Exclusive | Raiders Jack Bech carries slain brother with him on emotional first trip back to New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — There is no telling the story of Raiders receiver Jack Bech without telling the story of Tiger Bech.And there is no telling Tiger’s story anymore without eventually finding your way back to Jack.They were that intertwined.Brothers by birth, best friends by choice, connected by the unmistakable adoration of a little brother for the big brother he emulated and looked up to, and the pride of an older brother watching his little brother chase dreams that once belonged to both of them.And nearly two years after Tiger was killed in the New Year’s Day terrorist attack on Bourbon Street, those stories are about to intersect again in the place where everything changed.On Sunday, Jack, who was born and raised in nearby Lafayette, will return to New Orleans with the Raiders to play the Saints, carrying his brother’s memory and an opportunity to create a different association with a city his family understandably connects to its darkest day.“It will be a little homecoming to rewrite a wrong and put a good taste in our mouth from New Orleans,” Jack said.

“Because right now we remember it as the place my brother got killed by a terrorist on New Year’s.”For Marty and Michelle Bech, the spectrum of emotions Sunday will be almost incomprehensible.They will walk into the Superdome as proud parents, there to watch Jack return home as a member of the Raiders while living the dream he has chased since he was a kid.And barely a mile away sits Bourbon Street.The place where their other son lost his life.Inside the Superdome, Marty and Michelle will celebrate Jack.They’ll watch their son put on an NFL uniform, run onto a field in his home state and live something he and Tiger once dreamed about together.Outside of it, only a short walk away, is the place that forever changed their family.Those emotions don’t cancel each other out.

The joy of watching Jack doesn’t lessen the grief they carry for Tiger, just as their grief doesn’t diminish how enormo...