HarveyWallbangers
04-05-2006, 08:01 PM
Everything I've read seems to point to a good kid with the "it" factor.
Land of the Stars
By Len Pasquarelli | ESPN.com
LOS ANGELES -- With good buddy Nick Lachey hanging out at the Final Four in Indianapolis over the weekend, Matt Leinart likely had to dig into his electronic phone book, a directory that includes the cell phone numbers of many of Hollywood's hippest young stars, to find someone with whom to chill at a local off-campus burger joint following Sunday afternoon's tedious audition for NFL scouts.
On the other hand, all former Southern California tailback and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush had to do for close companionship following the daunting pro day workouts was stroll across campus.
Or, more accurately, try to.
Encircled by as many as 200 fans at times as he exited the workout, Bush found it harder to navigate the quarter-mile walk between Howard Jones practice field and Heritage Hall, where the USC football offices are headquartered, than he did to romp through Pac-10 defenses. The electrifying tailback, who posted an NCAA career-record 7.3 yards per carry and averaged 10.4 yards per touch while scoring in every way imaginable, couldn't progress more than a few feet at a time without having to slow down to sign a T-shirt, a miniature Trojans helmet, a glossy, 8-by-10 color photo and even a hot dog wrapper.
Befitting his position as the quarterback of a two-time national championship team and a former Heisman Trophy honoree, a guy with whom the "Who's Who" of La-La Land yearns to be photographed and who unabashedly covets the opportunity to relocate his game to Broadway with the New York Jets, Leinart clearly remains the glamour guy of coach Pete Carroll's all-star cast of draft prospects. Just as obvious, though, as the crowd of hero-worshippers snaked its way behind Bush late Sunday afternoon is that the tailback is a player who people thoroughly enjoy being around.
Leinart had to reach out and touch someone for dinner on Sunday evening. Bush just had to reach a couple of feet, scribble his name onto whatever was thrust in front of him, and his fans ate it up.
"The guy is like a Pied Piper," said agent Joel Segal. "This happens everywhere he goes. OK, maybe not to this extent, sure. But there is just something likable about him. There's sort of a common touch and people can relate to that."
Want reinforcement for the "common touch" theory that Segal espouses? How about this: On Monday, Bush threw out the first pitch of Opening Day for the San Diego Padres. Not the Los Angeles Dodgers, not the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (or whatever they're called this season), but his hometown San Diego Padres, the least conspicuous of Southern California's three Major League Baseball franchises.
Given the vested interest that Segal possesses in pumping his client's Q-rating, there is an element of the self-serving in his Pied Piper assessment. But that doesn't make it any less valid or make Bush, who seems to relish the personal contact with his fan base even as he plays his don't-worry-be-happy tune all the way to the bank, any less genuine.
It would be hyperbole to suggest Bush is a kind of Everyman. Still, there is a naturally engaging quality about the player who will be the first prospect chosen in the draft on April 29 that draws everybody to him. Bush has the aura of an early-day Muhammad Ali about him. Watching Segal and marketing impresario Mike Ornstein unsuccessfully attempt to buffer Bush from the crowd of autograph seekers on Sunday, one was reminded of how Ali's entourage of security people and hangers-on once tried to shield him in the same way.
Indeed, the polished Leinart is still a paparazzi magnet, a guy possessed of movie star looks and with the facility of being able to bounce from night spot to night spot, and to mix seamlessly with his high-profile friends. It was once noted of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady that men wanted to be him and women wanted to be with him. His fiancée aside, Leinart is a similar-type personage here, a white-hot star in the galaxy.
But it's Bush who will be drafted first, who has proven just as popular, and who doesn't exactly shy from the spotlight, either. In this land of the stars, the tailback some league scouts have compared to Pro Football Hall of Fame member Gale Sayers is no supernova in the SoCal football firmament. Nor is he a shrinking violet.
"I like being around people and, just like you saw on the way over here, people like me," said Bush, as he slumped into a well-stuffed sofa in a Heritage Hall lounge. "If I'm just walking around campus, people will come up and want to talk, whether it's about football or whatever. I like that folks don't feel put off by me or by my [celebrity], and that everyone knows I'm still approachable. That's part of the fun of this, and it hasn't gotten old, at least not yet. I don't mind being the out-front guy that the media is coming to with the hard questions. I'm a stand-up guy in that way. I'm battle tested and, the way I see it, that's just going to help me [in the NFL]. I just like being around people. I like being seen as a real person."
Indeed, in a city where virtually everything harbors some feeling of the ersatz, there appears to be nothing phony or contrived about Bush or his public persona.
Sure, he is quick with a grin and with a strong handshake, knows what camera to peer into, and speaks in complete sentences. But his is more a public relations savvy than a public veneer, and nothing Bush does seems rehearsed or choreographed. He is at ease, and puts others at ease, and his natural confidence comes across more as candor than cockiness.
"He's just a guy," said Houston Texans rookie coach Gary Kubiak, a former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator who likely already is conjuring up devious ways to get the ball into Bush's hands, "who lights up a room when he walks in."
Of course, the Texans, who will play host to Bush on Thursday and probably will commence contract negotiations during the visit, are going to be paying an eight-figure bonus and upward of $25 million guaranteed for the scintillating Bush to light up the scoreboard. It is far more important for the franchise that Bush delivers touchdowns, not just pithy and profound sound bites, certainly. But as one Texans official acknowledged over the weekend, Houston will get "a new face for the franchise" when it chooses Bush, and that is a key component the team has lacked.
It's not as if the Texans have trouble filling Reliant Stadium. But at some point the knowledgeable fans will no longer accept the franchise's expansion status as an excuse for losing, and the Texans will have to either start winning or present some promise of doing so. Bush not only represents the promise of better things to come on the field, but is a persuasive enough spokesman to convince long-suffering partisans in virtually every appearance he makes that the playoffs are in the offing.
Four-year veteran quarterback David Carr, the top overall choice in the 2002 draft and the first prospect ever chosen by the Texans, has never quite embraced the role as franchise pitchman. As good as Kubiak is, and as well received as he has been, the longtime NFL assistant doesn't qualify as a quote machine. The team's few other stars -- tailback Domanick Davis, wide receiver Andre Johnson and cornerback Dunta Robinson -- are polite young men but perform better on the field than in front of a Minicam. In Bush, the Texans will have a burgeoning star as adroit at identifying camera angles as he is finding cutback angles.
One more indicator of the pervasive sense that Bush is The Natural incarnate, except on the gridiron instead of a baseball diamond, and in every sense: Adidas, the onetime athletic football and apparel giant that had all but fallen off the radar screen and is now re-emerging as a power, is ardently pursuing Bush with a giant endorsement proposal. The footwear part of their pitch alone, sources told ESPN.com, is said to be worth $2 million for the first two years.
Making money (and plenty of it), of course, is just part of what Bush wants to accomplish.
Well-grounded, the product of a two-parent household, a regular churchgoer who was reared with strong family values, and a guy who hasn't had his head turned completely around by his own celebrity in a city filled with stars, Bush hopes to make a winner out of the Texans, too. That will be no small feat, since Houston has never won more than seven contests, and averaged just 4½ victories in the first four years of existence.
Hardly accustomed to losing -- the Trojans were 37-2 in his three seasons -- Bush will have to reconcile that the NFL will be a step up in competition but two steps back in terms of his personal win-loss record. That doesn't mean, though, he plans to accept defeat as gracefully as he entertains the media.
"What people are going to see," Bush said, "is a guy who wants to be the hardest worker on the field and off the field. To me, being the first [overall] pick carries a price, for me, not just the team that drafts me. I've always wanted to force people to look at me, to make the big play that turns everyone's head, to be the guy who makes fans jump out of their seats. I guess, in a way, I just want to do it all."
That's precisely what he did during a USC career in which the dynamic playmaker posted 6,617 all-purpose yards, averaged 10.4 yards per touch, and scored on runs, receptions, kickoff returns and punt returns. Bush registered more than 2,000 all-purpose yards in each of his last two seasons. While it remains to be seen how he and the overachieving Davis can fit into the same offense, there is little doubt that Kubiak will divine ways to get the ball to Bush in space, where his quickness and elusiveness will present all kinds of matchup problems for opposition defenses.
Said Leinart: "He's just such an accomplished and versatile playmaker that, no matter where he goes on the field, he'll command plenty of attention."
If last Sunday is any indication, that's already the case off the field, too.
Land of the Stars
By Len Pasquarelli | ESPN.com
LOS ANGELES -- With good buddy Nick Lachey hanging out at the Final Four in Indianapolis over the weekend, Matt Leinart likely had to dig into his electronic phone book, a directory that includes the cell phone numbers of many of Hollywood's hippest young stars, to find someone with whom to chill at a local off-campus burger joint following Sunday afternoon's tedious audition for NFL scouts.
On the other hand, all former Southern California tailback and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush had to do for close companionship following the daunting pro day workouts was stroll across campus.
Or, more accurately, try to.
Encircled by as many as 200 fans at times as he exited the workout, Bush found it harder to navigate the quarter-mile walk between Howard Jones practice field and Heritage Hall, where the USC football offices are headquartered, than he did to romp through Pac-10 defenses. The electrifying tailback, who posted an NCAA career-record 7.3 yards per carry and averaged 10.4 yards per touch while scoring in every way imaginable, couldn't progress more than a few feet at a time without having to slow down to sign a T-shirt, a miniature Trojans helmet, a glossy, 8-by-10 color photo and even a hot dog wrapper.
Befitting his position as the quarterback of a two-time national championship team and a former Heisman Trophy honoree, a guy with whom the "Who's Who" of La-La Land yearns to be photographed and who unabashedly covets the opportunity to relocate his game to Broadway with the New York Jets, Leinart clearly remains the glamour guy of coach Pete Carroll's all-star cast of draft prospects. Just as obvious, though, as the crowd of hero-worshippers snaked its way behind Bush late Sunday afternoon is that the tailback is a player who people thoroughly enjoy being around.
Leinart had to reach out and touch someone for dinner on Sunday evening. Bush just had to reach a couple of feet, scribble his name onto whatever was thrust in front of him, and his fans ate it up.
"The guy is like a Pied Piper," said agent Joel Segal. "This happens everywhere he goes. OK, maybe not to this extent, sure. But there is just something likable about him. There's sort of a common touch and people can relate to that."
Want reinforcement for the "common touch" theory that Segal espouses? How about this: On Monday, Bush threw out the first pitch of Opening Day for the San Diego Padres. Not the Los Angeles Dodgers, not the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (or whatever they're called this season), but his hometown San Diego Padres, the least conspicuous of Southern California's three Major League Baseball franchises.
Given the vested interest that Segal possesses in pumping his client's Q-rating, there is an element of the self-serving in his Pied Piper assessment. But that doesn't make it any less valid or make Bush, who seems to relish the personal contact with his fan base even as he plays his don't-worry-be-happy tune all the way to the bank, any less genuine.
It would be hyperbole to suggest Bush is a kind of Everyman. Still, there is a naturally engaging quality about the player who will be the first prospect chosen in the draft on April 29 that draws everybody to him. Bush has the aura of an early-day Muhammad Ali about him. Watching Segal and marketing impresario Mike Ornstein unsuccessfully attempt to buffer Bush from the crowd of autograph seekers on Sunday, one was reminded of how Ali's entourage of security people and hangers-on once tried to shield him in the same way.
Indeed, the polished Leinart is still a paparazzi magnet, a guy possessed of movie star looks and with the facility of being able to bounce from night spot to night spot, and to mix seamlessly with his high-profile friends. It was once noted of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady that men wanted to be him and women wanted to be with him. His fiancée aside, Leinart is a similar-type personage here, a white-hot star in the galaxy.
But it's Bush who will be drafted first, who has proven just as popular, and who doesn't exactly shy from the spotlight, either. In this land of the stars, the tailback some league scouts have compared to Pro Football Hall of Fame member Gale Sayers is no supernova in the SoCal football firmament. Nor is he a shrinking violet.
"I like being around people and, just like you saw on the way over here, people like me," said Bush, as he slumped into a well-stuffed sofa in a Heritage Hall lounge. "If I'm just walking around campus, people will come up and want to talk, whether it's about football or whatever. I like that folks don't feel put off by me or by my [celebrity], and that everyone knows I'm still approachable. That's part of the fun of this, and it hasn't gotten old, at least not yet. I don't mind being the out-front guy that the media is coming to with the hard questions. I'm a stand-up guy in that way. I'm battle tested and, the way I see it, that's just going to help me [in the NFL]. I just like being around people. I like being seen as a real person."
Indeed, in a city where virtually everything harbors some feeling of the ersatz, there appears to be nothing phony or contrived about Bush or his public persona.
Sure, he is quick with a grin and with a strong handshake, knows what camera to peer into, and speaks in complete sentences. But his is more a public relations savvy than a public veneer, and nothing Bush does seems rehearsed or choreographed. He is at ease, and puts others at ease, and his natural confidence comes across more as candor than cockiness.
"He's just a guy," said Houston Texans rookie coach Gary Kubiak, a former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator who likely already is conjuring up devious ways to get the ball into Bush's hands, "who lights up a room when he walks in."
Of course, the Texans, who will play host to Bush on Thursday and probably will commence contract negotiations during the visit, are going to be paying an eight-figure bonus and upward of $25 million guaranteed for the scintillating Bush to light up the scoreboard. It is far more important for the franchise that Bush delivers touchdowns, not just pithy and profound sound bites, certainly. But as one Texans official acknowledged over the weekend, Houston will get "a new face for the franchise" when it chooses Bush, and that is a key component the team has lacked.
It's not as if the Texans have trouble filling Reliant Stadium. But at some point the knowledgeable fans will no longer accept the franchise's expansion status as an excuse for losing, and the Texans will have to either start winning or present some promise of doing so. Bush not only represents the promise of better things to come on the field, but is a persuasive enough spokesman to convince long-suffering partisans in virtually every appearance he makes that the playoffs are in the offing.
Four-year veteran quarterback David Carr, the top overall choice in the 2002 draft and the first prospect ever chosen by the Texans, has never quite embraced the role as franchise pitchman. As good as Kubiak is, and as well received as he has been, the longtime NFL assistant doesn't qualify as a quote machine. The team's few other stars -- tailback Domanick Davis, wide receiver Andre Johnson and cornerback Dunta Robinson -- are polite young men but perform better on the field than in front of a Minicam. In Bush, the Texans will have a burgeoning star as adroit at identifying camera angles as he is finding cutback angles.
One more indicator of the pervasive sense that Bush is The Natural incarnate, except on the gridiron instead of a baseball diamond, and in every sense: Adidas, the onetime athletic football and apparel giant that had all but fallen off the radar screen and is now re-emerging as a power, is ardently pursuing Bush with a giant endorsement proposal. The footwear part of their pitch alone, sources told ESPN.com, is said to be worth $2 million for the first two years.
Making money (and plenty of it), of course, is just part of what Bush wants to accomplish.
Well-grounded, the product of a two-parent household, a regular churchgoer who was reared with strong family values, and a guy who hasn't had his head turned completely around by his own celebrity in a city filled with stars, Bush hopes to make a winner out of the Texans, too. That will be no small feat, since Houston has never won more than seven contests, and averaged just 4½ victories in the first four years of existence.
Hardly accustomed to losing -- the Trojans were 37-2 in his three seasons -- Bush will have to reconcile that the NFL will be a step up in competition but two steps back in terms of his personal win-loss record. That doesn't mean, though, he plans to accept defeat as gracefully as he entertains the media.
"What people are going to see," Bush said, "is a guy who wants to be the hardest worker on the field and off the field. To me, being the first [overall] pick carries a price, for me, not just the team that drafts me. I've always wanted to force people to look at me, to make the big play that turns everyone's head, to be the guy who makes fans jump out of their seats. I guess, in a way, I just want to do it all."
That's precisely what he did during a USC career in which the dynamic playmaker posted 6,617 all-purpose yards, averaged 10.4 yards per touch, and scored on runs, receptions, kickoff returns and punt returns. Bush registered more than 2,000 all-purpose yards in each of his last two seasons. While it remains to be seen how he and the overachieving Davis can fit into the same offense, there is little doubt that Kubiak will divine ways to get the ball to Bush in space, where his quickness and elusiveness will present all kinds of matchup problems for opposition defenses.
Said Leinart: "He's just such an accomplished and versatile playmaker that, no matter where he goes on the field, he'll command plenty of attention."
If last Sunday is any indication, that's already the case off the field, too.