Tuesday sports update - Merry Christmas Drew Brees!

Brees breaks Marino passing record

So I simply must dedicate this update to the multiple-record-setting QB of the New Orleans Saints, Drew Brees - he set yet another one last night but this one was a doozy! He broke Dan Marino's 1984 single season passing yardage record. Marino had 5,084 in 1984 and now with one game still to go, Brees has 5,087. 

Not only is this an athletic achievement but in my opinion it really couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. 

In 2005, while playing for the San Diego Chargers, Brees suffered what many thought might be a career-ending shoulder injury. He had reconstructive surgery on it, but did not return to the Chargers and the Dolphins passed him over for Daunte Culpepper.

Enter another entity struggling to come back - the city of New Orleans, reeling from the after-effects of hurricane Katrina, was looking for something to lift their spirits. They wanted their beloved Saints back and they needed a new leader. Sean Payton had just arrived as the new head coach and he had a conviction that Drew Brees was the man for the job. 

He brought Drew and his wife down to Nola, but his sales tactics might seem a bit unorthodox. Now I'm not saying they didn't wine and dine him at all - I'm sure they did - but Payton also drove him around to look at the destruction left by the storm. And he was sold. Sort of poetic really - both Brees and New Orleans needed a fresh start - and boy did they get it!

And he has taken on his mission to rebuild the team and the city with equal vigor. Back during the 2009-2010 Superbowl run, a friend handed me a Sports Illustrated magazine with Drew on the cover. The article, entitled “The Heart of New Orleans,” was not really about Saints football – it was about what Drew and the team have done for the city. 

Since his "career ending injury" Drew Brees has:

• Led New Orleans to their first play-off victory (yes, that's right, first in their, at the time, 44 year history)
• Led them to their first Super Bowl win
• Set a record for passing accuracy in 2009 at 70.62% - incidentally if the season ended today he would have broken his own record with 70.7%
• And now holds the all-time single season passing record
• Raised millions of dollars for the city – I found references to over $4M in about a 5 minute Google search

Last night, with characteristic grace he thanked and credited everyone from the owners, coaches and fellow players - to the facilities maintenance staff. 

So in an age of way too many thugs in sport, hats off to a true winner and a class act. As Sean Payton said in the locker room after last night's record setting victory, "this is not the last chapter." May it be so!

GEAUX SAINTS!!!