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Fans Put Faith in a New Saint
"We just got Jesus in cleats," said LaPlace resident Derrius Taylor to his wife just moments after the Saints made electrifying running back Reggie Bush the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
(Bill Haber - Associated Press)
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It all seemed so much. And several days after everyone had gone away, Glaser sat in a library on the school's campus wearing fleur-de-lis earrings.
"I really hope he can live up to expectations here," she said. "There is so much riding on him here. He seemed very levelheaded. He is more connected to Holy Rosary than I expected."
She sighed.
"It's so important for people to come and make a difference in New Orleans. We need help. Certainly my school needs help but my city needs help and we need someone with heart and desire to help us."
In Houston, it would have been different. After all, it was the Texans who had that first pick, a choice everyone assumed they would use on Bush until, the night before the draft, they inexplicably announced they were taking a defensive end named Mario Williams. In Houston, Bush would have been another top draft pick, a big deal, but not expected to deliver the franchise to a promised land. Likewise, it wouldn't have been the same around here if Mario Williams was coming to town.
The fact is, the Saints didn't even need a running back. They already had Deuce McAllister. Nor did they need a kick returner. That job belongs to Michael Lewis, a former beer truck driver discovered in a team tryout, and hence is something of a local celebrity.
But New Orleans needed Reggie Bush. He gets that now.
"It's definitely not the same pressure [as Houston] for a guy in my position," he said as the surf churned over the sand. "You know what it is? I was put in this position for a reason."
Which is?
"I just feel like this is what I'm supposed to do," he replied. "This is my calling, this is why I was put on this earth -- to make a difference in people's lives."
Off-the-Field Lessons
Draft week had been a bad week for him. In addition to the Texans' snub, there was the matter of the house outside of his home town of San Diego where his parents had been living for a year, apparently rent-free. Since the house was owned by a prospective marketing representative named Michael Michaels, it could constitute an NCAA violation, could mean Bush would have to return his Heisman and could require USC to forfeit all of its 2005 games.
Once Bush did not sign with the marketing company Michaels was trying to start, Michaels claimed the Bush family owed him $54,000 in back rent. He said he was planning on suing the family for $3.2 million.
