COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Here was this local California kid, walking with some help but still walking into the local California team's practice area wearing his black New Orleans Saints jersey with the gold No. 9 on it.
This marks two meetings now, so the way Alex Ruiz sees it, he and Saints quarterback Drew Brees are not just acquaintances, they are friends. But as soon as he said those words, they sunk in.
"It's kind of cool," said Ruiz, the guy who wore No. 9 as a high school quarterback and had a shrine dedicated to Brees in his bedroom before all this started.