Andrei Bobeica, a 33-year-old transplant from the former Soviet republic of Moldova, took it upon himself to send Saints quarterback Drew Brees a get-well message on Tuesday — a really big get-well message.

The 25-foot-tall "9" that Bobeica spray-washed onto the roof of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome not only wished Brees well. It put a smile on the faces of Who Dats everywhere when they needed it most.

The Saints lost to the Rams on Sunday, and, worse yet, seemingly indestructible quarterback Brees’ throwing hand was injured. No. 9 was scheduled to go under the knife on Wednesday to repair the damage to his invaluable thumb.

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Bobeica was part of a high-altitude washing crew blasting the grime off the Superdome roof. He was secured to the steeply arching, almost 10-acre roof with ropes. The temperature on the surface sometimes reached more than 150 degrees.

Despite the height, the heat and the job at hand, Bobeica was struck with an idea: How about scrubbing a gleaming "9" into the grime for all of the Crescent City to see?

“We’d watched the game,” he said. “We saw what happened, and I said, ‘It’s a good idea to make something.’ I said, ‘Why not?’”

So Bobeica began blasting Brees’ uniform number, placing it in view of traffic on the Pontchartrain Expressway.

But when Bobeica’s boss saw what he had done, he had a complaint. That 9 was far too small. To be seen, it had to be bigger. Much, much bigger.

All onlookers will agree that the resulting enormous 9 is beautifully drawn. Bobeica used a rope as a compass to perfectly inscribe the circles. The edges are as straight and true as a Brees 10-yarder.

Asked how he likes working in the September sun far above Poydras Street on one of the earth’s largest roofs, Bobeica said, “It’s beautiful up there.”

Five years back, he and his wife left Moldova to escape political and economic problems. “It’s difficult to live,” he said. Asked why he chose New Orleans as his new home, he said: “I liked this state, the weather, the people, the culture, the city, the music. It’s close to what it’s like in my country.”

Bobeica’s agreeable boss, Albert Bikbulatov, owner of Paramount Waterproofing Solutions, said that in the end the big 9 will have to be removed — but he promised to save that particular patch of grime until the end.

The $250,000 cleaning job should be finished by Sept. 29, when the Saints play a Sunday night game against the Dallas Cowboys, Superdome spokesman Mike Hoss said.

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