Hollywood story for Texans gets Superbowl gig

Houston Chronicle:

The Texans may not be one of the main acts at the Super Bowl in 11 days, but they definitely will be part of the show.

Texans left tackle Ephraim Salaam and left guard Chester Pitts will be the stars in the NFL's Super Bowl ad, which is slated to air at the start of the fourth quarter.

Salaam was one of 240 players who entered a league contest by telling a favorite story on camera. The finalists were posted on NFL.com, and more than 500,000 fans voted between November and Jan. 6. Salaam's story won, landing him and Pitts in the national spotlight.

The commercial focuses on how Salaam met Pitts, who was working as a sacker at a grocery store while attending San Diego State. Salaam encouraged him to walk on to the university's football team, even though Pitts had never played the sport.

Salaam, a seventh-round draft pick in 1998, later watched as Pitts went on to become a second-round draft pick of the Texans in 2002. In 2006, the two became teammates with the Texans. They have lined up next to each other as starters for 30 consecutive games.

"It's so like a Hollywood story," Salaam said. "It's so hard to really comprehend that something like that could actually happen. Me and Chester have been friends for a very long time. To end up in Texas playing right alongside each other, it's remarkable. And I think people really related to it, because it's a feel-good story.

"It turned out good. It turned out the best it could possibly turn out."

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There is more. This is a pretty neat story and these guys do have great personalities. It is one of those stories that goes to show what you can accomplish if someone takes an interest in you and you take an interest in your self. I look forward to seeing the commercial.