In February of ’09, I was at a Super Bowl party at a local restaurant. A waitress was wearing Saints gear — and I specifically told her, “Darling, it’s going to be a cold day in Ecuador before they win a Super Bowl.” Well, they’re 120 minutes away from the Lombardi trophy.
Fast forward to the summer and fall and all the drama of whether Brett Favre would suit up for the Vikings or stay retired. During a pre-season game, I blogged, “I’ll be real surprised if Brett Favre and the Vikings make the playoffs.” Well, they’re also 120 minutes away from the Lombardi trophy.
OK, I’ll eat crow on my latter statement and will be glad to take a second helping if the Saints win the whole shebang. The part about Ecuador getting a visit from Old Man Winter probably won’t happen by this time next month.
But back to the teams themselves. In order for the Saints or Vikings to win the Super Bowl, one team must defeat the other. Such is the fact for Sunday’s NFC championship game.
To say the least, there’s tremendous interest in this game throughout these neighborhoods. The Saints, the de facto home team, are playing against the Vikings, quarterbacked by a hometown hero.
At the end of Sunday, my sincere hope is that it will be a competitive game and it will be something we all talk about for years to come.
As for a prediction, I’ll just go this far and say the winning team in Sunday’s game will be — the one with more points on the scoreboard.