Long Snapper Pays Price For Saints' Poor Investment Decisions

Kevin Houser has played in every Saints game since 2000—only hiking the ball on kicks, but still—yet he was abruptly cut last week for no apparent reason. Unless you count failed investments that cost his teammates $2 million. Over two dozen people with ties to the New Orleans Saints invested in a company called Louisiana Film Studios. A film studio in Louisiana sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, but it is actually a common and popular tax dodge thanks to generous credits given by the state to anyone who thinks it's a good idea to film a movie in a swamp. (Studios are allowed to sell the tax credits to wealthy individuals who then write the credit off on their taxes. The money turns into Heaven's Prisoners.) It's a perfectly legitimate financial maneuver—provided the studio has actually been granted the credits by the state, which Louisiana Film Studios had not. The investors (including coach Sean Payton, Drew Brees, and Archie Manning) say they were dup...