FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Colts are headquartered not far from the Fort Lauderdale airport, but their fans are significantly outnumbered as the invasion of the Who Dats began at the Fort Lauderdale airport.
Five minutes after touch down, you knew they were here.
"I'm so excited I can't stand it. I had to have two drinks on the plane to calm down. And I'm ready to go dancing in the streets," said Charles Wechesser, an Algiers resident.
Just after noon South Florida became significantly more black and gold as the first Who Dat nonstop flight touched down in Fort Lauderdale with Louisiana'sfourmost political operative on board: James Carville.
"When the field goal went through I was the most relieved person in the world, because I really don't think I could have liked the NFL and left my kids for this moment to listen to the Vikings and the Colts. Nah-uh," Carville said.
James Carville and his wife, Mary Magdalene, are the chairmen of New Orleans' 2013 Super Bowl Host Committee, so he would have been here anyway.
The Hernandez family, on the other hand, wouldn't have been. And get this: Rommel Hernandez was so sure the Saints would be here, he booked this trip back in September.
"We went to the Houston game, the Texans game, and I told my wife I feel something good. So I booked it, I got a $39 flight and a $129 flight, and I couldn't miss it, because my children, they live for the Saints," said Hernandez, a Metairie resident, while his daughter shouted "Who Dat!." "That's a Drew Brees girl there baby!"
Steve Alvarez, a Mandeville resident, said: "We're very excited. We booked a flight as soon as Hartley kicked the field goal. And I was on the computer, booking the flights, looking at hotels."
Normally there are five nonstops from New Orleans to the Miami area: three in Miami, two in Fort Lauderdale. Now on Friday, when the biggest wave of Who Dats are expected, there will be 11 nonstops. But none of them could celebrate more than Wednesday's crowd.
"You gotta get in the atmosphere. You gotta feel it. This is just wonderful," said Cat Fleuriet, a New Orleans resident. "And we're gonna win that Lombardi trophy. Can't wait to bring that back!"
