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Sports gambling is a popular pursuit because everyone understands the basics of how teams win and lose and why. Horses, meanwhile, are an entirely different animal”no pun intended. It is a complex discipline unto itself, and a sound background in handicapping sports doesn’t insure success, or even mediocrity in handicapping the ponies. In fact, the history of sports betting is replete with successful gamblers that had a weakness for horse betting, with an emphasis on the word weakness. Most notable, perhaps, is the former resident handicapper at CBS, Jimmy The Greek Snyder. The story goes that The Greek was a first rate sports handicapper, but he couldn’t pick the winner of a one horse race when playing the ponies. The bad news for The Greek is that he enjoyed playing the ponies nonetheless, and often frittered away the money he won at the other end of the sportsbook.

Were not going to suggest that the information here even scratches the surface of what you need to know to become a serious horse handicapper. There are countless books, DVDs and other media that you should check out if this is your goal. If you’re interested in simply knowing the basics so that you can enjoy a day at the track, here are some basic concepts of horse handicapping:

Do your reading: When you arrive at the horse track you should purchase a copy of the Daily Racing Form (DRF for short) and the track program. The DRF is basically the ‘bible’ of horse race handicapping, and offers morning line odds, horse, trainer, jockey statistics and information on each race at every major track across the country. The track program offers similar information for that individual venue, often in more ‘user friendly’ form.

You’re not playing against the house: One thing to keep in mind when playing the horses that is drastically different from sports betting is that you’re not playing against ‘the house’, you’re playing against other betters. The track just accepts and pays bets, taking out a cut (called the ‘takeout’) for their services. The track odds are determined by the money bet on each horse. Long odds on a horse doesn’t necessarily indicate a ‘bad horse’ but just one that for whatever reason isn’t attracting bettor interest.

So where do odds in the newspaper or program originate? These are known as the ‘morning odds’ or ‘morning line’ and is basically an educated guess as to where the betting will go. They can be helpful as a handicapping tool, but may or may not reflect what will happen in the actual betting.

Horse handicapping basics: This is where horse racing gets complex–there are countless theories about how to handicap a horse race. Some handicappers consider the breeding lineage of the horse, while others are more concerned with past performance. Still others put more weight on the training a horse has received, or its workout performance.

Once a bettor reaches a conclusion about what he thinks will happen in a given race, it is still subject to the odds that are available when betting. This is similar to sports gambling, where an underdog may be more attractive due to an excessively high payback potential than he would ordinary, or, conversely, a clear favorite becomes an unattractive wagering proposition due to a prohibitively high price. Its all a matter of the math–if I could speak to the teenagers of America, I’d try to impress upon them the importance of doing well in math for no other reason than its importance in all forms of gambling.

Trainers and breeding: Some handicappers prioritize a horse’s breeding background–considering his bloodlines and the competitive quality of his parents and grandparents. Then training must be considered–a good trainer can often get a horse to ‘over perform’ much in the same way a good coach can get the most out of his team in sports.

The horse’s jockey: Jockeys are free agents, meaning that they get paid on their performance. In theory, this means that they’ll do their utmost to win in every given race. While there are a few exceptions, many serious horse handicappers downplay the importance of the jockey. Assuming the horse’s ‘mount’ is competent, there are much more salient factors to consider when handicapping a race than the jockey.

Find your own style, and maintain discipline: Basically, there’s not a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to handicap a horse race. Figure out what works for you, and develop and refine your own methodology. As in any form of gambling, don’t bet more than you can afford to lose and in particular when you’re starting out there’s no reason to be making big wagers. If you want to learn more, there’s a number of good internet resources including the Daily Racing Form website.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and scuba diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

Though it enjoyed solid fan support and was popular among sports betting enthusiasts, arena football fell off the map with the demise of the Arena Football League. The AFL suspended play under the weight of a poor business model in 2009 and later pulled the plug altogether. Since then, a new league has announced plans to take its place. Arena Football One (AF1 for short) will begin play in April and on Thursday secured a TV contract to broadcast games on the NFL Network in the United States. The TV deal should help the new arena football entrant to get off to a successful start as they attempt to revive the sport.

Superficially, there are many similarities between the defunct Arena Football League and the upstart AF1 circuit. Several former AFL franchises have joined the new league, with several others having previously played in the AFL’s developmental ‘minor league’ known as Arena Football 2. The new league’s organizers are hoping that the similarities remain superficial, and have taken great pains to avoid many of the high salaries and dimwitted business decisions that doomed their predecessors. They’ve also learned from a crucial error of the AFL and will coordinate promotion and publicity of all teams as well as the league as a whole at the corporate level. Ultimately, they’ve realized that the product wasn’t the problem; management doomed the original AFL.

The original Arena Football League also made the mistake that many growing companies make in trying to grow too big too fast. Though the league prospered for years by keeping a tight rein on player salaries and team budgets, in the past few years there had been a drastic upward spiral in the cost of player contracts. A division between old line owners dedicated to fiscal responsibility and deep pocketed newcomers (including 80’s rock idol Jon Bon Jovi) anxious to spend as much as they wanted further exacerbated a business model that became more and more unsustainable. They also lost touch with what their fan base wanted and started looking for an audience that simply wasn’t there.

The AF1 deal with the NFL Network is for one year, with a network option for a second year. The NFL Network will air a ‘game of the week’ every Friday night beginning in April. In addition to providing a good broadcast outlet for the fledgling league it also provides some much needed off season programming to the NFL’s 24/7 cable network. One can only watch so many ‘classic games’ (the NFL euphemism for ‘re-runs’) and an emphasis on arena football during the summer months would be a win/win for everyone involved.

Though Arena Football 1 is the largest and best known arena football league, there are actually two other leagues that will begin playing in the coming months. While most are focusing on smaller markets than AF1, the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA) and the Indoor Football League ( IFL) are also in the mix. Eventually, the AF1 will prevail as the top level arena football league with the other two circuits serving as minor league developmental partners.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on NFL football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and online sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Matthew Stafford has yet to play a regular season NFL game and hes already the Detroit Lions starting quarterback. Detroit coach Jim Schwartz named Stafford as his starter for the teams opening game of the NFL regular season against the New Orleans Saints. Stafford beat out veteran Daunte Culpepper for the spot, though Schwartz went out of his way to stress that the rookie won the job.

In announcing Stafford as the starting QB for the Lions, Schwartz made clear that hes very confident with his personnel at the position:

“I’ve had a lot of very tough decisions in the last few days — guys making the 53-man roster or not making it — but none more difficult than at quarterback. We announced to our team this morning that Matt Stafford is going to be our starting quarterback.”

“I’m very, very comfortable with the quarterback position here, not just one and two, but also three. What made this decision difficult was that I think we can win with Daunte Culpepper, I think we can with Matt Stafford, and I think we can win with Drew Stanton.

Stafford indicated that while hes always been confident that he’d get the nod there was still a lot of uncertainty up to the time Schwartz made the announcement:

“I definitely thought I was going to be the guy, but as competitive as Daunte is, I’m sure he thought he was going to be the guy, too. Coach Schwartz called me in this morning and told me, and I went out and practiced with the first team. That was exciting.”

Despite the Lions dismal 0-16 record a year ago, Stafford stressed that he wants to win:

“I’m going to try to win football games. I think, just like everyone else on this team, that we can go out on Sunday and be competitive against the Saints and give ourselves a chance to win the game. That’s our job.”

Schwartz said that he plans to give his quarterback the opportunity to learn to play QB in the NFL on the job:

“This isn’t an internship. This isn’t a trial basis. He’s our starting quarterback. We said that, to win the job, he had to be ready, and he had to be our best quarterback, and that’s what he has shown.”

He continued with praise for Culpepper:

“Daunte Culpepper is back — there’s no doubt in my mind and there’s no doubt around this league. He’s going to be back as a starting quarterback in this league, and with a high level of success.”

Culpepper didnt speak to the media, but that wasnt a surprise since he never speaks to the media. Stafford had some props for his backup:

“I’m sure it is tough for him, but Daunte’s been great for me and he will continue to be. I can’t think of a better guy to learn from and to have in my corner.”

The Lions will look for their first regular season win in over a year as they start the NFL regular season at New Orleans on Sunday. Theyll play the following two games at home against the Minnesota Vikings and Washington Redskins.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and NFL football handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, flower arranging and scuba diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

In one of the stranger front office shakeups in recent NBA history, the Los Angeles Clippers have ‘relieved’ Mike Dunleavy of his head coaching duties effective immediately. He’ll remain on board as the Clippers’ general manager, and both he and the team cited the demands of the forthcoming trade deadline and free agent market as a catalyst for the change. Dunleavy leaves as the most successful head coach in the team’s less than distinguished history. With the Clippers, however, that’s not saying a whole lot.

Not surprisingly, there is much speculation as to the back story behind the move. Some with knowledge of the situation suggest that Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling wanted to fire Dunleavy altogether, but relented due to the $5 million the team will owe him in the final year of his contract next year. More recently, a bizarre rumor has been circulating that Sterling has approached Isiah Thomas about taking over Dunleavy’s coaching position and becoming team president.

Dunleavy issued this statement, playing along with the team’s insistence that the decision to give up coaching was ‘mutual’:

“I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the ideal time for me to direct my efforts toward the many personnel opportunities that lie before us, such as the trade market, the draft and the free-agent process. We fully expect to be active and productive on all those fronts.”

Team President Andy Roeser sounded a similar tone:

“We fully agree with Mike that this is the right time to make this change. It just seems clear that the team needs a fresh voice and we hope that our players will respond in a positive way.As we approach the trade deadline, the NBA draft and the upcoming free-agent period, our team is very well positioned from a salary-cap standpoint. Mike’s experienced input will be vitally important as we continue to develop our young talented nucleus and shape our team’s future.”

Dunleavy’s agent Warren LeGarie continued the same theme:

“This is something we’ve been contemplating for some time. There’s a shelf life to coaching sometimes. So you constantly have to keep measuring whether [the team's inconsistency] is because of injuries, because of you, or something else. And at some point you have to make a judgment call about what’s best for the team, and that’s what Mike did.”

The Clippers have lost 7 of their last 10 games to fall to 21-29 on the year. They’re 17 games behind the Western Conference leading Los Angeles Lakers and 8 games out of the final playoff spot. The schedule won’t get any easier for the Clippers over the next week, as they host the red hot Utah Jazz on Tuesday and head into the All Star Break with a game on the road against the Golden State Warriors. They’ll resume play after the break as they head to Portland’s Rose Garden Arena to take on the Blazers.

Ross Everett is a highly respected cheerleading coach and a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports. He provides Internet and broadcast media outlets with daily free sports picks when not working with Olympic bound ice skaters. He is a widely published writer specializing in sports handicapping, falconry, drag racing and wombat breeding. He lives in Las Vegas with his Asian houseboy, three dogs and a wombat.

Peyton Manning threw three touchdown passes as the Indianapolis Colts rallied from an eleven point first half deficit to beat the New York Jets and advance to the Superbowl for the second time in four years. New York held their own in the early going but had no answer for Manning and company in the second half as the Colts scored 17 unanswered points to take the 30-17 victory. Indy will now take on the New Orleans Saints in Superbowl 44 in Miami. It’s the fourth trip to the big game in franchise history and, ironically, all four previous appearances have also been in Miami.

The Colts also rewarded NFL football betting enthusiasts who had laid the -7′ points with the pointspread victory. The Jets finished their campaign with an 11-8 record against the NFL pointspread. The 47 combined points scored went OVER the posted total of 40. The Colts have now gone OVER in five of their last six contests.

Manning and the Colts didn’t have much to say in the week prior to their confrontation with the Jets, which the four time NFL MVP insisted was by design:

“I thought we just kept our mouths shut and went to work this week. We talked about being patient against these guys. We knew it would be a four-quarter game.”

Linebacker Gary Brackett added these thoughts:

“We’ve been here before, we had seven comeback wins this year. I think the guys were a little rattled at first, I think we took their best shot, but we came back. I think we did a great job of being the hunters and imposing our will today.”

Indy head coach Jim Caldwell was pleased with his team’s resolve despite their slow start:

“The guys have always been a very confident bunch and they do a great job of hanging in there. Peyton had just an outstanding game. He’s one of those guys that can adjust to different situations. … A real champion.”

Jets’ coach Rex Ryan sounded a philosophical note in defeat:

“Today wasn’t our day. There’s no question. You have to give credit to the Colts. Obviously they’re the cream of the crop right now.

Ross Everett is an prominent freelance writer specializing in sports handicapping, harness racing, judo, falconry and fantasy role playing games. He is a staff handicapper for Oddsbay and is responsible for providing free sports picks to a variety of broadcast media outlets. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a retired racing wombat.

The Green Bay Packers entered the NFL playoffs as one of the league’s hottest teams, and mounted a 21 point second half comeback to force overtime against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Things looked good when Green Bay won the toss, but only moments later their season was over after an Aaron Rodgers fumble that Karlos Dansby returned 17 yards for the game winning score. It was a strange ending to a classic offensive display, resulting in a 51-45 victory for the defending NFC Champions in the highest scoring NFL playoff game in history.

Arizona sent much of the NFL football betting public home unhappy as well with their 6 point outright victory. The Cardinals had opened as -2′ home favorites but public sentiment favoring Green Bay had moved the line so significantly that Arizona was a +2′ home underdog by kickoff. With the victory, the Cardinals improved to 5-4 both SU and against the NFL pointspread at home this season. Obviously, the 96 points the two teams put on the board went well OVER the posted total of 48′. In fact, NFL totals players had already cashed their ticket long before the end of the third quarter.

Cardinals’ quarterback Kurt Warner improved his postseason record to 9-3 SU with one of the most impressive performances in league history. Warner finished with 379 yards passing and 5 touchdowns with no interceptions. Amazingly, Warner had more TD passes (5) than incomplete passes (4). After the game, he reflected on his performance:

“We knew how tough it was going to be on our defense with all the weapons they have offensively and how they’ve been playing. It was just one of those games where I felt great. I loved our playing. I felt like I was seeing everything well and it accumulates to 51 points.”

Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers might be remembered more for the game ending fumble than his own impressive performance, but he matched Warner play for play in what will certainly go down as one of the best quarterback duels in NFL playoff history. Rodgers finished with 422 yards and four touchdowns against one interception. Not surprisingly, the entire Packers’ team along with head coach Mike McCarthy took the loss hard:

“It’s clearly one of the toughest losses I’ve been a part of. I’m very proud of our football team and fight. This is a hard game to swallow.”

Quarterback Rodgers was in no mood to reflect on his excellent numbers, but was instead focused on reliving the decisive final play:

“I was trying to unload it. I should have held on to the ball. I was looking at the front side for Driv [Donald Driver]. It looked like he was getting grabbed a bit. Then I was looking for James [Jones] and they were driving in on him as he was running a little in cut, so I kind of pulled the ball back and someone hit my arm.”

Arizona will head to New Orleans to face the Saints at the Superdome next Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals are a +7 road underdog with the total set at 57. Oddly, Arizona posted better numbers on the road this season than at home, finishing 6-2 SU/4-3-1 ATS. The two teams haven’t met since 2007, a game won by the Saints 31-24 on their home field.

Ross Everett is a respected freelance writer who covers travel, poker and NFL football handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and deep sea diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.

The Miami Dolphins unveiled their version of the wildcat single wing offense for the first time in the NFL preseason and it worked like a charm. Starting QB Chad Pennington went 8 of 11 for 105 yards and a touchdown pass as the Dolphins first team offense played well in a 27-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers. While it is only preseason action, a victory is still a victory and no team likes to go down to defeat in back to back weeks. Carolina will have to pick up the pace if they wish to avoid a substandard NFL season that could result in their quarterback contemplating retirement.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said that there weren’t any big secrets with his teams unique offensive set:

“There are really no secrets there, but it’s good homework for us — a chance to see what people have been studying during their offseason, and how they want to defend this.

Pennington was also pleased with the productivity of the offense:

“The wildcat went well. Anything we can do to get an edge, I’m all for it.”

Ronnie Brown caught Penningtons TD pass and gave his positive assessment:

“We made some strides. We’re going in the right direction.”

Carolina coach John Fox sounded nonplussed, a surprising tone with a 0-2 team:

“Our first unit looked a little sharper. We’re not there yet, but I thought it was an improvement.”

Defensive end Julius Peppers was also notably absent of any concrete criticism:

“We’ve got to work on everything. That’s what the preseason is for.”

After a rough opening week, Panthers starting QB Jake Delhomme was also upbeat in his postgame comments to the media:

“We did better things tonight. It’s a process, but we’re doing all right.”

Miami will head to the northwest coast of Florida for their next preseason contest, taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Thursday night. Carolina will host the Baltimore Ravens in Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and NFL football handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and deep sea diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.

You have probably seen the commercials. A brawny, deep-voiced smooth talker with six-pack abs looks into the camera addressing women viewers as he swaggers through a series of exotic set changes in a seemingly uninterrupted take. The ads are funny, sexy, and memorable, and everyone is asking, “Who is this Old Spice Guy?”.

The easy answer is, “Isaiah Mustafa”. He is a 36-year-old from Portland, Oregon, who has become a celebrity in just a few months thanks to the now famous ads. Mustafa was a history student at Arizona State University, where he also played wide receiver for the Sun Devils football team. He managed to signed with a few different NFL and NFL Europe teams, including the Tennessee Titans, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, and Barcelona Dragons, but his professional football career never developed. Previously, he also ran a Los Angeles restaurant Jo Jo’s Barbecue.

As an actor, Mustafa has been appearing in minor episodic roles on television series since 2005. He has appeared on such shows as “The Island”, “Ugly Betty”, “Days of Our Lives”, “NCIS”, and “Castle”. His big break came in February of 2010, when the award-winning “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” shower gel commercial aired and became an instant smash.

Mustafa’s fast climb to celebrity has been aided by his popularity on internet social networking sites. The original TV commercials were already attracting attention on YouTube when Mustafa began making personalized YouTube videos featuring the character from the ads replying to questions submitted by various celebrities and fans through Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and similar sites. The result has been that Mustafa is now one of the internet’s biggest celebrities.

The new found fame seems to be paying off. Mustafa is reportedly currently working with Tyler Perry in Perry’s upcoming film based on Ntozake Shange’s play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf”. The rest of the cast slated to appear with Mustafa in the film includes Thandie Newton, Whoopi Goldberg, Kerry Washington, Janet Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, Macy Gray, and many others. He is also slated to appear with William Shatner in the sequel “Free Enterprise 2″, due to begin production soon.

After that, who can say what will be in store for Mustafa. A comic book fan since his youth, Mustafa has expressed interest in playing superhero Luke Cage of the Marvel Comics universe, though at this point no tangible project has emerged. In the mean time, Mustafa recently signed a talent deal with NBC television.

So who is that Old Spice guy? He is a savvy, former football player turned actor who is beginning to make a name for himself. He is Isaiah Mustafa.

Wondering exactly who the Old Spice Dude is ?

The Darlington Raceway in upstate South Carolina is considered one of NASCAR’s most challenging tracks. It’s shaped like an egg and has earned the moniker ‘the track too tough to tame’. That applied to everyone except David Pearson, who won 10 races and took 12 poles at Darlington. These records will likely never be challenged, let alone broken. Pearson’s ability to get around the track was almost instinctive. In fact, he made it look easy.

David Pearson was born on December 22, 1934 in Whitney, SC–a textile town near Spartanburg. Like most of the locals, his parents worked in the local cotton mill and did their best to provide. David quit school after the 10th grade and went to work in the mill. It wasnt long, however, before his love of cars and racing made him leave the mill life behind. He bought a car and began racing at short tracks in the upstate. He ran his first race on 9/19/52 in Woodruff South Carolina. Within a few years, he won his first championship at the Greenville/Pickens Speedway in’59.

Pearson never really sought much more than this local fame and success, but a couple of his friends and some fans had loftier ambitions”they began raising money to buy a car to compete in the NASCAR Grand National series (which was the forerunner to today’s Sprint Cup series). With the financial backing from friends and family, David began racing a limited schedule on the Grand National circuit and was named the’60 rookie of the year. In’61, he became the first driver to win on 3 of 4 superspeedways in the same year (Charlotte, Daytona, Atlanta). Success beget sponsors, whos dollars allowed him to afford better cars and crew. This brought about championships”he won three Grand National titles in’66,’68 and’69.

In’72, he started driving for the Wood Brothers in the #21 car that he was to make a legend. In’73, he won 11 races in’ starts”an incredible feat even by today’s standards. He cut back his schedule in those years to focus on superpeedways. Through the end of the’70s, Pearson won 43 races. In addition to his mastery of Darlington, he posted remarkable numbers all over the circuit. He is one of two men to have won more than 100 races, and his 105 is second only to The King Richard Petty’s 200 wins. Hes also second on career poles (113) to Petty. Head to head, however, he has a slight edge over NASCARs legendary King: in races where he and Petty finished 1-2, Pearson won 33 to Petty’s 30. His 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte is a feat that will likely never be matched. Another record that may never be broken is his’.29% winning percentage, as well as his record of starting from the pole in 20% of the races he ran.

Pearson is alive and well and still lives in Spartanburg, SC. In March 2000, SC Highway 221 through Spartanburg County was renamed David Pearson Boulevard in his honor. He still gets out on the Darlington track a few times a year–impressive for anyone, but even more so for a 75 year old man. And he’s still got the sterling silver hair which gave him his nickname of ‘The Silver Fox’.

Ross Everett is a staff handicapper for Oddsbay and an expert on World Cup soccer betting. He has written extensively on sports betting, horse racing, travel, and falconry. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three dogs and a pair of racing wombats.

The New Orleans Saints used a 14 point fourth quarter to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 on Sunday to win their first Superbowl in franchise history. Drew Brees broke open a tight game midway through the final quarter with his touchdown pass to Jeremy Shockey, and Tracy Porter scored on a 74 yard interception return as the Colts were driving on the next series to secure the victory. Brees was named Superbowl MVP on the basis of his 288 yard, 2 touchdown, 0 interception performance. He completed 32 passes in the game, tying New England’s Tom Brady for the all time record in that category.

After enthusiasts had come in early on the favored Colts, a good deal of buyback on the Saints had pushed the line to -4′ and the New Orleans backers were enriched by their team’s outright victory. The underdog has now covered three straight Superbowls and taken the money in five of the last seven games. The 48 points scored stayed well under the posted total of 57, which was the highest over/under number in Superbowl history.

In his postgame comments, a fabulously elated Brees gave much of the credit to the city of New Orleans:

“We play for so much more than ourselves. We played for our city. We played for the entire Gulf Coast region. We played for the entire Who Dat nation that has been behind us every step of the way. It means everything. We’re here because of their strength and everything they fought through here the last few years. They’ve given us so much support, so we owe it all to our fans.”

“Just to think of the road we’ve all traveled, the adversity we’ve all faced. It’s unbelievable. I mean, are you kidding me? Four years ago, whoever thought this would be happening? Eighty-five percent of the city was under water. Most people left not knowing if New Orleans would ever come back, or if the organization would ever come back. We just all looked at one another and said, ‘We’re going to rebuild together. We are going to lean on each other.’ That’s what we’ve done the last four years and this is the culmination in all that belief.”

Never known for his elocution, Peyton Manning had little to say after the game particularly about the decisive interception return:

“Made a great play. Made a great play. Corner made a heck of a play. Certainly disappointing, very disappointing. Disappointing.”

Saints’ coach Sean Payton made a bold call at the beginning of the second half when he called for an onside kick. Saints linebacker Jonathan Casalis suggested it was a game changing play:

“We were really excited when he made the call. That changed everything.”

Payton explained the diva-like decision:

“We’re going to be aggressive. We’d seen the onside kick all week and guys executed it well. It turned out to be a big change of possession.”

The city of New Orleans will celebrate their team’s victory with a parade. With Mardi Gras celebrations already scheduled to begin shortly thereafter, it could be quite some time before New Orleans returns to business as usual. Add New Orleans to cities like Miami, Bar Harbour, Palm Springs and Fire Island as must see spots for any fabulous football fan on the go.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and World Cup betting sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.