NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees was in town Thursday as the Saints announced that he will be the lone inductee in this year's Saints Hall of Fame class.
Brees talked about what it meant to get a second chance at the NFL, how honored he and his family were to help rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina, about his teammates, and the fans.
But, one fan in particular had no idea that the former Saints quarterback had seen hours and hours of him on video.
Well, we found that fan.
It all started with this story told by No. 9.
“There is this guy, and I still have never met him. I would love to meet him. We called him “Red” because he has red hair, and Red from 2006 to 2020 when I was here, Red had these season tickets that literally sat right behind the scoreboard," Drew Brees said in a press conference.
"So, we saw Red, and then all of a sudden Red has a little Red, and then that little Red is like a medium Red, right? And then it's like a big Red, right? And so, it's like we're watching Red's family just like grow here, you know like we're playing a board game or something," he continued.
"And but like, that's just a perfect example of like those moments, and there was probably countless others in the stands where this became something that they shared with their loved ones, and their families, and their kids grew up in it, and now we've got life-long Saints fans. That's the way it should be,” Brees said.
You see, when the team shoots the game, they capture the scoreboard in between each play, to show the down, distance, and clock. Now we all remember how Brees studied the game videos over, and over, and over. So, he saw hours of “Red” over the years.
*Story continues below video
Well, Red is actually 47-year-old Mike Lester. He owns N'Awlins Sports in the French Quarter and Hammond. He went into the sports apparel business because of his life-long love of the Saints, even through the Aint's years.
“Being picked on while I was in school like, nobody liked the Saints back then. I tell people it was almost like getting in fights with people,” said Mike Lester of Holden, Louisiana.
“Ginger Mike” as some call him, has been a season ticket holder since 1994. Children M.J. and Alexis, have been at his side at games since they were newborns in 2009 and 2013. He's only missed one game.
“We played the Colts on Sunday night, and I was literally in the hospital on my deathbed. They planned the surgery around trying to get me out,”
We were hoping to get in touch with Drew Brees so he could meet Mike, but he's on a plane and headed back home, but the Saints say maybe we can arrange a meeting when he comes back later in the summer.
“I mean, they were literally tears in my eyes. I mean, it was you know, the Saints loving me back. All these years I've been watching Drew, Drew's been watching me,” said Lester.
Mike says when friends started calling him after the Brees press conference, he didn't believe them at first.
Now he hopes this experience will create a lifelong memory for his children.
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