MATT LEINART - REGGIE BUSH: DUO HELPS LEAD USC TO NEW HEIGHTS.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI It could have been Reggie Bush Reginald "Reggie" Bush, birth name: Reginald Alfred Bush II (born March 2, 1985 in San Diego, California), nicknamed 'The Human Highlight Reel' and 'The President', alluding to President Bush, is an American football player who plays for the New Orleans Saints of the NFL. all by himself - he was the most spectacular player on the best team in town. It could have been Matt Leinart Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983 in Santa Ana, California) is an American football quarterback (QB) for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Southern California Trojans, leading them to an AP national all by himself - his decision to put off a multi-million-dollar pro-football payday kept that team intact. Bush or Leinart, Leinart or Bush, either would have been a perfectly good choice for Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Sports Person of the Year, an honor that this column is proud to present for the first time in 2005. But the combination of the two- Leinart and Bush, Bush and Leinart-is better. ``Matt and I just made history,'' Bush said after winning the Heisman Trophy Heisman Trophy Annual award given to the outstanding college gridiron football player in the U.S. The trophy was instituted in 1935 by New York City's Downtown Athletic Club and was officially named the following year for the club's first athletic director, the player-coach , taking the biggest handoff yet from Leinart, and that's the heart of the matter for the USC football USC football refers to either of two NCAA Division I-A college football programs:
Call Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, the L.A. Sports Persons of the Year. A couple of college kids showed the pros how it's done. In 2005, the Lakers missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade because of the fallout from the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant feud. In 2005, the Dodgers were a mess and their dysfunction was symbolized by the Jeff Kent-Milton Bradley clash late in the season. Meanwhile, in 2005, Pete Carroll's Trojans stayed on top because the best ball-carrier and the best quarterback in the amateur ranks kept their egos to themselves and paired up for the good of team and - soon enough - bank account. Since when, you might ask, does the Daily News name an L.A. Sports Person of the Year? Since you picked up the paper this morning. We noticed that Time is scheduled to reveal its prestigious Person of the Year today, and we realized the news magazine's annual award goes only so far. Time's Person of the Year announcement might be a big deal to those whose interests in life focus narrowly on such trifles as politics, economics, science, technology, religion and the arts. But, hey, what's in it for the renaissance men and women whose curiosity extends to every corner of the wide and wonderful world known as Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, sports? So here's an award for the newsmakers of the local sports scene. A week ago, we began an informal survey of Daily News sportswriters and editors and L.A. sports publicists - about three dozen experts in all - seeking suggestions for L.A. Sports Person of the Year. We reminded them that, in the spirit of the Time award, our Person of the Year could be someone whose extraordinary impact has been positive or negative (Time's 1938 POY was Adolf Hitler); it didn't have to be a famous person (Time's `97 POY was Andy Grove, the Intel co-founder); it didn't have to be an individual (Time's `75 POY was ``U.S. Women''), and it didn't even have to be human (Time's '88 POY was ``The Endangered Earth''). The suggestions flooded in. They included star players: Jason Gore Jason William Gore (born May 17, 1974) is an American professional golfer. Gore was born in Van Nuys, California. He attended Pepperdine University. Gore plays on the PGA Tour after moving from the Nationwide Tour midseason in 2005. (Pepperdine) of U.S. Open The term U.S. Open is applied to "open" United States national championships in a particular sport, in which anybody, amateur or professional, American or non-American may compete. These include:
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX football and Landon Donovan Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982 in Ontario, California), is an American professional soccer player on the Los Angeles Galaxy, who is the joint all-time leading scorer for the U.S. National Team (along with Eric Wynalda). of the Galaxy. They included Arte Moreno, the Angels owner under whom the franchise has made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time. They included Mike Dunleavy, the Clippers coach who is guiding the team's long-overdue emergence. They included Kim Ng, the Dodgers executive who was a candidate to be come baseball's first female general manager. They included less-known people who brighten the lives of others - such as Dan Nelson, a UCLA special-teams player and ex-Marine who runs marathons to raise money for the families of soldiers killed in Middle East conflicts. And they included Jimmy Goldstein, the eccentrically groomed Lakers and Clippers season-ticket holder who might be the NBA's most devoted fan. I thought you could make a case, in this period of Lakers' and Dodgers' rebuilding, to name L.A.'s patient sports fans as the L.A. Sports Persons of the Year. And let's not forget a young athlete named Giacomo, who did Southern California proud in the Kentucky Derby and never had a cross word for anybody. Our survey produced a lot of support for the notion of Frank and Jamie McCourt as L.A. Sports Persons of the Year. Like it or not, the Dodgers' owners were difference-makers this year, presiding over the crumbling of the city's bedrock franchise. Congratulations, McCourts, here's a dishonorable dis·hon·or·a·ble adj. 1. Characterized by or causing dishonor or discredit. 2. Lacking integrity; unprincipled. dis·hon mention. But the vast majority of those surveyed our honoree(s) had to come from USC football - Bush, Leinart, Carroll or the team as a group. What's amazing about USC football during its 35-game win streak is the absence of publicly aired jealousies among players - not just Bush and Leinart but LenDale White, Dwayne Jarrett and others - who would have the town to themselves if they were at any other school. The two Heisman Trophy winners were stars without acting like it. Presenting the Los Angeles Sports Persons of the Year. Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart. CAPTION(S): 15 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush at the 13th annual ESPY Awards. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images (2) Reggie Bush, left, and Matt Leinart share a handoff during a game. The two also share columnist Kevin Modesti's L.A. Sportsmen Of The Year Award. Getty Images THE REST OF THE BEST (3) FRANK McCOURT (4) JAMIE McCOURT (5) JASON GORE (6) ELTON BRAND (7) BARTOLO COLON (8) LANDON DONOVAN (9) MIKE DUNLEAVEY (10) KOBE BRYANT (11) KIM NG (12) KIGIACOMO (13) DREW OLSON (14) PETE CARROLL (15) DAN NELSON |
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