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Well, the little counter is gone and speculation is removed, replaced by plenty of joy! The Saints had an awesome, unforgettable season, and it seems that the thousands of people who said they wished the Saints would win (though they were expecting the Colts to do so), actually gave New Orleans the lift they desperately needed. Today we look back at some of the highlights.

Superbowl News

• Drew Brees was named the Superbowl MVP, ahead of favourite Peyton Manning.
• For those who didn’t know, this is the first time the Saints have even played in the Superbowl, let alone won it! The underdog rises.

Game rundown

BBC Sport has an awesome blow-by-blow rundown of how the game progressed. Here are some highlights from the full itinerary - note that times are British:

• 2330: Woodson picks the Saints, and I finally get a prediction right. Mike Carlson says Saints too. Ready for kick-off now.
• 2341: FIELD GOAL - NEW ORLEANS 0-3 INDIANAPOLIS
  Manning throws in front of Garcon and is incomplete on third and five. It's time for Matt Stover, the oldest player in Super Bowl history at 42 years and 11 days, to slot home from 38 yards with 7'29 left in the first quarter.
• 0001: TOUCHDOWN - NEW ORLEANS 0-10 INDIANAPOLIS
  Manning caps a 96-yard drive with a pass to Pierre Garcon in the right corner of the endzone. That ties the longest drive in Super Bowl history and will really have taken the wind out of the Saints' sails.
• 0008: END OF FIRST QUARTER - NEW ORLEANS 0-10 INDIANAPOLIS
  You may have expected the Colts to be up at this point but whodathunk Indy would have run the length of the field to do it? Establishing dominance on the ground could be a real key. Meanwhile, the Saints' offence only managed 36 yards all quarter.
• 0050: FIELD GOAL AND END OF FIRST HALF - NEW ORLEANS 6-10 INDIANAPOLIS
  Hartley does the business at the end of a quarter that has seen the Colts snap the ball just six times and gain just 15 yards.
• 0156: END OF THIRD QUARTER - NEW ORLEANS 16-17 INDIANAPOLIS
  Addai converts a simple second and inches as the time ticks off on this quarter, with the Colts possibly having a slight advantage but certainly all to play for in the final period.
• 0214: TOUCHDOWN - NEW ORLEANS 22-17 INDIANAPOLIS
• 0229: TOUCHDOWN - NEW ORLEANS 31-17 INDIANAPOLIS
• 0244: SAINTS WIN 31-17

Best Ads of the Superbowl

We heard plenty of controversy about Superbowl ads before they were aired, and checked out a few funny ones. Here's what the blogosphere and it's netizens thought were the best of the Superbowl ads:

• Snickers and the Golden Girl, where Betty White of Golden Girls fame just needed a Snickers to turn her back into her football playing-self.
• Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman and Jay Leno walking into an ad - this was probably so popular because of the surprise factor! It apparently took 'Cold War era tactics' to keep it quiet.
• Google's (very expensive) minute long ad was another one of the most-talked about, though it has been on Youtube for a few months.
• Doritos aired four customer-generated commercials, and the one with a dog outsmarting a man using an electric collar was voted second-best commercial by USA Today.

Buzz on the S'Tweet

Well, Twitter has certainly settled down from the fever pitch you could see it at just before game time yesterday … I'm surprised all those micro-blogs didn’t create a macro-crash! Focus is now on the halftime show, the celebrities and the ads, now that the football factor has been removed. Here's what they're saying:

 --- MatthewLumby: Interesting news that last night's Superbowl was the most watched TV show ever in the US, beating the final M*A*S*H episode.

 --- CarleyAnn_K: Q:What was your favorite Superbowl Commercial? A:Any of the Doritos commercials. those were ... http://formspring.me/CarleyAnnK/q/141776379

 --- arcallegari: WHO DAT, WHO DAT..... SUPERBOWL is ours... GO SAINTS

 --- Flatztroniks: Wow yesterdays superbowl was the highest rating program of all time in my country of australia :)

 ---

The little counter on the NFL website currently says there is 10 minutes to go until kickoff … though you might already know who won by the time you read this! Today we'll briefly look at some of the big issues surrounding who will win, but mostly focus beyond the actual result.

Okay, I suppose in a sense the countdown to the 2010 Superbowl began shortly after the 2009 Superbowl … probably right around the time the first match of the new season was played! But now there is less than 24 hours to go before the main event, so we check out the latest developments and audience sentiment only a few hours away from the Superbowl.