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)

The NCAA and Pacific-10 have opened investigations into the matter, as has the FBI. Several reports say the NFL, after looking into it, told teams that Bush might be the victim of an extortion plot. This is the same thing people close to Bush say while insisting that they not be quoted by name because of the pending investigation.

Bush has maintained that neither he nor his family did anything wrong but has not elaborated. "It's taught me to be cognizant of who you allow in your life, who you allow to be close to you," he said. "It's something very important. Especially the more money you get, the bigger target you become. That's true. It's sad but it's true that you have to be aware of every person that comes to you with the next greatest deal.

"You just have to look at every single person with a fine lens. That's the way my life is going to be from here on out."

But who knew such despair would lead to such wonderful opportunity.

From high in the stands at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Ornstein watched his player dressed in a Saints uniform run through a trading-card photo shoot. It's clear Ornstein believes he has a gold mine in Bush. It appears corporate America loves the Saints' new running back. The trading-card shoot is part of the NFL Players Rookie Premiere, an event sponsored by Reebok and EA Sports. But Ornstein has endorsement deals for Bush everywhere from Subway to Hummer to a still-unnamed soft drink company. One company wants to put out a cologne called "619," a reference to the San Diego area code Bush wrote on his eye black in college games.

"We're just killing them," Ornstein shouted. "We've got all this pre-him being on a football field. It has to do with a couple of things. He's got great looks and he's the most exciting player to come out of college in 10 years. When you put all that together, you can see how big it will be."

It was Ornstein, for instance, who orchestrated Bush's recent push to wear his USC No. 5 even though NFL rules prohibit running backs from wearing a jersey number below 20. Ornstein's reasoning: It's a dumb rule.

But mostly what Ornstein wants to talk about is New Orleans. "I'm committed, I'm passionate that I can help make a change through a vehicle that is Reggie Bush," he said.

As a result, every endorsement deal will have a New Orleans twist. Hummer, for instance, is supposed to give trucks to the city's police department, the Adidas money went to Holy Rosary and every subsequent contract will include some kind of contribution to the area.

Of course, such generosity has its rewards, and Ornstein was asked if there isn't a residual benefit to handing over $50,000 of your own money to save a school -- that maybe the $50,000 will bring back millions in return because of the goodwill.

For a split second he looked offended. "Hey, I'm a marketing guy," he finally said. "If I can make Reggie a human being rather than a spoiled $25 million kid then that's a good thing.

"Am I trying to make money off New Orleans? I don't think there's any money in New Orleans to make."

He paused and looked at Bush running down the field in his Saints uniform. "People will get tired of hearing it," he said. "They will ask, 'Is this guy really this freaking good?' Yeah he is. He's really that good a guy."

The First Coming

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The pass rose above the fields outside the Saints' headquarters. For a day, the gates were open and the fans could watch the team's practices. Almost 3,000 of them had packed into bleachers along the front fence, watching as the ball glistened in the morning sun, then fell into the hands of Reggie Bush.

And even though this was a minicamp and tackling was prohibited, Bush tucked the ball with two hands, faked left then swooped right in a single fluid motion, almost too fast to see. The crowd gasped.

Then in the front row, Derrius Taylor stood up just as he did in his living room on draft day and shouted, "That's who we drafted, we drafted Jesus!"

The fans around him responded, "Mmmhummm"

"Jesus in cleats!" he shouted.

A few miles away in downtown New Orleans, workers slowly pieced together the great roof of the Superdome. This is where the agony was the worst, where the hungry and hopeless gathered on the concourses and wondered why the world had forgotten them. Some thought the stadium should be destroyed. Instead it will reopen on Sept. 26 with a new roof and luxury suites. A huge banner hangs on the side of the dome announcing the Saints' first game back, the third week of the season.

The Saints have sold more than 55,000 season tickets, the most they ever have. They are almost assured of selling out all their games this year and will probably even fill most of the lucrative new luxury boxes too.

But professional sports was already precarious here even before Katrina. New Orleans is not a corporate mecca and money does not flow smoothly. What happens when the euphoria of this first year back settles down? What if Reggie Bush, who has yet to play a down in the NFL, can't save New Orleans after all?

The irony of the trading-card shoot in Los Angeles, with Bush running around the Coliseum in his Saints uniform, is that it might really be foreshadowing, that in two years the NFL might throw up its hands and say it tried with New Orleans but that the Saints might be the ideal franchise to fill the decade-long void of football in Los Angeles.

That's for another day. For now, New Orleans has its hope, its savior and the dream that a football team can make everything good again.