The procession — the Saintsgiving Day Parade, Lombardi Gras, whatever one prefers — was made up of the huge floats, high school bands, military bands, marching clubs, the Budweiser Clydesdales and Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, elected mayor on Saturday and riding on an old-fashioned horse-drawn fire engine. Saints fans watched from balconies, parking garages, trees and the tops of cars, but despite the chill, they mostly stood up close. New Orleans parades, with beads and doubloons raining down on the crowd from the floats, are not the same from a distance.

Oh, how I long to be in that number...