Say, remember when the Saints won the Super Bowl? That was awesome. Still feels like it was yesterday, doesn't it? That's probably because you re-watched it yesterday. For about the 400th time.

Welcome to Year One C.E., bitches. The Championship Era is finally upon us, at long last. And don't look now, but in ten days, the pungent aroma of Greatness will once again be wafting through the air. Get yourself a big long whiff, because Saints football is back, bitches! But where do we go from here? Does it really even matter? You bet your swingin' tranny balls it matters.

Oh sure, we'll always have February 7, 2010. And I think we all agree that nothing will ever hold a candle to The First Time. But hey, Rocky II, III and IV were pretty damn great too. No reason the sequel(s) can't be big fun in their own right. And while Super Bowl XLIV might still feel like it was yesterday, hell, I wanna have some fun today. And tomorrow too please.

Fortunately for us, there doesn't seem to be any reason to believe that these Saints were a one year wonder.

Thankfully, they seem to have come through the offseason relatively unscathed. Oh sure, the Redskins totally bent Mickey Loomis over and stole our "elite" "2-time Pro Bowl" left tackle for far less than the whole draft Message Board Guy was just sure he was worth. Which sucks, but by golly, sometimes you've just gotta suck it up and accept that reasonable compensation is better than having to deal with a lingering problem for a year and then getting nothing.

About a week after the draft, Frogurt™ finally decided to shut the fuck up and sign what turned out to be a 1 year, $1.575MM contract, which is actually a pay cut from the $1.7MM he signed for in 2009. Ouch. So much for "market value" eh Frogurt? To be fair, according to Rotoworld, Sharper could receive as much as an extra mildo by way of "per-game roster bonuses." So while surely it's a far cry from the big sacks with the dollar signs on 'em Darren was hoping to hold above his head in each hand as if he were Ron Howard or something, it could turn out to be a fairly substantial raise over last year. But the "per-game roster bonuses" are a pretty interesting thing to keep in mind, depending on the specifics of the contract language.

It could be that the Saints are just hedging in the event of injury, or there could be a decent chance that on a weekly basis, we won't be finding out until an hour before kickoff whether Sharper's in pads this week, or whether he's a healthy inactive. Jenkins taking over at free safety could come a lot sooner than anybody's expecting. And if that ends up happening, you have to wonder if they might even end up releasing him at some point during the season.

On the other end of the spectrum is Mean Joe Screen™, who didn't get the long-term deal he was expecting (and deserves) and he can't be happy about that, but in keeping with everything we've come to know about him, he has steadfastly resisted the urge to be a huge douche about it. Eventually, Pierre realized that he had little choice but to sign the RFA tender, so he did, but there doesn't seem to be any indication so far that he's gonna get his deal this year.

On one hand, you'll have the built-in motivation of Pierre playing for a contract this fall. (Not that Pierre seems the type to need any manufactured motivation. Nor does he seem the type to pull a Charles Grant once he gets his money.) And with Mike Bell having taken his cleats to Philly, and The Reg's touches continuing to dwindle while Pierre's continue to increase, you've gotta figure the stars are finally aligned for Pierre to have his "breakout year." I mean, surely by now it's been established beyond all doubt that Pierre is quite simply significantly better than Reggie both on the ground and through the air. I mean, nobody can continue to doubt that at this point, not even Sean Payton. Right? RIGHT???

On the other hand, there's the temptation to "feature" Reggie this year to drum up business for a potential tag-&-trade next offseason because he's finally healthy(!!!) and so gosh darned "dynamic"(!!!)… and by zero-sum necessity, back-burnering Pierre to some extent for the sake of lowballing maximizing value when they finally have no other choice but to give Pierre his damn money. Which would be mindbogglingly stupid from a football standpoint in the meantime, and you'd like to think they'd dismiss the temptation outright. Then again, it already boggles the mind that Pierre's gonna play out 2010 on an RFA tender in the first place.

By all accounts, Pierre's a nice guy, a humble guy, and a team player. But there's a point where "don't take my kindness for weakness" kicks in. And if I were in Pierre's shoes, I'd already be at that point. As a fan, I have to confess that I'm starting to get a little worried about this. Message Board Guy's constant cries of "tailbacks are a dime a dozen, if Pierre can't deal, we'll just find another UDFA" strike me as a textbook case of "don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" just waiting to happen.

Looks like Bob Snagit™ is gonna play out 2010 on his RFA tender as well. Which seems far more appropriate and less bothersome than it is with Pierre. If for no other reason than the fact that the other guys at his position are actually good. Still, I'm having a hard time understanding what's so frightening about just settling in for the next few years with a wideout corps of Snagit, Hands Christian Andersen™, Jack Hunt™ and Pontchartrain Meach™. Seems to have been working out just fine so far. What am I missing here? It's not like Moore is gonna break the bank. And surely they're not saving a spot for Adrian Arrington. Please tell me they're not doing that.

In other news, it appears that the organization was eventually able to dodge the Missing 1200 Controversy with relatively little egg on its face. (Sorry 'bout that, Bigad. Maybe next time.) The Uncle Vico Scandal ended up little more than a month-long episode of LOST. (Sorry, Florio. Maybe next time.) And at this point it appears that Will Smith will be serving his StarCaps suspension sometime around the first four weeks of 2028. High five!

Of course, any day now, heads are gonna explode (again) all over the internet when Jason Cole drops word that Patrick Robinson's prepared to sit out the season if Loomis doesn't pull a few more zeroes out of his ass. LOOMIS!!!!!!!! Oh wait, no, what I meant to say was that Jason Cole's an asshole and everything he's ever said is patently false! Wait, no, that's not right either. Oh I've got it now. Take whatever Loomis is offering and get into camp, you punk ass rookie! Don't you realize how fortunate you are? I'm a [insert noble blue collar profession here] and nobody's offering ME eight figures!!! Actually though, it's all the agent's fault. AGENTS!!!! LOOMIS!!!! COLE!!!! Bah, this is everyone's fault but mine! I'm totally boycotting the whole damn league until opening day. That'll show 'em!

Hey Cole, it's just too damn easy sometimes, ain't it? LOL High five!

More amusing yet is the inevitable widespread panic over the impending 0-4 preseason record. Oh, you know it's coming. And you know that no matter how many dozens of excruciatingly condescending lectures we get from Ed Daniels, Pete Finney and the T-P Saints Beat on all the reasons preseason doesn't mean jack shit, it ain't gonna stop the message board freakouts. I don't think anything can stop the internet freakouts, actually. Fortunately, once you get used to 'em, you'll wonder how you ever got along without 'em.

Alright, I suppose I could try to bring this back around to a nice structured conclusion, but who am I kidding? The whole thing's been a rambling mess anyway. But it has succeeded in getting that very special tingly feeling going again in the ole blogging bone. Overcoming inertia was the primary goal here, shaking off the cobwebs and getting the ball rolling again. So I'll leave well enough alone for the time being. But let there be no doubt, moosedenied's offseason ends today. We're back, bitches!

Oh and I also just wanted to say (and I swear to Jebus I'm not fishing here, just speaking the truth) that over the last few days, in an effort to get the juices flowing again, I've gone back through the posts from the last few months of last season. And I've gotta tell ya… I know I've told you before that each and every one of your comments gives me a huge boner… well, that's still true. Maybe even moreso in retrospect. And not just because we all pretty much spent the last couple months of last season with our tongues down one another's throats because we were all just so damned overjoyed.

I mean hey, don't get me wrong, here's hoping that we all find ourselves swapping e-spit once again over the next six months. But in the meantime, I just want to tell you how gratifying it is to know that you're out there, and that for some reason or another, you find something of value here. Even when you're telling me I'm being a douchebag and I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. (REG-GIE! REG-GIE! REG-GIE!) This here pissant blog isn't nearly to the point (and surely never will be) where your comments are taken for granted and only given a passing glance.

Which isn't to say that you're not expected to bring something worthwhile to the table, because you are. Hey, this ain't Saintsreport. (HIYOOOO!)

Fortunately for all of us, bringing something worthwhile to the table has never been an issue in the comments. Ever. And I want to state just for the record, on the off-chance you've ever been just a bit pissed off that one of your comments went unacknowledged or unnoticed or whatever, please don't be. It's only because the comment stands well enough on its own. We here at moosedenied consider the comments to be YOUR realm. Rest assured that whatever you decide to say, the fact that you took the time out of your day to say it NEVER goes unappreciated. Ever.

Thank you for giving me something tangible, something beyond stats and hitcounts and all that meaningless bullshit, to let me know that I'm not just whistling in the dark here. You are the Japanese jazz fanatic to my Antoine Batiste. It's you guys that make this here blog not-completely-pointless. Thank you. Seriously. A lot.

19-0. Book it. More soon.