For the last two years Kenny Chesney has joined the New Orleans Saints for training camp. And it just so happens that the Saints have missed the playoffs both years. New Orleans coach Sean Payton, a good friend of Chesney, jokingly told him to stay away this year in hopes that will turn things around for the Saints:

Chesney and Payton first connected in Cincinnati and worked out with the Saints before an exhibition game against the Bengals in 2007. Last August, Chesney again participated in a training camp workout with the team at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. Days later, Chesney had Payton and quarterback Drew Brees with him on stage during a concert at the New Orleans Arena.

“I told Kenny to stay away this year,” a smiling Payton said of his longtime friend who first met in 2002. “Plus we can’t hook up; he’s on a West Coast tour when we’re in camp.”