How do you know it won't be long before Saints football is back? Those nagging feelings of impending DOOOOM are starting to bubble back up. Hey, old habits die hard.

You know you're a Saints fan when less than six months after WINNING THE FUCKIN' SUPER BOWL (high five!) you still can't seem to shake the notion that any minute now, the clock is gonna strike midnight and our carriage is gonna turn back into a pumpkin. A giant pumpkin with wheels made of shit.

Oh sure, some people will tell you that at this point, it really doesn't matter anymore. And, in a way, they have a point. But in another, more accurate way, they're full of shit. Yes, we'll always have 2009-2010, and that's great. But as magical as that gondola ride over the river back in 1984 might have been, you know damn well that you roll your eyes anytime someone suggests pulling out the ole slide projector, don't ya?

There's forever, and then there's (sigh) forever.

No matter how much you enjoyed the show, you can only watch the reruns so many times before you start getting bored and pissed off. And before you know it, you're sending angry emails to tee vee executives and registering your current dissatisfaction on various message boards. So it's in everyone's best interest that the Saints continue to kick ass.

Fortunately, all indications are that they're gonna do just that. But we wouldn't be Saints fans if we let that get in the way of our worrying anyway. That's just the way we roll. Hell, heads were exploding last year when the Saints were sitting at fuckin' 13-1, for crying out loud. (As Coach Payton might say… "So much for all that bullshit…" )

So yeah, it's kinda Our Thing to expect the worst. We've been conditioned to spot portents of DOOOOM from a mile away. We shouldn't be surprised that, now that we've finally reached the end of the tunnel, a few of us turn around and see the light at the opening where we entered, and are convinced that the train somehow turned around and is coming right at us once again.

And when faced with a stunning lack of tangible evidence that that's the case, well, intangibles will do just fine, thank you very much. We're Saints fans, after all. We've spent half our lives grasping at thin air in a futile attempt to tangiblize the reasons why we just got fucked over. Again.

Which is why it should come as no surprise that Dave at CSC, who is as hardcore as they come, is having himself an intangible pre-emptive crisis of confidence going in. While Ralph and I have that very special tingly feeling in our pants just thinking about getting back on the ole rollercoaster, Dave's got quite a different feeling going on in the pit of his stomach right about now.

(Nobody's really sure yet where Kevin's head is at right now. The assumption is that he's probably still wasted and talking shit to douchebag Steelers fans, regardless of whether or not they're actually in his general vicinity. Fortunately for us, we can find out for sure tonight at 8CDT as Forecast Radio makes its long-awaited triumphant return. High five!)

It should go without saying that we love Dave and, regardless of whether or not we agree on any given issue, his point of view is always legit. Balanced, well-considered and well-stated. (Much like Jeffrey, even when I'm telling him he's full of shit. Heh.) And this one's no exception. Dave's certainly not the only Saints fan who can't shake the feeling that last year might have been "lightning in a bottle" despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. After all, we're Saints fans. Mountains of evidence have been trumped by molehills of inexplicable misfortune more times than we can count. (Damn that infernal Louisiana public school system!)

I guess I just disagree that luck was that significant a factor last year. Oh, it was a factor, no doubt about it. It always is in a Championship Season. (High five!) But, on the other hand, they did lose both of their starting corners for a significant stretch. Hartley did miss a field goal to lose the game to Tampa just as surely as Suisham missed one to allow the Saints to win at Washington. They played the whole season without their "elite" left tackle. And on and on. For the Saints, incredibly good luck just means not-the-usual-incredibly-bad-luck.

Believe me when I say that I have all the respect in the world for that very special brand of neurosis we Saints fans carry around with us. But it's time to get over it. Though I have no doubt that it's unintentional, to me, worrying about whether or not the Saints shot their entire load of good fortune last year carries the implication that, ultimately, they really weren't good enough last year. And I know you don't believe that.

Worse yet, entertaining that notion puts you right next to Skip Bayless and Mike Florio. And, well, fuck that.

Hey, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. But most of the time, it's better to be good than lucky.

It remains to be seen whether or not the Saints will be lucky again this year. But in the meantime, we know they're good. Damn good. Championship good.

We've waited our whole lives to be in this position. Quit worrying about what may or may not happen and enjoy the fuck out of it, why don't ya?