NEW ORLEANS – More than 15,000 people have signed a petition to have Reggie Bush lead the New Orleans Saints onto the field at the start of this Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Bush, who recently announced his retirement from the NFL after 11 seasons, led the Saints onto the field carrying a black wooden baseball bat during the team’s Super Bowl Championship run in 2009.
Saints fan Tommy Badeaux started a petition on Change.org asking the Saints to resign Bush and have him repeat his iconic game-opening run.
“As we celebrate the ending of a great career from the first ever draft pick of the Loomis/Payton era and one of the faces of this great franchise during its 2009 Super Bowl run, what better way to show Reggie and the fans their appreciation than signing him to a minor contract and have him run out of the tunnel onto the field during player introductions this Sunday,” Badeaux wrote. “Not only would he run out as a member of the team, but he would do so while holding a baseball bat as made famous during the ‘Bring The Wood’ game of that 2008/2009 Super Bowl season.”
The symbolic act would “be a great Christmas gift to Saints fans from the organization” and would “serve as a great motivator and hype piece for an extremely important showdown with our bitter and hated rivals, the Atlanta Falcons,” according to Badeaux.
Fans from as far away as Panama City, Florida, have been adding their names to the petition, which has over 15,300 signatures as of this morning.