Ah yes, the phrase spoken by millions of fans as the end of each sport’s year nears. In fact, I use this in my short story, “Midnight Pumpkins”. https://charliehudson.net/stories/story200703.html (It’s a fun read).

Anyway, I had so hoped my Saints would maintain the lead last night and pull off the win. The problem though is when one is in a playoff game against what is basically an equally matched team, mistakes will cost you. One or two are the most you can hope to recover from. There weren’t many more than that, but enough to mean the Saints’ season is over for the year. Now, I’m old enough to remember when making it to the playoffs was almost a dream – just having a winning season was considered something to celebrate. I sometimes wondered if part of the reason was New Orleans is a party town. One parties for a win of course. On the other hand, one can party to commiserate as well. There can be no question that Drew Brees as the quarterback has been the linchpin in turning the team into a contender for most seasons. With his injury earlier this year there is question as to if he was really healed enough to be playing last night and it is difficult to know what effect that might have had. There has also been a level of talk that this would be his last season in light of the age and injury. Ah, for those who don’t follow football, with Brees (age 42) and Brady (age 43) this was the first time two quarterbacks “that old” went up against each other in a playoff game. And the fact is, 40-anything is “old” in football years. While there will definitely be a “next season” for the Saints, we’ll have to see if the same is true for the player who has had such a major impact on the team.