The Cowboys beat the Saints in December, ending their perfect 13-0 record.

IRVING, Texas - Stay with me here, because there is a Cowboys-related message buried beneath the beads, bourbon and beignets.

If one wild-card win didn't satisfy your hunger for 90's glory, if the ensuing 34-3 loss to Minnesota quelled your joy over ending the '96 playoff victory drought . . . try waiting 33 years instead of 13.

And if you're wondering whether the Cowboys are indeed a solid bet to win their first Super Bowl since 1995 - Vegas ranked them third at 15-2 on Monday - try playing longshot odds for 43 years.

Just ask any New Orleans Saints fan, or my 60-year-old father who, to quote him Sunday night at 8:51 p.m. (CT), "can die tomorrow now." They've all witnessed a sporting miracle, perhaps with a little help from St. Louis Cathedral in the Quarter.

"The Saints are Super Bowl champions," he kept repeating to himself, as if he needed more validation than seeing Drew Brees and Sean Payton on the championship podium.

You don't need to be a Saints fan to understand the initial absurdity of that statement. You've heard the jokes. You've seen early '80s clips of brown paper bags on fans' faces, the unofficial logo for the "Aints."

"Super Bowl champions." That's like saying the Clippers win the NBA Finals, Carrot Top's an Oscar winner and Enron's atop this year's Fortune 500 list.

I watched the Super Bowl at the Phillips' house, not as a fan - you hand in your cheering card when you become a reporter, and the NFL becomes more a job than a diversion - but as a supporter for a family tradition. My folks grew up in Jackson, Miss. My dad's an LSU grad who moved to Monroe, La., about the time the Saints were founded. My mom's an Ole Miss grad whose childhood best friend roomed with Olivia Manning - wife of Archie and mother of Peyton and Eli - in Oxford.

They have long-standing equity in the Saints. Problem is, they've been in the red for over four decades.

Quickly, let's take stock of their earnings report. This is a franchise that:

• Through no fault of Archie's, didn't get double-digit wins or its first playoff berth until its 21st season.

• Averaged 4.5 wins a season from 1967-87.

• Didn't win its first playoff game until the turn of the century, January 2001.

• Had 12 head-coaching changes until that initial postseason victory over the St. Louis Rams.

• My personal favorite - hired a retired astronaut with no prior football management experience, Richard Gordon, as its executive vice president in 1972.

For 20 years, the team often played like it hailed from Mars.

This is an organization which, maybe rightfully so, seemed ashamed of its goofy, straggling history. For several years this past decade -- until Payton led them to the NFC Championship game in 2006 - the Saints did not include any historical elements (timeline, season recaps, etc.) prior to 1985, when Tom Benson bought the team.

When I was a kid, I got to wrestle my dad every time the Saints won. I looked forward to those four or five matches a year.

He went to countless games in the Superdome. Saw them win some. Saw them lose most. Felt the familiar sting of disappointment from miles away. In January 1988, just after we'd moved to Texas from Lafayette, La., we listened to their first playoff game on the radio while driving through a thundering rainstorm. They lost to Minnesota, 44-10. Shocker.

Even his proudest moments - Tom Dempsey's record-breaking 63-yard field goal in 1970 - came with a punch line from outsiders. Dempsey was born without toes on his kicking foot and used a modified shoe which arguably gave him a competitive advantage.

All that said, it's no surprise Super Bowl Sunday was a two-person Mardi Gras at my folks' house. Dad wore a No. 25 Reggie Bush jersey. Mom wore beads (store-bought) and made gumbo and jambalaya.

Win or lose, Saints fans across the country wanted to celebrate - not just for their long-suffering players, but the Crescent City that saw a piece of its carefree spirit washed away by Hurricane Katrina. If you think the Saints' rise this season was a trivial event isolated from New Orleans' ongoing recovery efforts, think again. There's always been a unique connection between team and city, more so now than ever.

We saw a small part of that on Sunday. From a football perspective, it's what the NFL is all about.

The Saints are establishing a new, more providential history. They've got one Lombardi Trophy. The Cowboys already have five - and therein lies the message: there's a lot to be thankful for, then and now, if you pull for silver and blue.

These two teams likely will be the NFC's preseason favorites in 2010, and the Cowboys have proven they can beat the Super Bowl champs. Will it happen? Who knows. Expected the unexpected in this league.

But if New Orleans can hold a football-related parade in early February, anything is possible.