Drew Brees on Letterman

Super Bowl Champions!

WHO DAT!?!? I saw it, but I can't believe it. The New Orleans Saints are champions!

FAITH, Bless You Boys, Cha-Ching, Whoot There it is, the Dome Patrol, Shoulda-Coulda-Woulda, 'Aints, Finish Strong ... All those are nice and fun, but I like this one the best: Super Bowl Champions!

Enjoy it Saints fans, this really happened:

Finish Strong: Super Bowl XLIV

All the hype. All the build-up. The history. Dwight Freeny's ankle? Peyton Manning going against his hometown team? Hurricane Katrina? 43 year wait? Do the Saints deserve to be here? Are the Saints dirty? Is Manning the best ever? The Who. Carrie Underwood. Southbeach. Miami.

All of these storylines will soon be put to rest as Super Bowl XLIV will finally be played this weekend. Yes, there's actually a football game involved in all of this madness.

The Saints and Colts were the best teams in their conferences all season and finally will meet on the biggest stage. Media day is behind us, practices are winding down, and gameplans are being polished. We'll finally get the answers to all the questions, and the most important one, especially, who's going to win SB XLVI?

You're probably tired of hearing about how great Peyton Manning is and how the Saints defense won't be able to stop him. You're also probably tired of hearing about how Drew Brees is almost as good and is underrated. Word all week has been that the Saints will have to be able to match the Colts in scoring and this could go down as one of the highest scoring, competitive Super Bowls ever. I wonder if it will even be that close.

My heart wants to pick the Saints and pick them big. Look at the road they took to get here. Sure, the AFC has traditionally been a tougher road than the NFC, but not this year. Look at the teams that the Saints defeated this year: Eagles, Patriots, Cardinals, Vikings, Jets, Falcons ... their playoff road alone, Cardinals & Vikings, was rougher than the Colts, who defeated two wild card teams. Then check out how the teams won this year. The Colts had a few games that were low-scoring and they just pulled out at the end. I see high scoring and blowout games on the Saints schedule. All in all, I don't think the Saints are getting the respect they deserve in this game. Too many people are putting far too much stock in the Vikings game, where Minnesota out gained New Orleans in just about every statistical category.

I've heard numerous media analysis say that the Saints offense has been iffy for the past few weeks. Did they miss the Cardinals game? Wasn't that just a couple games ago? Then there's the injury factor. The Colts have two key starters nursing injuries. Be sure that Sean Payton will work to exploit these weaknesses. I just don't see the total one-sidedness of the "experts" picks. Sure Payton Manning is great and it will be nearly impossible to confuse him, but he does make mistakes.

I don't want to hear that its destiny for the Saints, but this is Drew Brees' time. He has been waiting for this his entire life and he actually gets it. He knows what the Saints mean to Louisiana, especially New Orleans. He wants this win more than anything, and as long as he plays like the Drew Brees we've come to know with the Black and Gold, the Saints will win.

(prediction after the Saints Super Bowl team picture, any idea why they lined up backwards with the numbers from right to left?)


Prediction:
Saints 31
Colts 20

MVP: Jonathan Vilma - I think Drew Brees is the "favorite" on the Saints, but I also think the Saints defense has gotten overlooked this year. Vilma, the Pro Bowl linebacker, always seems to find the ball and has a knack for making big plays.

If the Saints are able to pull off the victory, here's a preview of what we'll see Sunday:

Super Bowl XLIV Approaches

Man, two weeks is a long time to wait, but Saints fans have been waiting 43 years for this. Here's a little something to hold you over until Sunday:

LA X

Confused over the season premiere of season 6 of Lost? Join the club. Lost season 6 started with a bang (literally, replaying the Jughead explosion from "The Incident") and went on for two hours of what's going on? Where are they going with this? How is that possible? Here are a couple of answers, but let me give you a hundred more questions ... yep, just what you'd expect from an episode of Lost. Onto my thoughts.

Flash-sideways (see my Sliding Doors Theory)
The big revelation for season 6 is that we're getting a look at two timelines: one that has Jack and company back in the present time on the island and one that shows us what would have happened if 815 actually landed in L.A. Confused about the new timeline? Check Doc Jensen's interview with Darlton to clear up a few things.

The timeline "reboot" isn't a full reboot of the story though; there are a few subtle differences (check out timeline differences on Lostpedia). For one Desmond is on the plane. Huh? Then there's the absence of other key characters like Mr. Eko, Libby, Ana Lucia, Shannon, Michael and Walt, and even Nikki & Paulo. Why are certain characters not on Flight 815 who were there before? What changed things? And also why does Jack have a cut on his neck?

We are also getting to see that even though Flight 815 didn't crash on the island, the characters' lives are still impacted by each other. Jack saved Charlie (even though Charlie said he was supposed to die), Sawyer helps Kate escape, Kate gets in a cab with Claire, Jack offers to help Locke with his condition, etc. Then there's a few character story differences. Hurley is the luckiest man alive and according to the Comic Con video, Kate didn't kill her stepfather, but someone else. Lastly, where is Christian Sheppard's coffin? It wasn't on the plane (is this why the plane didn't crash?), and Oceanic can't locate it. Did Christian find his way back to the island? Is he Lost for good?

The timeline reboot is going to show us that even if Jack's plan worked (and Juliette said that it did work, according to Miles after she died. What did she mean by that?), there are consequences. Just look at the opening shot of the island, UNDER WATER. When did that happen in the reboot? Just after the incident or at another time? How will the two timelines be resolved? Will they merge together at some point? Lots of questions to ponder over the new storytelling device.

Finally, The Temple
We've been hearing about the Temple for a few seasons now, but we've only seen the outer wall and underground area leading to it. Now we finally get to see it, thanks to dead Jacob telling Hurley to bring Sayid there to be saved. The Losties get to the underground tunnels and are captured by ... other Others?

Remember, there is a group of Others who was sent to the Temple when Keamy and the freighter group came to the island. We are reintroduced to them here, including Flight 815 stewardess Cindy (who made the weird comment, they were on the first plane that crashed) and the kids Zach and Emma. The rest of the other Others aren't familiar to us, including their leader, Dogan. Does this guy only stay at the Temple so we've never seen him before and why is he the Others leader now? How old is the Temple and who built it? Why are the Others content just staying there?

Anyway, after almost shooting the Losties, Hurley tells them Jacob sent them and shows them the guitar case. (Should we be worried about Hurley? You know, big red shirt and all.) What's inside? Well, its an ankh, which happens to have a note inside from Jacob. We aren't privy to what the notes says, but basically, they gotta save Sayid or the H-is-O.

Sayid's "death"
For some reason, even after it looked like Sayid had died after being brought to the spring (side note, looks like we know how little Ben was saved when Sayid shot him. Is that why the spring wasn't clear ... because Sayid had attempted to murder Ben and also tortured and murdered so many others? or was it no longer clear because Jacob had died?). Basically, the Others drown Sayid and the spring doesn't save him (what are the risks of being saved in the spring?), and everyone thinks he's died.

It was a weird moment for Lost fans. Sure one of the all-time great Lost characters had died, but I didn't feel emotional about it like when Charlie died. It kind of just happened here and then moved on. I guess with Juliette already being killed, another Lost death couldn't stir up the emotions. But alas, it didn't matter because Sayid woke up and is alive ... or is he? How will he be changed now? What would have happened if he would have really died? Is he Jacob (as Man in Black is now Locke)?

Man In Black/UnLocke/Smokey
So Man in Black is really the smoke monster. Many fans speculated this, so getting an answer about it this soon in the season was a nice bone for the audience. But there's still the question of what he is (both as a man and as the monster), as Ben asked him. I get the feeling that even though he is the one acting badly, Man in Black may turn out to be the good guy.

He says he just wants to go home. Where is his home? Is it the Temple? The smoke monster resides in the tunnels leading to the Temple, so can he not go all the way in? Once Hurley tells the other Others that Jacob is dead, they seem to be preparing for a battle and fortify to keep "Him" out. They even spread the gray ash on the ground. What's the significance of the ash? Bram used it to keep smokey away from him, but the monster found other ways of killing him. We've also seen it around the cabin and the thought was it kept someone trapped in. Now its used to keep someone out.

Other Tidbits:
Regarding Richard Alpert, what happens to him now that Jacob is gone? Man in Black makes a comment about seeing Richard out of those chains. Should this be taken literally or figuratively? On one hand, the producers may be messing with the audience with that line, since most fans assume Richard came to the island on Black Rock. So if he was on the slave ship, the chains comment works there. But I think it could also mean that he's out of bondage with Jacob, since Jacob is now dead. His ties (or chains) to Jacob are now gone, so since Jacob is dead, is Richard now mortal? How far back do he and Man in Black go? What does Richard know about him?

Bram, we hardly knew ya. I was thinking the shadow of the statue people would play more of a role, but Bram and a few others are now gone, thanks to the smoke monster. Ilana is the only main one left, and Jacob had visited her, so she probably will play a bigger role later. Was this group really just Jacob's body guards, as Man in Black asked? I like how Richard got snippy with them too. Just because you ask me what's in the shadow of the statue ... great stuff.

What's going to happen to Ben now? He realizes he was just a pawn in something far bigger than him. He sees the real John Locke dead, and Man in Black tells him Locke's last thoughts as Ben killed him. So what's next for our favorite Other?

I'm sure I missed lots of stuff. These are my "just watched it once and am still confused" thoughts. There's going to be lots of recaps and analysis on the Interwebs over the next few days. I'll post some of my favorite Lost sites' takes on LA X here:

• Lostpedia: LA X
• Doc Jensen's Recap
  
• Zap2It Lost Recap
• JOpinionated Thoughts & Theories
  
• Best of All Possible Worlds (Dark UFO recap)
  
• LA X Untangled
• What's Alan Watching
• The Watcher
• Washington Post Dueling Analysis
• LongLiveLocke LA X (Part 1)
  
• Things I Noticed by vozzek
  
• Jimmy Kimmel solves Lost
• More Lost than Ever
  

Next on Lost: "What Kate Does"


*Photos from GetLostPodcastMedia.com

Lost Returns Tonight!

After a long hiatus, Lost returns tonight with the season 6 premiere, LA X. There is lots of Lost information online today previewing the final season and strengthening the buzz leading to the last season of the show.

Here are a few links to get you ready:

• Doc Jensen's Preview and the first episode of "Totally Lost"
• Popcandy's Early Buzz with lots of Lost links
• The Watcher lengthy interview with Darlton (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
• LongLiveLocke's visit to Oahu for the season 6 premiere and here's JOpinionated's take on the Hawaii premiere
• Zap2It's season 6 questions answered
• Top Lost quotes of all time
  

Enjoy the premiere. We'll have lots to talk about in the coming months as season 6 moves along.

Namaste!