New Orleans is Filling up Again!

But, not with water! Thankfully, in the wake of Katrina, save for some bad thunder storms in December of 2009, we haven't experienced any real flooding events like the kind we had in August 2005. And, if you've been watching the NFL at all, you will have seen that Black and Gold from New Orleans are in the Superbowl. I will attempt to put into words what this means to me in a few days, but I found this article on our local Fox affiliate and I thought it was interesting.

"The city of the Saints is filling up with ex-New Orleanians and others ahead of the Super Bowl, many looking to cast off a legacy of football futility and natural disaster — others just looking to party down in one of the world's greatest party towns."

"'We're gearing up for Sunday just like Mardi Gras day," said Earl Bernhardt, a bar owner in the French Quarter. "We're staffing just like we do for Mardi Gras, and if the Saints win, we won't close at all. We'll stay open as long as people are standing.'"

Apparently, everyone wants to party in New Orleans for the Superbowl. I bet locals think this is good for both the city's pulse and our economy; and since I actually live in Mid-City, I suppose that I think this is a good thing too. That is, until I drive somewhere. The city is filling up, yes, so much so that I can tell when getting down to the store or the post office is taking longer because that much more traffic is on the road. How absurd is that? When festivals happen throughout the year (Jazz Fest, Essence Fest, French Quarter Fest, Voodoo Fest, just to name the big ones), you know which parts of town to avoid simply because the sheer volume of people has expanded many folds. But people are coming to New Orleans just to watch a game that's taking place a thousand miles away?

Apparently, this isn't the case in Indianapolis, where the dreaded (and favored to win) Colts hail from:

"Kimberly Harms, a spokeswoman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, said there was no noticeable jump in hotel occupancy there for the weekend. She noted, however that one hotel had set aside 44 rooms at the special rate of $144 in honor of the forty-fourth Super Bowl. If Indianapolis wins, she said, the rooms will be free for those staying in them."

All in all, this proves to be a good game, even if it makes my errand-running take slightly longer. Peyton Manning seems like a nice person. When he hosted SNL, some of his sketches were hilarious (the one where he's a mentor to children and then cusses at the kids when they mess up). His father played for the Saints and both Peyton and Eli Manning attended school here in the city. With the fact that this is the Saints first Superbowl, though, and as it's said around these parts, all I can say is "Who Dat!"

*You can find the article I cited on Fox 8's website*