I walked two miles to get to the front of the line... Payton had the Lombardi Trophy in his car and kept lifting it through his sun-roof. It was epic. Gov. Jindal was there excited as heck (he was in the passenger seat of a car that went by quick but he was sticking his torso out his passenger window cheering as he went by). Deuce got stuck in front of us, refused to sign autographs but let me shake his hand. Sadly, Pierre, who also got stuck in front of us, was all irritated that the fans were there to bother him (he wanted to get home). But at least he didn't roll up his window (there were a lot of tinted windows rolled up and you couldn't see inside, even though the fans were begging them to roll their windows down). The best guy was Meachem, a very young-looking guy (he is 25). He's the only one that was happy to let everybody have an autograph that wanted one. Tom Benson drove by and gave a few autographs as well. When the police told us that it was over... I walked the 2 miles back to my car... and when I got back to the main street... 24-year-old Usama Young was still there driving a Cadillac with 27-year-old Jabari Greer in the passenger seat.. and they were still there holding up traffic signing everybody's autographs... this was long after the police had made everybody leave (the police kept trying to get Young and Greer to ignore the fans... but they just ignored the cops). They were the greatest. Brees wasn't there (still in Florida). Nobody saw Bush or Colston or Vilma or Sharper or Ellis or Smith or Grant or Jenkins or Porter or Bell or Morstead or McCray, etc. Fujita, Henderson, and Hartley went by too quick. Shockey had a driver so he snuck through. Lance Moore and Roman Harper and Chris Reis let some people come up to them. As for the fans... they were the greatest. They lined the streets from the interstate to the security gate where the Saints left the airport. On that overpass going over the main street, like 50-100 people were up there cheering for the Saints. On the route, it was 6-deep most of the way, just like a huge Mardi Gras parade. The cops blocked off both streets (with full barricades the whole way), just like they do for the biggest Mardi Gras parades. People were everywhere rooting for the Saints. It was great. It will be even greater for the Victory Parade tomorrow night!
