Here is the play the sealed the 31-17 win for the Saints in Super Bowl XLIV.

Brees was obviously ecstatic over the victory and brought up a theme that every player has mentioned this week: The Saints were playing for all of New Orleans.

What a cool experience to see all these grown men happy as little kids on Christmas.

Peyton Manning appears to be in a huff in the picture above but he’s not.

(Actually, it’s just poor photography on my part)

Manning also addressed the play that ultimately broke the camel’s back: The Porter interception.

A brief congratulations from us here at SB Nation to all Saints fans, especially those guys over at our team blog, Canal Street Chronicles. They are, as you might expect, a bit excited.

Enjoy the party, Saints fans.

The guys over at our Colts blog, Stampede Blue, are still working through some reactions after losing Super Bowl XLIV, but they are quick to get one thing clear: this loss is not Peyton Manning’s fault.

Additionally, BigBlueShoe over there takes the time to congratulate the Saints on their win, saying simply that “the Saints were better.”

Plenty more on Super Bowl XLIV in this StoryStream, as well as our Colts blog, Stampede Blue, and our Saints blog, Canal Street Chronicles.

Miami, FL (Sports Network) - Who Dat? Those are the Super Bowl champions - the New Orleans Saints - for the first time in the history of a franchise and city that has witnessed tough times.

And just like that, a turnover has played a critical role in Super Bowl XLIV.

With the Colts moving the ball looking for a game-tying touchdown, Peyton Manning was intercepted by Tracy Porter, who then took it 74 yards the other way for the score, making it 31-17 in favor of New Orleans with just 3:12 remaining the game.

The Saints retook the lead with less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIV with a two-year touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey. New Orleans took over on their own 41-yard line after the Colts missed a field goal and promptly marched down the field in nine plays.

The Saints converted the two-point conversion on a Drew Brees pass to Lance Moore, who juggled the ball while windmilling his way over the goal line to make it 24-17. The play was originally ruled an incomplete pass, but it was overturned after New Orleans challenged.

Matt Stover is no Garrett Hartley, that’s for sure.

Stover just missed a key 50 yard field goal that would have extended the Colts lead to four.

I couldn’t tell you what I was doing at age 23 but I can tell you I wasn’t setting Super Bowl records (unless they track number of beers drank during one game). Unlike me, Saints kicker Garrett Hartley is setting Super Bowl records.

With that last field goal, Hartley became the first kicker in Super Bowl history to make three or more field goals over 40 yards in one Super Bowl.