Drew Brees Is One Likeable Fella

↵It’s always fun to look back at a season and try to figure out – based on nothing but keen observation and a complete lack of any insider knowledge – if those in charge of the major sports leagues are happy when a team wins their championship. In other words, did the right team win…for business?↵

↵↵The NBA celebrated a title for the Lakers just one year removed from the Celtics. That has to make David Stern happy. The NHL got Detroit followed by Pittsburgh, two historic franchises with, last year, the most marketable star in their game hoisting the cup. Happy days for Garry Bettman as well. MLB got the Yankees, defeating a team going for back-to-back World Series in Philadelphia. The Yankees winning the title in their brand new stadium is a win for Bud Selig as well. ↵

↵↵But it’s hard to top Roger Goodell’s run of good fortune in the big game, with the commish presiding over victories by Indianapolis, New York, Pittsburgh and now New Orleans. In every situation, Goodell got who, you’d think, the league would be rooting to win the Super Bowl. Peyton Manning getting his first ring, the plucky Giants beating the undefeated – and known to bend the rules – Patriots, an iconic franchise like Steelers over the nine-win-just-happy-to-be-there Cardinals organization and now, this year, the culmination of five years of struggling for a city, and a brand new smiling face for people to like.↵

↵↵Seriously, how can you not like this guy?↵

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↵↵A kid from Texas who went to a school in the Midwest, told he was too small to be successful in the NFL? A kid who proved people wrong before getting hurt, getting dumped by his team, forced to prove himself all over again? That’s a great story in itself. Add in everything the Brees family, and his foundation, have done for the New Orleans area, and there’s just so much to like, and so much to root for. Peyton Manning is great, both as a quarterback and with handling the notoriety and media attention that comes with the job, but after watching Brees in his postgame interviews, and seeing spots like this one with Letterman, the NFL should be very happy with this.↵

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