Former Times-Picayune sportswriter and current marble-mouthed New Orleans Saints pundit Buddy Deliberto was hosting his post-game show called after the unthinkable happened Sunday.

Buddy D. deals with his fair share of Sunday evening quarterbacks, who believe things such as quarterback Aaron Brooks needing to be on the next sleigh ride out of town or head coach Jim Haslett spoiling his first season honeymoon two Decembers ago.

Most are bitter Saints fans like myself who love to play New Orleans general manager Mickey Loomis for their 15 seconds of fame each weekend and then fade off into oblivion until from 4 to 7 p.m. next Sunday.

However, even I &045; doubled over my steering wheel on my way back to Natchez in a state of melancholy &045; had to laugh at some of the callers’ touchness.

One coyly asked Deliberto to repeat the name of his show, only to suggest that he change the title to &uot;Wide Right.&uot;

If you have been living under ribbons and credit card receipts this past week, the fan’s proposal concerns placekicker John Carney’s badly missed extra point, which cost the Saints any glimmer of hope of making the playoffs in a 20-19 loss to Jacksonville.

What was worse was that Carney’s first missed PAT in 130 tries followed one of the NFL’s all-time great plays and spoiled the Saints’ chance to take the Jaguars into overtime.

Franco Harris and Pittsburgh had the &uot;Immaculate Reception,&uot; the Tennessee Titans had the &uot;Music City Miracle&uot; to stun Buffalo and LSU had the &uot;Bluegrass Miracle&uot; on the game’s final play to level Kentucky.

The Saints, you ask? Well &045; I’m borrowing this from another caller (don’t want to get sued for copyright infringement) &045; New Orleans has the &uot;Exclamation Without the Point.&uot;

With seven seconds remaining, Brooks took the snap, scrambled around at his own 35-yard line and found a tightly covered Donte Stallworth past midfield.

Stallworth juked six Jags, ran toward his team’s sideline before lateraling to Michael Lewis, who ran into a crowd of defenders and pitched back to Deuce McAllister.

McAllister ran into a wall and wisely &045; but perhaps unknowingly &045; threw the ball toward the center of the field where Jerome Pathon caught it.

Pathon, who got a nice clear-out block from a hustling Brooks, had clear sailing to the end zone and dove head first into paydirt like it was a swimming pool on a summer day.

Meanwhile, Saints play-by-play man Jim Henderson &045; the best in the business &045; is going bananas describing the chaos and color announcer Hokie Gajan is screaming, &uot;No, no,&uot; in disbelief.

Throughout all of this I’m busting blood vessels and eardrums on my cell phone, asking parents and friends, &uot;Did what I just heard really happen?&uot;

I will always remember that I was at the Chevron on Highland Road next to I-10 East in Baton Rouge when Henderson cried:

&uot;Nooooooo. He missed the extra point wide right. Oh my God, how could he do that?&uot;

Chuck Corder

is a sportswriter for The Natchez Democrat. You can reach him at

chuck.corder@natchezdemocrat.com

or at (601) 445-3633.