First came Drew Brees gracing the cover of the video game Madden NFL 2010 and now there is this YouTube clip of the Saints repeating as Super Bowl Champions in the video game, complete with victory parade and trip to the White House.
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Now, as my Saints preview illustrated, Who Dats may not be stressed out about the Saints’ upcoming season (at least not compared to years past) so this may be but a blip on people’s radar, but isn’t this city all about superstition? Last year, as my hometown Redskins floundered and the Saints piled up wins, I would spitefully (and drunkenly) make ridiculous predictions about the Saints winning it all, much to the chagrin of every Who Dat (I’m surprised I never got punched). But now the Saints are champs and Brees is on the cover of Madden and there’s a digital celebration of their upcoming repeat.
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How times change.

These weekly posts are intended as an episode-by-episode guide to the many psychological ailments, drunken gibberish, senseless actions, Bourbon Street mixed drinks and other embarrassments on MTV’s The Real World: New Orleans.

It contains spoilers — and who cares? You stopped watching this show several years ago — but also a lot of information that might help viewers of the series come to terms with their outrage over the cast’s cultural vandalism of New Orleans (and what was once a really lovely Uptown house), and also the bleak, black future of our society.

The emotional trauma caused by the show admittedly makes such coverage an overwhelming task, so posts may be supplemented by information culled from Wikipedia, WebMD and un-scientific polls of nearby Gambit staffers. Readers are also encouraged to submit any comments that may help us make sense of this wreckage.

The Superbowl provided a reprieve from the show’s typical antics and — dare I say it? — some really lovely moments that conjured good memories. But the game was only staving off the inevitable, and eventually we were subjected to the show’s usual horrors. This week on As the Real World Turns …

WWOZ. The New Orleans radio station has seen hosts the likes of John Sinclair, Dr. Michael White, Ernie K-Doe … and now Ashlee and Preston. With strong qualifications such as “communication major who likes the sound of her own voice,” our housemates waltz into the station’s French Quarter offices hoping to host their own radio show. And since the city lacks any knowledgeable sources in regards to “Saints fandom,” these sports historians hope to provide us with exactly that. Just like those busloads of Lutheran children, Ashlee and Preston have been sent here to serve this city. But instead of cleaning playgrounds or rebuilding Hurricane Katrina-damaged homes while wearing fluorescent L.L. Bean backpacks, they want to provide us with the knowledge of the Saints exclusive to 23-year-old communications majors from Massachusetts whose past work experience likely includes part-time jobs as T-shirt folders at Hollister. Thank God for them.

In their first assignment, the intrepid reporters were sent to interview dogs at the Barkus parade. But they seemed to have a little trouble with the simple voice recorders WWOZ provided, and Woodward and Bernstein would later discover that they weren’t recording anything the entire time. Great.

The Avenue Pub. Neighborhood dive-turned-foodie and service industry destination, top five in Gambit’s 2010 Top 50 Bars … and also, I’m about 98 percent certain it houses the public bathroom in which Jemmye and Knight had sex. Although the two live together, and therefore have ample time to shack up in the hot tub or atop piles of Mardi Gras beads, they insisted on contaminating this fantastic bar because they spotted “a nice bench” in the bathroom. If anyone can prove the bar is, in fact, not Avenue Pub, please let us know immediately. Or else, to paraphrase Gambit editor Kevin Allman, the bar’s fish sandwich will never be the same again. And I will forever resent The Real World for that.

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The ESPYs were tonight and ESPN.com is saying that the Saints “stole the show” by winning “Best Team” and with Drew Brees winning “Best Male Athlete.” Brees thanked his wife, coach Sean Payton, his offensive line and “Who Dat Nation” and entire city of New Orleans broke out into a spontaneous mid-summer Mardi Gras (or something).
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Brees also won the coveted “Best NFL Player” and “Best Championship Performance” trophies, the awards that truly define great players and whose histories line the walls of the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Don’t let anyone fool you, these awards mean something. It’s a time for the common fan to vote on which athletes that have already won trophies in their sports (by actually playing them) deserve more trophies, and which athletes that didn’t get trophies by playing sports are lucky enough to get some trophies anyway.

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Or not. I don’t think any athlete takes getting an ESPY seriously. But I bet they get some serious awards show schwag and it’s a chance to canoodle with celebrities, so I guess it’s all in good fun (though from recent viewings, I’d say the ESPYs are decidedly un-fun). It was funny that one year, though. Good times.

The United States won probably the most dramatic game in its soccer history with its 1-0 win over Algeria to win Group C and advance to the final 16 of the World Cup. Afterward, Reggie Bush took a pic with U.S. striker Jozy Altidore to celebrate the win. For the record: I went from soccer to the Saints in two sentences, whodathunkit?

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Yes, that is definitely Reggie (thanks to his twitter) and yes, you should be legitimately excited about U.S. soccer right now. Now the U.S. faces off against Ghana on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Get your early-afternoon drinking hats on, people. This tournament just got real.

What is it with the Saints and guns recently? First there was that idiot last year that let Saints fans shoot up his 60-inch television after New Orleans beat the Redskins, then there was Drew Brees’ much-publicized trip to visit the troops and now the Viking’s Vincent Shiancoe gives us this:

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Photo lifted from SBNation.com

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If anything, Shiancoe is a very confused individual. After all, the only thing Sharper did was say that “X marks the spot” in regards to Brett Favre’s ankle come the start of the season (that is, if Favre even decides to play at all). Not only is this not new (the Saints famously said they’d be trying to take out every QB during the playoffs last year) it’s pretty tame when it comes to smack talk. You also have to give Sharper credit for putting his paycheck on the line to make sure Shiancoe has less than three catches and doesn’t make it into the end zone.

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Shiancoe, though, seems to think that Sharper’s comments are worthy of comparing the Saints’ safety to a guy who claimed responsibility for the death of thousands of innocent civilians on American soil. How else are people supposed to take this? Is Shiancoe saying that Osama bin Laden and Sharper are the same person? Is a picture of bin Laden not enough to draw Shiancoe’s ire that he has to write “I’m Darren Sharper” before using said picture as target practice?

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Then again, football players aren’t paid to think. And really, this just makes the Saints’ season-opener that much more exciting.  Just about two months until training camp opens, people. That’s when the real fun starts.