Sports Illustrated: Reggie Bush Gives Back
By Arash Markazi



I was cruising the "information superhighway" (remember when people used to call it that?) this morning and found this article on Reggie Bush's charity efforts that he's been carrying out in both San Diego and New Orleans. It was a really refreshing read and I was proud to read about how not only Bush, but other former USC players, Matt Leinart and LenDale White were getting involved with Reggie's "Camp 619" for San Diego area youth.

The first day I met LenDale, before he had ever played a college football game, he told me he was going to rush for 1,000 yards (came close) his Freshman year and that he was going to go pro after his junior season. Never had any reason to question him. Now he, Matt Leinart, and Reggie Bush are doing big things both on and off the field through Bush's charities.

My last semester writing for the Daily Trojan, I was given the "Little Miss Sunshine - Opinions Columnist of the Semester" award by now-Daily Trojan Editor in Chief Jeremy Beecher. While the award got some laughs, because Jeremy said that I was the only weekly columnist with a positive column that for some reason, people read and loved, I was really proud of receiving the award. It's so rare that we ever get to hear about good things that people are doing because as a society, whether we like it or not, we love to hear about drama that's not ours. Adam "Pac-Man" Jones is a household name for sports fans, likely having the same amount of recognition is guys like Champ Bailey, and even New England's Asante Samuel, despite the fact that he has probably done less on the field than either of them. Why? Because he gets in trouble and people seem to eat it up (even though I've also seen a good number of stories talking about how Pac-Man also gives back to local schools, which don't seem to make headlines).

People always used to ask me, "Who is the nicest/coolest/funniest/smartest/etc. player on the football team?" Not only were these questions ridiculous, but they were almost impossible to answer. Almost every time, the questions were followed up with "Is Matt/Reggie nice?" And yes, they were both great guys when I saw them everyday in college. However, both of them were college students living the life of a celebrity both on and off campus. Everyday, the two stars would get mobbed by young kids hoping to get a picture or autograph and grown men trying to make a living off of eBay. Grown men would pay small children to try and get Reggie's autograph for them because they had already accumulated a bunch that day to try and sell later. After Reggie won the Heisman, because of his flashy play style, he was probably twice as popular as Matt "with the kids." People would get upset with him for running straight to and from practice and not signing autographs along the way, but I couldn't see how people didn't understand that this might have got old for a 21 year old college student who, while he obviously got to benefit from the exposure, likely just wanted to have some normal days and a normal life sometimes.

I remember one day, Reggie was running out of meetings to get changed for practice and I saw this middle aged couple scream "REGGIE! Hey, let us get an autograph real quick!" Reggie responded "Sorry, I'm late for practice, I gotta get down and change," before he ran down toward the locker room. The couple, in desperation, with their USC Bookstore bags filled with autograph footballs, cried out "COME ON, REGGIE! Just one second! Come on, that's cold, man. That's cold..."

As "regular people," we think that it would be cool to have people ask you for autographs. However, I wonder if people ever think about how it might feel to be interrupted every single time you went out shopping or to a meal with some friends because someone is "huge fan" of you. People constantly asked me to get autographs of players for them during my four years of college, saying, "Oh my dad is the biggest fan," or "I LOVE Reggie Bush/Matt Leinart." The two guys were the cornerstones (along with many others), of two national championship teams, everyone loved them, but oftentimes, people didn't seem to recognize the toll that it frequently took on them. Sometimes, the two guys just didn't want to give autographs or take pictures and I don't think it's because they wanted to "protect their brand," but rather I think that they just wanted to enjoy being a college student before it was their official job to be athlete-celebrities.

I was really proud to read Arash Markazi's (who gained notoriety as a very controversial writer who covered USC Football for the Daily Trojan) positive article on Reggie Bush. It's silly, but I felt a great sense of pride that for three years, I was "Lil' Man," to Reggie - his little (yet older) homey who would carry his helmet up to the locker room after the game so he could do post-game interviews without trying to figure out what he should do with his helmet, find his digital camera for him during post game (and get stuck in the tunnel one time with it at the University of Washington), and occasionally save him from hoards of money-hungry autograph seekers by saying he'd left for the day. I hope that all these guys continue to perform well on and off the field now that they've moved on from Heritage Hall. While their success on the field is great, it is truly admirable that they are doing enough positive things off the field for a major media publication to write about it.

Fight on, guys.