What else can go wrong?

I remember once study for an exam all night. I had prepared for it for over a week. The notes, study groups, random recitations of important phrases were consuming my every being. It was the night before and I remember saying to a friend of mine that I was going to pull an all nighter to be ace this exam. I was in the study hall down the room from our dorm room watching people come in and out periodically throughout the night until it was early morning. Then I went down to the O.R. (cafeteria) to grab some last minute grub before the test. As I was sitting there eating I was still going through each chapter trying to remember the key points and important vocabulary. The room was quiet with anticipation of the exam, and I remember the teacher passing out what seemed like a thesis paper to each student for our exam. I was worried. Was my blue book going to hold all the right answers? Did I cover everything that was mentioned in class? Can I get through the next 2 hours without breaking my concentration?

What happened next? I laid an egg. I froze. I started spacing out on the random flyers on the bulletin board in the corner of the room. The pages of the exam seemed to never end, and I couldn't remember anything that I recited over the past 24 hours. I quickly folded up the exam then wrote on the top page, "No excuse. I bombed."

Needless to say I learned my lesson, no matter how much you prepare for something nothing outweights the fact that we have our bad days. Days when nothing goes right. You ever wake up late for work or school and feel like the rest of your day you're playing catch up? Ever have those moments when things start snowballing. You just wish the day would end. There's nothing you can do, but learn from your mistakes and move on.

Hence my point. The Saints had one of those days. When everything goes wrong. The type of day when your car gets a flat, you're late for an interview, you get fired from your job, and the phone gets disconnected at home because you're late on the bill. Then you spend the last part of your night telling the horror story to everyone you come in contact with to get sympathy or just another beer.

My Saints had this happen to them from the minute the opening kickoff. Penalty. Fumble. Penalty. Touchdown Ravens. Kickoff. Penalty. 3 and out. Touchdown Ravens. Interception Ravens. Touchdown Ravens. Even when the Saints seemed to be getting things going in the right direction, a penalty would negate the positive spin. I remember seeing Payton run out on the field screaming at the referee after a punt return. Our defender was hand slapped in the face then thrown to the ground. A surefire penalty right? Wrong. Just aggressive play by the Ravens. The whole game seemed like the complete opposite of what I had been watching all season. Still I watched. Grumbled something about needing more pressure on McNair then continued to cheer for our Boys. 5-2! It's not as bad as you would have thought. The game definitely didn't lend itself to any bright points other than the fact that we didn't give up. Chalk this one up as just a bad day. We've got the Bucs to think about. They're not going to be sympathetic to our woes, so let's see if Payton can "digest this loss" and come back with a win on the road.