New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush is no stranger to Super Bowl Media Day -- even though he has never been there as an NFL player.
Before he was drafted by the Saints in 2006 and even before he was a college superstar at USC, Bush was part of the media covering Super Bowl XXXVII in his hometown of San Diego.
Bush, then a senior at Helix High School, was a special correspondent for NFLHS.com, a high school football site that was run by the NFL. Bush, who already had committed to play for USC at that time, was a wide-eyed kid who reveled in meeting former Trojan stars such as Keyshawn Johnson and Marcus Allen.
The following is an excerpt of the story that Bush wrote for NFLHS.com:
Reggie Bush -- A Dream Come True
By Reggie Bush, special to NFLHS.com
I'm so excited that I got to attend media day. It was really like a dream come true. You see these guys on TV every day and wish that you could get to know them, and today that happened for me.
Before the day started, I really wasn't expecting anything. I thought I might see some secondary players, but I didn't think it would be up-close and personal. I would have been really mad at myself if I had missed out on this!
There wasn't one thing alone that stood out, it was all so amazing. Getting advice from future Hall of Famers like Tim Brown and Marcus Allen, they know what the game is all about. Terrell Davis, John Parrella, Lincoln Kennedy … they're all great guys. I have to say I was a little surprised by how much they talked about the bible and God, but in a good way. You always hear a lot about football players getting into trouble with the law, but these guys showed that the NFL is starting to change for the better.
Meeting Marcus Allen and Terrell Davis was something special. I'm from San Diego and so are they, and sometimes I've been compared to them, which is a real honor. Those are really big shoes to fill. It was nice getting to meet them and talk to them. They gave me some great advice, stuff I will remember forever.
Since I'm going to USC, I wanted to talk to the some of the former Trojans. Keyshawn Johnson was real cool. Before today I had a little bit of a different perception of him because people think of him as selfish. But he was really nice and laid back. He wasn't stuck up at all. Meeting all these USC guys is just the icing on the cake for me. It really surprised me how these superstars really seemed to care about my future. I couldn't believe all of the media that wanted to talk to me, too. I felt that there were so many other NFL players from the Raiders or Bucs that deserved to be interviewed more than me! I didn't expect that at all. When I first walked into the stadium, I felt like the smallest person on earth, with all those superstars around, but for a moment, I felt like one of them.
But I think the greatest thing was finding out that these superstars are just everyday people like the rest of us. It was great to see that you don't have to be something out of this world to make it to the NFL. Just be yourself and play the game. These players just joke around like we do in high school. They're one big family, just like us.
