Pull for the underdog! New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl Champions

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Much has happened since my last article, in particular the glorious, heart-warming victory of New Orleans Saints, my sister's home team, in the American Football Super Bowl final. Believe me, in the US this is a VERY BIG DEAL and the stuff of legend. Writing this now, I can't help but think of the film I saw yesterday, "Invictus" (Nelson Mandela + the South African rugby) and of the fact that the New Orleans Saints story is even more incredible. There is bound to be a Hollywood film made about it in a few years.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were a team of misfits, cast-offs and has-beens, but somehow they have managed to unify the people of that wonderful city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, winning the Super Bowl for the first time ever in dramatic fashion 30-17 after being 0-10 down. It's the stuff of fairy tales.

My nephew wrote the following rather brilliant comment prior to the match on his Facebook page. I think it deserves to be read and heard. I could imagine Nelson Mandela saying it:

"As castoffs, misfits, and losers, the underdog is the perpetual sufferer. He has almost always been beaten and shamed and pummeled to the last shreds of dignity. All that's left then is heart - a brutalized, beating heart that will stop at nothing to prove itself. So I say, pull for the underdog. Pull for the man who has nothing. For him the win really does mean everything."

Read more here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/american_football/8503519.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/us_sport/article7019162.ece

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