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Reggie Bush (Heisman Winner)

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BuckNutty said:
I think it's safe to say we don't hate all things USC. :biggrin:

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What if I told you it was Reggie Bush's idea that they put their tops back on before this picture was shot?
 
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LA Times

Bush Won't Be Defined by Company He Keeps

Former USC tailback has signed only as an endorser, not yet as a Saint, but he's invested in New Orleans.
By Sam Farmer, Times Staff Writer
July 28, 2006

Determined to make football his singular focus, Reggie Bush passed on several lucrative sponsorship offers in the months leading up to the NFL draft. The former USC star has made up for that in the three months since, however, signing big-money deals with Hummer, Pepsi, Subway and Adidas.

But now, as training camp is set to begin, the New Orleans Saints are ready for Bush to turn his attention back to football. It's not that he has lost focus — he typically spends at least three hours a day working out to stay in top shape — but his pro career won't truly begin until he's under contract with the team.

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"This is the business part of it," Bush said recently. "This is when it gets nasty between the team and the agent."

The Saints, who selected Bush second overall, open camp this afternoon in Jackson, Miss. Bush's agent, Joel Segal, and team officials have been mostly mum on negotiations, although Mickey Loomis, the Saints' general manager, said this week in an e-mail to the New Orleans Times-Picayune that talks were "proceeding on a normal course."

It's not unusual for NFL teams to wait until the last possible moment to sign their top picks, and sometimes not until camps are underway. By the end of today, 26 camps will have opened yet just 11 of the league's 32 first-round selections are under contract — and six of those were announced Thursday, including quarterback Vince Young with Tennessee.

Young, the No. 3 overall pick out of Texas, agreed to a five-year deal, with an option for a sixth, with $25.7 million guaranteed and an overall value that could reach $58 million with option and roster bonuses and salary.

There are hints that the Bush negotiations could be more arduous than most. The first indication of that came the day before the draft, when the Houston Texans presented similar offers to Bush and North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams. It was Williams who took the deal, and subsequently became the first pick, signing a six-year contract worth $54 million with $26.5 million of it guaranteed.

That the Texans took Williams over Bush, the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner, was not only shocking but a message they were not going to be strong-armed into an unfavorable contract. Bush, meanwhile, is seeking an even more lucrative deal.

"Reggie's a competitor; he wants to go," said Mike Ornstein, who heads Bush's marketing team. "The important thing is not to agree on a contract that's a bad contract. All these guys that are trying to renegotiate their contracts now are ones that signed bad contracts in the first place."

There is an Internet report citing an unnamed NFL source saying Bush would consider sitting out an entire season and re-entering the draft in spring 2007 if he doesn't like the Saints' best offer. That scenario seems highly unlikely for a number of reasons, among them the potential he could lose a lot of money in endorsements.

"It doesn't do any of these companies any good if the only press he's getting is negative, and if he doesn't showcase what made him marketable in the first place," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.

Bush attended a Saints mini-camp in May and it's premature to suggest he might miss a significant portion of summer training. To keep prepared, he has been running and lifting weights, usually at USC and sometimes with former Trojans quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Cassel. He also spends time in New Orleans, where he recently purchased a $1.8-million condominium on the riverfront and has donated significant amounts of money and time to Hurricane Katrina relief.

Among those donations were $86,000 to help seed and maintain the playing surface at Tad Gormley Stadium, the city's oldest field; a $50,000 pledge by Adidas to Holy Rosary Academy to keep open a school for autistic children; and the one-year use of a dozen Hummers for the Slidell Police Department.

Skeptics have suggested that Bush, by so ingratiating himself with the New Orleans community, is piling even more pressure on the Saints to give him the contract he wants. Ornstein says that's not it.

"It's because it's the right thing to do," he said. "That wasn't even on his mind one bit. It was always about going through the Ninth Ward, and if you don't get hit in the stomach any time you drive anywhere and say, 'Oh my God! What a mess!' … This was Reggie's decision from the first day he came to New Orleans."

Even before Bush embraced the city, the city embraced him. Hundreds of Saints fans in evacuation shelters gathered around TVs to watch the draft, and erupted in cheers when he was selected. Soon after, season-ticket sales took a dramatic jump.

Last month, at the NFL rookie symposium in San Diego, Bush said he hoped to be in training camp on time but hinted that might not happen.

"We're going to try," he said. "Obviously that's the goal. In the perfect world that's what happens, but I'm not too sure about that."

Agent Leigh Steinberg said it's typically easier for running backs to get up to speed after missing part of training camp than it is for, say, a quarterback or offensive lineman. And, he said, teams sometimes have incentive to drag their feet in negotiating with ballcarriers.

"There's a theory that with certain key high-round running backs, teams might not be champing at the bit to expose them to every last hit of training camp," Steinberg said.

He recalled a time he was negotiating a contract for a high-profile running back and, even though camp had already started, he couldn't generate any momentum in the talks.

"I became convinced that the general manager had a date circled on his calendar," Steinberg said, "and he didn't want the player to report until then."
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Bush is in a bit of a tough spot because of all the extra stuff surrounding Katrina and the team he was drafted by. In my opinion, I will give him a chance to get his money, just like Hawk and the rest of the #1s, who are now starting to sign. Do I hypothetically think he will be a dick if he holds out until the season starts because of a few thousand dollars here or there considering the circumstances? Yeah, probably, but until he does, I'm willing to bet he'll get his cash and report and work hard.
 
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DON'T WASTE GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

Reggie needs to get to camp now so he doesn't pass on a chance to play against the BROWNS in the opener. Could get career off to good start by further embarrassing the cleveland organization. Rookie records for opening day?
 
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Reggie got stuck with a 6-year deal

BREAKING NEWS

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Bush, Saints Agree To Deal

Reggie Bush won't be holding out after all. The Saints' first-round pick has agreed to a six-year contract, Len Pasquarelli reports. The deal will be signed Sunday.
 
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People get all caught up with hold-outs and contracts in the NFL, and forget that it is a business. These players and their agents are out there to get the money that they can get, and won't settle for less when they can do better (without being unreasonable).

I don't blame guys for negotiating, because some people act like they should take the first contract offered to them and be grateful. People also get caught up in the media games, and how quickly things get blown up depending on how big of a name the story carries. I don't blame Reggie a bit for what he did, considering he had not disrespected anyone throughout the (short) "hold-out" process, and has been a class act even throughout all that has happened to him.
 
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ABJ

7/30/06

Bush agrees to 6-year deal with Saints

BRETT MARTEL

Associated Press

<!-- begin body-content -->JACKSON, Miss. - Reggie Bush agreed to a six-year deal with the New Orleans Saints on Saturday night and the Heisman Trophy winner will report to training camp Sunday, The Associated Press has learned.
A source with direct knowledge of the negotiations said the deal had been agreed to, but that he couldn't disclose financial terms.
Reached by phone at his home in New York, Bush's agent, Joel Segal, said he wouldn't comment until a deal had been signed. However, he said he was traveling to Jackson on Sunday to meet with Bush and the Saints.
The team didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment late Friday night.
Bush, the Saints' only unsigned player, has missed the team's first three practices of training camp.
The former Southern California running back was selected second overall, between No. 1 Mario Williams and No. 3 Vince Young.
Williams signed a six-year, $54 million contract with Houston, with $26.5 million guaranteed. Young agreed to a five-year deal with Tennessee, with an option for a sixth, with $25.7 million guaranteed and an overall value that could reach $58 million with option and roster bonuses and salary.
The 6-foot, 200-pound Bush had 1,740 yards rushing and 2,890 all-purpose yards for Southern Cal last season as a junior. The Trojans had a chance for their third straight national title, but fell 41-38 to Texas in the Rose Bowl.
Bush averaged 8.9 yards a carry, caught 37 passes for 478 yards and led the nation in all-purpose yards with 222.3 per game.
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Just wondering if any of you Bush nuthuggers (sry been reading too many sherdog forums) will admit and eat crow IF Bush turns out to be a bust. It's not that far fetched seeing as he really never got hit in college and didn't have a normal amount of carries for a RB. He could be the next everything or he could be the next Cryin Ryan (not the crying but the poor play). So lets not enshrine him in the pro football HOF just yet. Oh and I've seen most of Bush's plays (again not a hellva lot of carries) and I dont care what any stats or ppl say, the west coast doesn't play defense like the others regions of CFB (Midwest, South, East) and Bush flat out wouldnt have been as impressive in those regions.

BTW type nuthuggers and hit spell check. dam racist spell check :)
 
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TheMightyQuinn said:
Just wondering if any of you Bush nuthuggers (sry been reading too many sherdog forums) will admit and eat crow IF Bush turns out to be a bust. It's not that far fetched seeing as he really never got hit in college and didn't have a normal amount of carries for a RB. He could be the next everything or he could be the next Cryin Ryan (not the crying but the poor play). So lets not enshrine him in the pro football HOF just yet. Oh and I've seen most of Bush's plays (again not a hellva lot of carries) and I dont care what any stats or ppl say, the west coast doesn't play defense like the others regions of CFB (Midwest, South, East) and Bush flat out wouldnt have been as impressive in those regions.

BTW type nuthuggers and hit spell check. dam racist spell check :)
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He looked pretty damn impressive to me. So much for not being able to cut back across the grain in the NFL.
 
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