A Facebook friend made the comment today that with the New Orleans Saints” win in the Super Bowl, the name Drew is sure to take off. Expectant moms and dads everywhere will be looking to impart some Drew Brees magic on their offspring. “In nine months there will be huge spike in the number of newborn boys named Drew, and probably a few girls, too,” he predicted.
The name can only get more popular. The Social Security office puts Drew at 244th in popularity for boys, and 974th for girls.
(Peyton is 176th for boys and 60th for girls, by the way.)
I submit that Who Dat would be a fine name for a boy or girl. I bet the New Orleans Times-Picayune will have more than one Who Dat birth announcement in the next nine months. And probably a few Whodats. (Maybe even a couple of Whouxdats.)
Let”s all get behind this. For my part, I promise that anyone in the Golden Triangle who names their baby Whodat in the next nine months gets a baby present from me. Most likely, a Saints onesie, which are in style this time of year, particularly in New Orleans. “In the nursery last week at Ochsner Medical Center West Bank, nearly a dozen newborns sported New Orleans Saints onesies,” read a column in the Times-Picayune last week. “After all, it is never too early to plant a seed in the fertile soil of the Who Dat nation.”
”Bail or bribe”
When you”re away from the action, you live vicariously through friends. Some who live in New Orleans, and others who went there to watch the game at the Ground Zero of Saints fandom, posted Facebook and Twitter updates. One friend said he was “setting up a fund for bail or bribe, which ever is most expedient,” for others who had made the trek.
“I”ve seen a lot of things in New Orleans … but I”ve never seen a party like that last night. My body is killing me but it was worth it,” posted a New Orleans friend.
New Orleans may be new at winning Super Bowls, but it does know how to do one thing well: Party. And it had a pretty good reason Sunday.
“Bourbon Street is intoxicating. Everyone is drunk, even those who are not drinking,” wrote a Miami Herald reporter, who was on Bourbon Street after the game. “This is how it can feel at the emotional height of sports, where the magnetic pull of shared joy brings all kinds of people together. Think about it. There isn”t a lot else in life that makes people feel quite like this. And precious few cities have needed this moment of healing the way this broken one did.”
Manna from the heavens
We have reasons to celebrate here in the Triangle; we have our share of miracles. If you were on Highway 82 between Mathiston and Starkville yesterday morning, and had a cooler handy, you know what I”m talking about.
A tractor-trailer truck hauling live catfish overturned in the median. For the next couple hours, passersby, rescue workers and clean-up crews treated themselves to catfish that had spilled out of the truck — and some that hadn”t.
People dug through the wrecked truck itself, tossing out the fish into coolers, garbage cans, and anything else large enough to hold a catfish.
“It was unbelievable how much they got,” a tow truck operator said.
There”s something Biblical about all this. This is a story of miracles, loaves and fishes, and manna from the heavens, all rolled into one.
Yes, the Lord works in mysterious ways. After 42 years, He delivered the Saints to the Promised Land, in about the same time that it took Moses and the Tribe of Israel to get there. And, He threw in a fish fry for a few lucky souls up here.
Maybe these are signs of a turnaround — that more plentiful times lay ahead. Or maybe it”s evidence of the Apocalypse. Or maybe it was just a lucky interception over in Miami, and driver error in Starkville.
However you look at it, it”s been an interesting week — and a great story for grandpa to share with young Whodat one day.
Steve Mullen is Managing Editor of The Dispatch.
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