"His mother now has the ring. His old teammates have the better memories. For Jeremy Shockey, all that's left is a haunting sense that he might have missed out on the chance of a lifetime.

You may recall when the New York Giants were pulling off the greatest upset in Super Bowl history two years ago, their loudmouth tight end was nowhere to be seen. Shockey's broken leg was in a cast, and his bruised ego was in denial.

Which might be why Shockey went ahead and tried to play in last week's NFC Championship Game on one good knee. It could be why he has skipped all of New Orleans' recent practices and why he flew to Birmingham, Ala., for a second medical opinion.

And it's pretty much why Shockey is planning to play in Super Bowl XLIV, pain be damned.

"I'll be fine. No worries, I'll be fine," Shockey said. "The foremost thing in my mind is winning a Super Bowl. I'm not going down to Miami to have a party. I've had plenty of those."

Shockey is standing in front of his locker at the Saints training facility as he talks about all of this. His extensive tattoos are hidden behind a long sleeve shirt. His long blond hair is piled beneath a Burberry bucket hat. He looks for all the world like some unassuming surfer dude who has stumbled into the wrong story."