MIAMI -- It’s 3:30 on Monday morning. Do you know where your Vince Lombardi Trophy is?

In the hours before Super Bowl XLIV, the NFL championship trophy was encased in glass, polished and pristine, inside a massive bronze-tinted mausoleum in the Sun Life Stadium parking lot.

Six hours after the New Orleans Saints’ 31-17 triumph, country superstar Kenny Chesney hoisted the sterling silver football in a second-floor ballroom of the InterContinental Miami.

The sleek hotel served as Saints headquarters during Super Bowl week. It was also the scene of a rollicking, post-game victory party that stretched into the wee hours of Monday morning.

Hundreds of jubilant attendees – Saints players and personnel, their families, friends and invited guests – ate, drank and made merry at the dawn of a new era of Saints football.

It was a lavish affair: Ice sculptures. Black and gold drapes and chair covers. Plumes of black, gold and white feathers. Fleur de lis everywhere.

And much pride and joy.

Wide receiver Robert Meachem held court outside the ballroom, his designer baseball cap turned backwards. Tackle Zach Strief, sporting a sport coat, pocket square and brand new Super Bowl Champions cap, stood next to a guy wearing a Zach Strief jersey. Tight end Jeremy Shockey posed for photos with an endless stream of well-wishers.

Harry Connick Jr. was in the house. The Black Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am rolled through the lobby. Jimmy Buffett was around.

Saints coach Sean Payton, owner/executive vice present Rita Benson LeBlanc and general manager Mickey Loomis mixed and mingled. Payton, especially, was everywhere, a beer in one hand, the hard-won Lombardi Trophy in the other.

The audience chants “Tro-phy! Tro-phy!” Payton hands over the hardware to outstretched hands.

And suddenly the Vince Lombardi Trophy is crowd-surfing.