Bush needs to make headline on the field now - Ingles

The trade for Reggie Bush all but assures the Miami Dolphins at least will lead the league in headlines on TMZ and PopEater.

The Dolphins struck a deal with the New Orleans Saints on Thursday to acquire the flashy running back, known as much for red-carpet strolls as his touchdown-scoring sprints. Miami agreed to terms with Bush, a former USC standout who won the Heisman Trophy, then was stripped of it, on a two-year contract Thursday. Under NFL rules he is not allowed to sign the deal — worth nearly $10 million — until Friday.

All of which begs the question, are the Dolphins getting a legitimate game-breaker or just another celebrity who won't make any more difference on the field than minority owners Marc Anthony and Fergie?

Even in the doldrums of the NFL lockout, Bush was a fascination of the gossip sites. There was a report he was devastated by the engagement of ex-girlfriend Kim Kardashian. Then he was tracked this summer hopping the pond to hang in London with new paramour Melissa Molinaro, a Kardashian clone.

The resemblance is so striking that Kardashian has filed a $20 million lawsuit against Old Navy over a TV commercial featuring Molinaro, claiming it capitalizes on her likeness.

The link to Bush illuminates that he has always been an illusion as well, dating to when he was electrifying college football at Southern California. Saturday's hero turned out to be a cheater in the eyes of the NCAA. He's never been the dominant force envisioned in the NFL. And he claims to dislike the celebrity spotlight he can't seem to avoid.

Soon after that the split with Kardashian was sealed, but the gossip continued, including mention of a rebound relationship with model Amber Rose in a cover story in Vibe magazine. TMZ delighted in documenting an alcohol-enhanced kerfuffle with Kardashian at an L.A. wedding that ended with body guards separating the two.

Last September when Bush agreed to relinquish his Heisman Trophy due to the scandal stemming from improper benefits received while at USC that also resulted in the Trojans being stripped of the national championship he helped win — he still hasn't returned the trophy. Things weren't any better on the field last season as a broken fibula cost him eight games.

"He never should have split up with Kim Kardashian. That was his mistake," Bob Dorfman, a sports marketing expert with Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco, said facetiously. "The other thing that hurt him is he never really panned out as the spectacular, breakaway, flashy player that he came into the league looking like."

The jaw-dropping feats on the field at USC created high expectations when Bush joined the Saints and earned him a $1 million endorsement deal with Adidas. His jersey was the best seller in the NFL during his rookie year in 2006. The following year he was featured in eight national advertising campaigns, including Subway, Visa, Pepsi and Hummer. He was pushing Tom Brady for the No. 2 spot for endorsements in the NFL behind Peyton Manning.

A commercial with soccer megastar David Beckham pushed Bush's fame worldwide. He enhanced his image by donating money from jersey sales to charities in New Orleans, and a priest dubbed him St. Reginald for his efforts to aid the community in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Two years after Katrina, a prominent marketing index rated him as popular as Angelina Jolie and as trusted as Pat Riley. The Celebrity Davie Brown Index is devised by The Marketing Arm to gauge a celebrity's commercial endorsement value.

Since the USC revelations unfolded, Bush's DBI endorsement score has fallen into the neighborhood of Jackass star Johnny Knoxville and Snoop Dogg. His consumer appeal now ranks about 2,500 out of 2,800 celebrities, comparable to Brett Favre and John Daly.

"It's kind of a drastic decline in those areas," said Darin David, a director in sports marketing with The Marketing Arm. "He hasn't had as much damage done as some athletes, but it's been enough to cause brands to pause when they consider him, I think."

Meanwhile, Bush's awareness rating has soared until he is about as well known as Jerry Rice, George Strait and Deion Sanders. That was no doubt driven by notoriety attached to the USC scandal as well as the Kardashian drama playing out in the tabloids.

"Maybe this is a new opportunity for him, a new team, maybe he can put the USC scandal behind him," David said. "Certainly athletes have overcome other scandals. Michael Vick is doing a lot to repair his image." This article was written by Craig Davis and appeared in The South Florida Sun Sentinel.