For reasons we don't have to go into here, just about every neutral fan and casual observer was rooting for a team that had never won the national championship and whose leading figures had become symbols of the resilience of a city cruelly treated by mother nature just a few years ago.
Winning the Super Bowl does not put all to right in New Orleans, but it is a significant psychological boost and another step in the direction of a new normality for the city and its people.
The game itself was one of the better ones, hard fought, at times intriguing, though there appeared to be even more ads interrupting coverage than in former years.
Still, even between babbling babies and screaming chickens, the two best teams in pro-football served up a treat that will be well and long remembered.
