Did you feel the Earth tremor, yesterday? That's probably because the forces of good and evil collided at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro when the Saints and Patriots met up for a preseason practice. Oh...and Bon Jovi was there too. More on that randomness in a moment, but first...
Bill Belichick, who we can only hope wasn't secretly rubbing his hate-filled sweatshirt juice on Sean Payton, seemed surprisingly warm and friendly during the joint practice. At some point during an interview with NFL network, with Payton by his side, Belichick flashed his fangs as a sign he was hungry for human flesh. Oh wait a minute, that was a smile. Now that's weird.
The practice apparently went smoothly, with Belichick even allowing the Saints to see some of the Pats' plays. But Payton was too busy chatting up super stud Tom Brady to steal any moves out of Wild Bill's playbook. Coach wanted Tom to spill the secrets to a Super Bowl repeat. (And probably whether the rumors are true that Gisele Bundchen is "bendy".) The Pats were the last NFL team to repeat, winning in 2003 and 2004. So, what did Payton take away from the meeting?
"Just because you have a lot of your team back (from the championship), it really means nothing."
The Pats love fest didn't end there. Drew Brees also had a one-on-one with Brady on his secret to success and Saints linebacker Jon Vilma went so far as to call the Pats the "Team of the decade." It's another example of the classy organization we've got down on the Bayou.
As for the Bon Jovi sighting, well you can trace that back to what happened to Sean Payton while he and his wife were at a Bon Jovi concert a few years back. Here's how he explains it via the Boston Herald...
"(Bon Jovi ) was singing. And Mickey (Loomis) was like, 'Hey, I want you to become the next head coach of the Saints.' and I said, 'I'm in. Then I walked back in and Beth looked at me, and I just said, 'Hey, we're going to New Orleans. Sit down and enjoy the rest of the show."
Translation: Bon Jovi is a rock-star good luck charm and has replaced Kenny Chesney as the Saints official fbff (famous best friend forever).
The Saints and Pats face off in their first preseason game tomorrow night, which means I can finally stop watching Super Bowl XLIV on dvd to satisfy my black and gold fix. Oh who am I kidding, I'm never gonna stop watching that game...