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		Super Bowl XLIV Q & A with Daniel Dullum By Daniel Dullum February 4, 2010

	Sportstalk: Dwight Freeney as of Thursday has not worked out with the Colts, how critical will his loss be if he can't get in on Sunday? DD: The last we heard out of the Colts the Colts are doing something interesting in that today they practiced without pads and somebody asked the head coach Jim Caldwell about this and he made a good point we play 22 games and he's referring to the playoffs and the regular season and exhibitions and if you’re not ready to go at this point after coming in July you never will be. He's kind of taking an approach not with Dwight Freeney but also with Jerraud Powers and a couple of the other Colts who are dinged up and their getting their work in but no more than really need to. They want to keep these guys healthy for Sunday. Freeney for those who don't know has a torn ligament in his right ankle. He's listed as questionable but because it's a tear and not a complete tear or anything like that's my guess is unless he's on crutches he will play, it's the Super Bowl. How can he not play if you can at all get yourself ready to get out there but he's listed as questionable and their just going to take it day by day from here until Sunday and kind of monitor that situation and see how it goes. The cornerback Powers he sat out Wednesday's drills there again same situation, Powers will be ready to go probably on Sunday night and he's still listed as questionable, again its the Super Bowl if there is a way to get yourself out there you will. Sportstalk: The City of New Orleans is excited about the Saints in the Super Bowl and it's their first appearance in the Super Bowl, what does this mean for the City of New Orleans to have them there? DD: There's no way you can measure what this means to the City of New Orleans, first of all a little bit of history, they joined the NFL in 1967 it took them a long time just to get them to .500. Just to break even at 8-8 it took a long time. It took them a long time to get them to the playoffs, once they got to the playoffs it just took a while for them to get that first playoff win. This is not a franchise steeped in tradition. When you think about what the City went through a few years back in 2005 with Katrina they're still dealing with it today. What that hurricane did to the city and how the city has bounced back and has rebuilt and having the Saints as a diversion, in a point of city pride it has been huge and for this team to get to a Super Bowl they have now been waiting for this for four decades, so it's huge, there's no getting around it. There are all kinds of story lines, Archie Manning the former Saints quarterback and father of Peyton played there for years and put up some great numbers for some bad teams and of course each of his sons has won a Super Bowl. Archie being the ex-Saint says that blood runs thicker and will go for his boy and you can't blame him there. What it's meant to the city, you can't put a price tag on it, it's a great story. Sportstalk: Daniel when you look at the season that the Colts and the Saints had they almost went perfect? DD: You have to weigh things out. They both learned a lesson from watching what happened with New England a couple of years ago when New England was feeling the pressure of going 16-0 and cap it off with a Super Bowl win. Each team very interestingly de-emphasized that, once they clinched their division, they both clinched early and had a couple a weeks when they ran their reserves and they took some heat for it. I understand that but at the same time, these people this is their business they know what their doing. It was a message that they were sending to their collective team members. That the teams were saying they had a bigger picture to look at here, they wanted to get everybody healthy and that's what really helped the Saints. They were pretty beat up, they're healthy and they're ready to go now and it's a different team now than what you saw in that last three weeks of that regular season. The Colts are a different cast of characters, from the last time they won the Super Bowl, but their still the Colts and they have Peyton Manning and it's going to be an interesting game. It wouldn't surprise me if the Saints won and this coming Sunday we'll see if I'm right. Daniel Dullum is covering Super Bowl XLIV for Sportstalk Radio