Hyping (Reggie) Bush

Why do sportswriters insist on hyping certain players to the moon? For a few years, it was Michael Vick, who has yet to prove himself a middle of the road quarterback, let alone the phenom he's made out to be. The writers are finally getting that point, so they don't hype him quite so much. Now it's Reggie Bush. The hype started before the draft, and it continues. Charles Robinson writes almost a full article raving breathlessly about Bush's 44 yard run in his first pre-season game and how it proves he's already a force to be reckoned with. Certainly a nice run. What Robinson doesn't write is that Bush's total stats for the game were 6 runs, 59 yards. So, take away the 44 yarder and Bush is 5 rushes for 15 yards. Not quite so impressive, is it? Both Aaron Stecker and Branch had better yards per carry averages for the game, 3.3 and 4.3 respectively. You need about a 4.0 average or better to get a 1000 yard season.

As I said before, I'm trying to argue Bush will flop in the NFL. But it's a bit much to hype him to the moon on the basis of a single, anomalous run that hides a much more pedestrian outing.