KIDWCKED
08-09-2010, 10:03 PM
c/p from espn by the a/p
WASHINGTON -- It took one shout of "Who Dat!" to get the celebration started in the White House on Monday as President Barack Obama saluted the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.
The band played "When the Saints Go Marching In" as team members came in smiling to cheers and shouts for quarterback Drew Brees. Team owner Tom Benson pumped his fist in the air, flashing a Super Bowl yellow-gold diamond ring.
[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Susan Walsh
The Saints presented President Obama with his own jersey during their White House visit Monday.
Obama congratulated the team, owner and coaches in an East Room ceremony. He said the team lifted up "the hopes and the dreams of a shattered city" in the wake of the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.
The Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17, in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.
Obama said the Saints' Super Bowl win was huge for New Orleans and for the country. He noted that after Katrina, the Saints had to play an entire season on the road because their home stadium, the Superdome, was ruined in the storm.
"Back then people didn't even know if the team was coming back. People didn't even know if the city was coming back," Obama said.
Now, the president said, the Saints proved their team and city are here to stay.
Brees presented the 44th president with a No. 44 Saints jersey. The Chicago Bears fan joked he couldn't get away with wearing it in Chicago.
Coach Sean Payton is also from Chicago.
"You've got to be tough to be a Chicago guy. I make some tough decisions every day, but I never decided on an onside kick in the second half of the Super Bowl," Obama said.
The Saints took a risk using an onside kick -- called ambush -- against the Colts to open the second half of the championship game.
"I'm glad that thing went alright," Obama said. Players and members of Congress and Obama's Cabinet laughed.
Then the Saints left the same way the came in -- to claps, chants of "Who dat!" and the band playing their song.
WASHINGTON -- It took one shout of "Who Dat!" to get the celebration started in the White House on Monday as President Barack Obama saluted the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.
The band played "When the Saints Go Marching In" as team members came in smiling to cheers and shouts for quarterback Drew Brees. Team owner Tom Benson pumped his fist in the air, flashing a Super Bowl yellow-gold diamond ring.
[+] EnlargeAP Photo/Susan Walsh
The Saints presented President Obama with his own jersey during their White House visit Monday.
Obama congratulated the team, owner and coaches in an East Room ceremony. He said the team lifted up "the hopes and the dreams of a shattered city" in the wake of the ravages of Hurricane Katrina.
The Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17, in Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.
Obama said the Saints' Super Bowl win was huge for New Orleans and for the country. He noted that after Katrina, the Saints had to play an entire season on the road because their home stadium, the Superdome, was ruined in the storm.
"Back then people didn't even know if the team was coming back. People didn't even know if the city was coming back," Obama said.
Now, the president said, the Saints proved their team and city are here to stay.
Brees presented the 44th president with a No. 44 Saints jersey. The Chicago Bears fan joked he couldn't get away with wearing it in Chicago.
Coach Sean Payton is also from Chicago.
"You've got to be tough to be a Chicago guy. I make some tough decisions every day, but I never decided on an onside kick in the second half of the Super Bowl," Obama said.
The Saints took a risk using an onside kick -- called ambush -- against the Colts to open the second half of the championship game.
"I'm glad that thing went alright," Obama said. Players and members of Congress and Obama's Cabinet laughed.
Then the Saints left the same way the came in -- to claps, chants of "Who dat!" and the band playing their song.