METAIRIE, La. — Saints linebacker Demario Davis never intended to get fined for wearing a 'Man of God' headband during a recent football game, but he feels things couldn't have really worked out much better.
Davis was initially fined $7,000 for a uniform violation but, on appeal, he had the decision reversed.
Wednesday after practice he talked about the support he had received and how the negative of a fine had turned into a positive about getting out the word about God.
"The support around the nation of everyone - believers and non-believers alike - just to have the freedom of expression of your speech has just been overwhelming... God can get glory from me wearing the headband or not and it seems like he's gotten more glory from me not wearing the headband."
Davis said he also was made aware of support from a local elementary school, St. Louis King of France in Metaire, where a project had dozens of children making headbands that said 'Child of God,' in support of Davis.
"I sent my gratitude and thank-yous to the school," he said. "A lot of people sent it to me. The Saints asked me if I had seen it."
Davis told The Times Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate that he had begun selling the headbands with all of the proceeds going to St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi.
”That means y’all helped me turn a $7,000 negative into an almost $40,000 positive, benefitting people who truly need it,” Davis wrote.