Coronation

Purdue's favorite son reaches the pinnacle.

Drew Brees grew up in Texas and went 28-0-1 as a high school QB in Austin. But none of the big time Texas schools wanted Drew. He was too small. He'd hurt his knee in high school. He wasn't the right material for them.

Drew went on to Purdue, becoming the favorite player of many of us. He took over Joe Tiller's offense in 1998 and produced, without question, the most exciting moments of the past 40 years of Boilermaker football. He's remained a loyal Boilermaker, still doing ads for local businesses in West Lafayette as well as donating $1.5 million back to the University.

Drew's next stop was with the San Diego Chargers, where (as hard as this is to imagine) there were questions about whether he could make it in the NFL. Eventually, Drew persevered and became successful, leading the Chargers from poor back to respectable. However, they had acquired Phil Rivers and decided when Drew's "franchised" year was up, after the 2005 season, that they would let him walk. And he did. But not before grotesquely wrecking his throwing shoulder in his final play as a Charger, on a meaningless fumble recovery, in a meaningless game...for a team that no longer wanted him anyway.

He gutted out months of rehab in order to be ready for the 2006 season, for whoever took a chance on him.

The only two teams to show interest in him as a free agent were Miami and New Orleans. Miami eventually decided he wasn't worth the risk and went with *cough/laugh* Daunte Culpepper. Drew signed with New Orleans, a team coming off a horrid year after playing their whole 2005 season away from home following Katrina.

In 2006, Drew quietly led the Saints to within one win of the Super Bowl. They took a dip the following two seasons, though Drew most certainly did not, throwing for over 5,000 yards in 2008.

In 2009, the Saints put it all together. But many felt the 5-0 Giants were better than the 4-0 Saints in October. The Saints crushed New York. Many felt the Pats would be a challenge -- the Saints waxed New England. Many felt the Vikings and Brett Favre would take out the Saints, who hadn't played a complete game in a long time. The Saints still found a way. And then, of course, for these past two weeks, all we've heard about is Peyton's second Super Bowl title. It sounded forgone.

As recently as this morning even, the doofuses on ESPN were debating whether or not Drew Brees was an "elite" quarterback. I guess it was up for debate because he hadn't won a Super Bowl. Which is a simply idiotic debate. The guy is one of the absolute best in the league, much the way Dan Fouts and Dan Marino were -- two guys who never won a Super Bowl. Drew needed to do nothing else to prove he was an elite quarterback.

But then, Drew's been overcoming being not giving him the credit he deserves or believing in him fully for a long, long time. Going back to the end of high school, when nobody really recruited him in Texas and he wound up at Purdue. And changed all of our football-viewing lives for the better.

Drew Brees went 32 of 39 tonight in a nearly flawless peformance and beat a Colts team that has looked unbeatable all season. He beat the unflappable Peyton Manning. Before that he beat Kurt Warner and Brett Favre. And now he is a Super Bowl champion and a Super Bowl MVP.

Congrats, Drew. We couldn't be prouder. And since all three of us here at Boiled Sports became papas in the past six weeks, the below photo made us saps love it all even more.

Who dat Boiler? He's Drew Brees...champion.