Reggie Bush said he doesn't set individual goals for a season, but his main focus this season is helping the Saints win the Super Bowl.
Bush has been busy during the off-season pushing products all around the country. The second-year millionaire is the focus of at least nine national advertising campaigns -- among them Adidas, Xbox 360, Subway, EA Sports, Hummer and Visa -- and when he isn't hawking products, he's playing video games. One of his proudest accomplishments was that he was the first player in the history of the Madden game to receiver a perfect 100 rating for acceleration.
Bush bought a $5 million house in the Hollywood Hills so that he can spend his off-seasons in Los Angeles. When he is in New Orleans, he lives in a $1.9 million condo near the river.
But with the football season close enough to touch, the time was right for Bush to answer some questions.
Q: With all your commercials and sponsorship deals, you're on television as much as Peyton Manning. Are you doing too much of that?
A: I hope not because I'm definitely enjoying this opportunity right now just being able to do commercials and all the different ad campaigns. I'm trying to catch up with Peyton this season, but I believe has too much of a head start. He's good on his commercials. He's ahead of the pack by a long shot.
Q: While talking about Peyton, you and the Saints open the season at Indianapolis on Sept. 6. What would you like to do on your first possession?
A: Just to score on the first possession would be a huge feat for us, just to go out there and set the tone early that this isn't going to be an easy game for them. We'll be fighting, kicking,, scratching, anything we can do to win this game.
Q: Now that the Saints made to the NFC championship game, some of that Saints' fancy stuff may not work this season. Your thoughts?
A: No, that's not going to work. The whole Cinderella story is played out. We're not going to sneak up on anybody anymore. We're going to see everybody's best game because they know we're for real.
Q: Your rookie season got off to somewhat of a slower start than we expected and it really didn't come alive until the second half of the season. Was the fact the Saints were figuring how to best use you result in the slow start?
A: I would say the biggest difference was in me finding myself, finding my role on the team. The first half of the season, I was really tense and trying to force all the runs. As the season went on, I started scoring touchdowns, I started relaxing a little more. I started to see stuff, and the more and the game started to slow down for me. It sounds simple, but that's really what it was.
Q: Were you looking for the home run too often last season?
A: Sometimes no gain is a big gain. The one thing we're trying to stress is not to have any negative runs, no matter what. Just try to get back to the line of scrimmage as much as possible. If I have the mind frame of just running for four years, the big runs will come. At the same time, you're always trying to score touchdowns.
Q: You and quarterback Matt Leinart won Heisman Trophies while at USC. What kind of season are you expecting out of Leinart this season at Arizona?
A: I'm looking for Matt to have a very good season and that team to have a breakout season. They have the right players. They have the pieces in place to make a run, a push to the playoffs, and maybe even the Super Bowl. That team is more than ready. It's all about Matt. He's the quarterback of the leader of that team.
Glen "Big Baby" Davis closed out his Las Vegas Summer League stay on Saturday by scoring 19 points, getting 16 rebounds and blocking 6 shots for the Celtics against the Mavericks. The former LSU star who was drafted in the second round, showed he can play in the Vegas environment, but his big test will come in the fall and throughout the long NBA season. If Summer League is a step up from college, then the NBA is a three-story rise from the Vegas league.
Davis bulled his 6-foot-7 frame around the basket to finish the week averaging 12 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocked shots, and, ahem, 6 fouls a game Davis knows he is not at LSU anymore.
"I used to be the guy, everyone had to come to me," Davis told the Boston Globe. "Now, I'm not that guy anymore. I gotta get that out of my mindset. I'm a role player, just doing my job." Armond Hill, the Celtics assistant who coached the team in Vegas, said Davis still has tendencies to try and do too much, or do it all, carryovers from his college days when he did have to do it all.
"But I love that effort," said Hill. "It'll come for him. He got caught up trying to do too much too soon and the ball stopped. We don't need that. I told him that. He thinks he has to make something happen and I told him something will happen if we move the ball. You gotta learn to play through the team and not try to be the star. These guys will learn."
Just goes to prove that, while Ed didn't get the interVIEW, he surely gets the interNET.
Written by Kenner Krew
on 7/17/2007
I did this once and the Teacher gave me an "F" and I had to re-do it all over again after school. But, after school "really cute" Melissa sat right next to me.
I hope a "cute" Melissa" sits next to you, when you rewrite this article that you huh,...borrowed!
Reggie Bush has commercials, expectations and questions
Times NFL writer Sam Farmer talks with the former USC running back on schools, rookie seasons and more.
July 15, 2007
The former USC star is the focus of at least nine national advertising campaigns — among them Adidas, Xbox 360, Subway, EA Sports, Hummer and Visa — and he's gearing up for his second NFL season. When he isn't pushing products, he's playing video games. One of his proudest accomplishments? He's the first player in the history of the Madden game to receive a perfect 100 rating in acceleration.
But not everything is going his way. He remains the focus of an NCAA investigation into whether he and his family received improper benefits while he was playing at USC.
Bush, who recently bought a house in the Hollywood Hills so he can spend his off-seasons in Los Angeles, sat down last week for a wide-ranging interview before a paid appearance at Microsoft's E3 Summit in Santa Monica.
Question: You had a slow start as a rookie and didn't really come alive until the second half of the season. Was that the Saints figuring out how to best use you, or you learning how to best use your abilities?
Answer: I would say the biggest difference was me just finding myself, finding what my role was on the team. The first half of the season I was really tense and trying to force all the runs. As the season went on I started scoring touchdowns, I started relaxing a little more. I started to see stuff, and the game started to slow down for me. It sounds simple, but that's really what it was.
Q: Your coach, Sean Payton, said you had a tendency to look for the home run on every carry. Was that a problem?
A: Sometimes no gain is a big gain. The one thing we're trying to stress is not to have any negative runs, no matter what. Just try to get back to the line of scrimmage as much as possible. If I have the mind frame of just running for four yards, the big runs will come. At the same time, you're always trying to score touchdowns.
Q: So now that New Orleans made it to the NFC championship game, that gutty-little-Saints stuff doesn't work anymore, does it?
A: No, that's not going to work. The whole Cinderella story is played out. We're not going to sneak up on anybody anymore. We're going to see everybody's best game because they know we're for real.
Q: The Saints play at Indianapolis in the Sept. 6 league opener. What's your realistic dream sequence for your opening possession?
A: Just to score on the first drive would be huge for us, just to go out there and set the tone early that this ain't going to be an easy game. We're going to be fighting, kicking, scratching, anything we can to win this game.
Q: With all your sponsorship deals, you'll be on TV as much as Peyton Manning this season. Are people going to get Reggie Bush-ed out?
A: I hope not. Because I'm definitely enjoying this opportunity right now of just being able to do commercials, all the different ad campaigns. I'm trying to catch up with Peyton Manning, but it's tough. He's ahead of the pack by a long shot.
Q: Which of your former USC teammates is most likely to have a breakout NFL season? Matt Leinart, LenDale White, Dwayne Jarrett or Steve Smith?
A: I think Matt will. That team's ready to have a breakout season. They have all the right players. They have the pieces in place to make a run, a push to the playoffs and maybe even the Super Bowl. That team is more than ready. It's all about him. He's the quarterback and the leader of that team.
Written by Your Teacher
on 7/16/2007
You didn't get this interview. This interview was printed in Sunday's edition of the Los Angeles Times. You simply rearranged and rewrote the questions.
The full interview is here:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-bushqa15jul15,0,999069.story?coll=la-home-sports
Written by Attribution please
on 7/16/2007
Glad to see you landed the interview with the ever-busier Bush. Interesting and telling comment he made in your interview with him; "concentrating on running for FOUR YEARS."
Telling isn't it, in that that is about the life-span of the average running back nowadays.
I didn't realize "big baby" was 6'7". I thought he was shorter.
Reggie Bush said he doesn't set individual goals for a season, but his main focus this season is helping the Saints win the Super Bowl.
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