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By Danny Cox - There may have been thousands upon thousands out at the New Orleans Saints' victory parade celebrating in style with our new world champions, but not everything was perfect.

Traffic on the way to the parade was causing a pile-up on I-10 so far back that it stretched across the spillway and into LaPlace. Parade-goers were waiting two, three, and even four hours just to get downtown and then attempt to find a parking spot in order to enjoy the festivities.

Leaving the parade afterward took some fans even longer to get home. Reports are that the spillway heading to LaPlace was still backed up into Kenner around midnight, long after the parade had ended.

Adding to the parade traffic of thousands was all those who work Downtown and just didn't get off work early enough before roads were shut down and the parade began. They ended up being stuck and forced to watch the Saints roll by even if they didn't want to. Once the parade ended, those commuters added to the traffic making thing even worse.

WWL-TV has even reported that the traffic was so bad that it caused a United Airlines' flight to be rescheduled from late Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon. It appears the two pilots were stuck in the gridlock and couldn't make it to the airport leaving over a hundred passengers sitting on the airplane before it was finally just rescheduled.

The pilots had eventually gotten to the airport, but some passengers accused one of them of being drunk. Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies interviewed some of them after receiving a call from a first class passenger about the possibly drunken pilot. The passenger that called also happened to be a pilot and he didn't feel safe with the supposed tipsy pilot.

Deputies eventually concluded the pilots were not drunk even though breathalyzer tests were not administered.

On the other hand, local late night eateries saw the parade as a great asset though as local fans and those from out of town came in for some eats and ended up booming business. IHOP, Bud's Broiler, and Krystal surely had lines heading outside so fans could rest their voices with some good food.

So far the parade appears to have gone off without any other major incidents besides the problems caused by the traffic. Police have early estimates at 800,000 for the attendance at Tuesday night's parade making it the largest in recent memory and a record that would demolish the 350,000 that attended last year's Pittsburgh Steelers' Super Bowl victory celebration.

Saints' players, coaches, staff, and family all enjoyed a great night of fun on the floats among the thousands of fans from the Who Dat Nation. Freezing temperatures did not keep fans or the team from making sure they made the most of this (so far) once in a lifetime opportunity. Coach Sean Payton though hopes everyone will be back this time next year for another celebration.

"Everyone here can't touch this," said Payton before continuing to hold up the Lombardi Trophy and blow kisses to the crowd.

Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew Brees danced to the beat and made sure the city knew that they were just as much a part of the team as he is. "How's the 'Who Dat' nation feel tonight?" Brees yelled when his float stopped at the reviewing stand. "This toast goes out to you. We love you and we won that championship for you."

Not a bad celebration for the team considered to be the doormat of the NFL for so long and just getting to their first Super Bowl in the history of the 43-year franchise. Now known as "Dat Tuesday," February 9 will go down as one of the biggest parties New Orleans has ever seen.

THE EXAMINER

jnormand

LOL! I feel bad for the cops man. They are going to be runnin their asses off!

reggie060

Got stuck in all of this... but it wasn't that bad. Started at the head of the parade but parked by the end of this. Had to rush back and try to get out of there before the same floats came by. Then get out of there a head back to Atlanta...I made it.... WH DAT!!!!

SaintPauly

I am still freaking mad, that I missed all of this. I gotta get back home this year!

breesfan27

I would have gladly sat in traffic for 4-5 hours just to experience this. Still mad I couldn't be there!