Saints Seem Miami's Sentimental Favorites

The Indianapolis Colts hope to repeat the Super Bowl magic they made in Miami three years ago, when the team won the National Football League championship.

But, reports CBS News national correspondent Jeff Glor, Miami residents seem to be leaning the other way, rooting for the New Orleans Saints in this year's title game.

The Colts have been working toward their second Super Bowl rings since the franchise moved to Indianapolis in virtual obscurity -- in Fort Lauderdale, far from the scene that is South Beach.

The Saints, on the other hand, have been staying in the heart of the city, and enjoying a groundswell of support typically seen for a home team, Glor observes. The team looks comfortable in the carefree atmosphere of the sizzling beach town -- a tourist destination just like New Orleans. And Saints players have been fully soaking in the franchise's first Super Bowl.

The Colts have been very good for a long time -- with more wins over the last decade than any NFL team -- while the Saints have risen from doormat status to a spot in the big game -- coming to be known as the latest "America's Team."
Special Section: The 2010 Super Bowl

Add to that the affinity many fans feel for the team from the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and you can see why Miami appears to be pulling for the Saints.

In the heart of downtown, The Miami Tower burns bright in gold and black, the Saints' colors.

"Everybody has a soft spot in their heart for the Saints, says sports reporter Nakia Hogan of New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper, "and everywhere you go (in Miami this week, you see (people rooting for the) Saints. ... This team is as loose as I've seen them."

Since the Colts won the Super Bowl in Miami three years ago, they're following the same playbook, staying in the same hotel as 2007, with one player said to be staying in the same room! They're foregoing the scene on South Beach for the familiarity of Fort Lauderdale.

"They want to duplicate the experience from Super Bowl XLI from three years ago," says Indianapolis Star sportswriter Phillip B. Wilson.

The Colts aren't the team that's received the lion's share of the attention this week but, says Glor, that's OK with the quietly consistent team proud to show off its workman-like winning ways.

Says Wilson: "One coach told me, 'I wouldn't care if we played this in Nome, Alaska, and nobody was there.' "