The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

I have it on good authority that icicles are forming in Hades.

There’s an old joke where God calls the devil and says, “I’ve got to do some renovations up here. Can I send you 200 Cajuns for about a month?” 

The devil says, “Sure, send them down.”

Once they get there, the devil decides to have some fun.

He turns up the heat, goes to the head Cajun and asks, “What do you folks think about all this heat?”

The man says, “Whoa cher, we’re used to this. Perfect for fishing and crawfish boils.”

So the devil decides to make it really, really cold.

“What do you guys think about the freezing weather?” he asks the head Cajun.

The reply is, “It’s time to celebrate cher! The Saints done won the Super Bowl!”

That tale probably came about in the ‘80s, the days of “The Ain’ts” and the phrase “Who dat say they gonna beat them Saints?” of which the response by some was “Everybody! Everybody!”

Growing up in Louisiana, the talk I used to hear in the school yard was, “Archie Manning is a good quarterback; he just can’t get anyone to block for him.”

The Saints were downright embarrassing. They didn’t provide much hope for a state that needed a lot of it (Louisiana has consistently been in the lower tier when it comes to education/illiteracy, usually 49 out of 50). For years, it seemed like the only real Saints fans were people who lived in New Orleans. They didn’t win their first playoff until 2000. They may have had winning seasons in the late ‘80s but certainly nothing on the level of 2009.

So now the boys are headed to the Super Bowl, and there’s probably 1,000 headline writers just licking their chops to use that “Hell freezes over” at the top of the page. I won’t even bother to count them all.

With Archie’s son Peyton playing his dad’s old team, and with a first name that sounds like the Saints’ head coach’s last name, the useless trivia alone is worth the watch.

Without even the first kick, the game is controversial. Archie Manning is pulling for his son’s Colts which no doubt will cause some ire among Saints fans. Next time Archie starts pushing/selling aluminum siding, he might not get so many phone calls from the N’awlins area.

The team has obviously picked up some support this season from many of the Louisiana doubters from the ‘80s and ‘90s. I just hope they can hold their own against pass-crazy Peyton, whose throws are usually on target.

So congratulations boys, you made it to the big show, and no matter the outcome you made a lot of Louisianians who laughed during the bleak years proud.

So please get out there, do your best and give ‘em hell Feb. 7.