Wayne would love for New Orleans Saints to win Super Bowl, but not this one

MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. - Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne will be wrestling with more than the New Orleans Saints' secondary in Super Bowl XLIV.

The West Bank native also will be fighting a lifelong urge to see the Saints win.

"Deep down inside, I'm still a Saints fan, " he said at the Colts' media day appearance Tuesday at Sun Life Stadium. "Growing up in New Orleans, it's like you really have no choice."

Wayne recalled listening intently on the radio to games growing up, rooting for his favorite player, Eric Martin, to have a big day. He summoned memories of paper-bag headgear and blacked-out games, and he praised the Saints for the leadership and succor they have given New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

"So I'm a huge fan of the Saints, I always have been, " he said.

Indeed, so great is his love for the Saints that, in any other Super Bowl, Wayne would want them to win. But not this one.

"It's going to be tough to take that away from them, " he said. "I feel like they deserve it, I really do. This is the only time of the whole year I felt like they didn't deserve it, but those guys have done a great job putting that city together, giving everybody something to be happy about. Maybe next year, or the year after that, or whenever I retire."

What's more, Wayne, who played his college ball at Miami and has been besieged by ticket requests from all corners of southern Louisiana and Florida, doesn't want any half-baked support from the lucky ones who show up in the stands Sunday.

"Unfortunately, that's how it is, " he said, when asked about dealing with a family tree still leafy with Saints fans. "This is how I find out who my real friends are, but it's going to be fun. They have to make a decision. There's no going into this game wearing a half-Saints jersey, half-Colts jersey. I want to see either/or."

In other words, Wayne is committed to taking the dream away from his childhood heroes Sunday. He certainly will be in a solid position to do so.

With longtime Colts standout Marvin Harrison departed, Wayne got something of a promotion, becoming quarterback Peyton Manning's favorite target and the team's most consistent deep threat. He responded to those responsibilities with a superb season, catching 100 passes for 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns, and earning his fourth Pro Bowl selection.

On the other hand, Wayne has been quieter as the season progressed. Though he had five 100-yard-plus receiving games, only one came in the last seven regular-season games. His last multiple touchdown game came against New England in November, and he had one touchdown in the last six regular-season games.
In the postseason, Wayne has caught 11 passes for 118 yards and a score. Although he only had three catches in the AFC championship game against the Jets, he spent most of the afternoon against Darrelle Revis, one of the NFL's premier cornerbacks. Nevertheless, Wayne averaged 18.3 yards per catch in that game, and on one play did a midfield spin move that left Revis grasping at air and the cynics packed in the press box grunting in admiration.

Wayne has been making those kind of plays for some time now. And he should have been making them for even longer, according to Billy North, his coach at Ehret.

"The biggest mistake I ever made in coaching was not putting him on the varsity as a freshman, " North said.

North and the Ehret staff had their eye on Wayne when he was a seventh-grader at Truman Middle School, and once they rectified their roster error his sophomore year, Wayne excelled.

In today's high school game, which is dominated by the spread offense, Wayne would almost certainly be a quarterback because he would be the best player on the field. But he made his mark then as a dangerous runner in the open field.

He was an all-state player for two years, catching 50 passes for 930 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior in 1996. But at that time LSU was mired in its Gerry DiNardo doldrums. Wayne chose the Hurricanes without much fanfare.

"My signing day was pretty easy going, " Wayne said Tuesday. "It worked to my advantage. It's definitely an experience that you want to remember, because it's going to have an effect on your life no matter how you look at it. It's a tough day, and you just pray that you've made the right decision and selected the right team."

Asked if he didn't at least consider LSU, he replied, "I did. But Miami was my ultimate choice."

Certainly he did not disappoint at "the U, " where he was a four-year starter. He ended his Miami career as the school's all-time reception leader and was the third Hurricane to catch more than 20 touchdown passes.

The Colts chose him with their second first-round pick in 2001, making him the 30th overall player in the NFL draft. He started nine of 13 games that fall and seven of 16 the next season.

In 2003 he started every game, and in 2004 he emerged as one of the league's premier wideouts and he, Harrison and Manning were part of an on-field onslaught that likely will lead to the induction of all three in Canton.

That season, Wayne had 77 receptions for 1,210 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was electrifying in the playoffs, when he caught 13 more passes for 256 yards and two scores. His 221 yards receiving against Denver remains a club record and the third-best playoff total in NFL history.

Wayne has proven himself an equally large force off the field. Back in Marrero, Wayne is the leading investor and driving force behind the upcoming "Wayne's World" a $16 million, 58,000 square foot "family entertainment center" centered around his off-field passion, bowling. While plowing a portion of his fortune back into his hometown, Wayne has eschewed the sort of easy publicity that might attract.

"He handles himself well, he's a solid citizen and a guy who is very responsible taking care of his family and his friends, " North said. "But he doesn't want to make the newspapers, he's not the sort of guy that needs to be told how great he is all the time."

Wayne lives in Indianapolis now, but North said the past fall was the first time he could remember Wayne not showing up on the Ehret campus for a game. In the 2007 LHSAA playoffs, Ehret trailed Mandeville at halftime. North knew Wayne was in attendance and invited him into the locker room. When North ran back out on the field for the second half, he was startled to learn Wayne had basically blocked the door behind him.

"Turned out Reggie had the kids in there and he was tearing them up, " North laughed. "We wound up winning by 10 points and going to the semifinals."

The Colts have made it past the semifinals again, returning to Miami and the same stadium in which they beat the Chicago Bears 29-17 with Wayne's 53-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter the team's best offensive play of the day.

Wayne does not anticipate having to take the Colts to task at halftime in Super Bowl XLIV. But if he does, he won't let New Orleans sentiment get in the way.

"I am, I feel like it's going to be a good one for me, " he said when asked if he was looking forward to the game. "I'm playing a childhood team, playing in my own back yard from school. Looking at the crystal ball, it looks really bright for me."

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(nola.com)