Somewhere along the way I became branded a Saints hater or a Colts fan. I’m not sure which and I’m really not sure which one I take more offense to. In fact, my supposed dislike of the Saints is so well known that my New Orleans born mother actually called me to gloat after the Saints won the Super Bowl. Needless to say I was puzzled.

Sure I wrote in this column a couple weeks back that I “had a lot of disdain for Drew Brees.” You know what, I still do. I still don’t know why, but I do. I don’t care that he’s sort of a local or that his story is supposedly heartwarming. He used to be the quarterback of the San Diego Chargers. I used to have to cover the Chargers. I don’t much care for Charger fans. End of story. I will, however, admit to feeling a bit of warmth in my heart when I saw him hugging his child after the Saints won the Super Bowl last week. As the father of a three-year old, scenes like that, of father and child, tend to almost bring a tear to my eyes these days, I know. I’m turning into a real sap.

Now, you will notice I said I didn’t like Drew Brees. I never said a word about the Saints. Yeah I wanted the Vikings to win but that’s because Brett Favre is older than I am and I have sort of been a Favre fan for as long as he’s been playing. Again, not one word uttered against the Saints. In fact, it should be known that when Mike Ditka was their coach and when Ricky Williams played there I kind of liked the team. They have cool colors and fun black uniforms. Plus, I have been in love with the city of New Orleans since I was a kid and used to go visit my cousins who lived there. You want to know who knows what it means to miss New Orleans? I do. And I was there last summer! In fact, I have such a thing for the Crescent City that I would move there right now (seriously, I’d get up from this keyboard, get in my car, go pick up my daughter and start driving east without ever finishing this column) if someone were to offer me a job there. (If you’re wondering about my wife – I would probably realize to call her somewhere around Giddings – she’d have to stay here to sell the house, then she’d come out to join us).

Now that we’ve got that covered (and because no one called me with a job offer in NoLa) I want to address all this Colt-fan crap. If you are a frequent reader of this column you know there is no way I can be, or would be, a fan of the Colts. I root for the most exciting team in the NFL the Houston Texans. They are in the same division as the Colts and each year I am forced to watch them blow game after game to Indy. Not only that, Peyton Manning irritates me with all of his audibles. I know this is one of his great skills, but couldn’t he just once go up under center and run the play they called in the huddle?

So there you have it, I am not a Colts fan, nor do I hate the Saints. In fact, I really had very little rooting interest in the biggest football game of the year and it kind of made it boring for me. That said, congratulations New Orleans Saints. Your quarterback might irritate me but you are the Super Bowl champions and really, you’d be hard pressed to represent a better city.