Reggie Bush, Peak Performance Case Study

"I haven't lived up to the expectations I set for myself. Before I got to the NFL, I thought it would be the Super Bowl every year, make the Pro Bowl every year. You discover it's hard. It's hard to get to the Super Bowl. I've been in the league four years and just got here. There's a lot of great players who never get to the Super Bowl.

"I haven't lived up to the expectations I set for myself, but I know it will come."

--Reggie Bush, talking about his career on media day during Super Bowl week as the New Orleans Saints prepared for the Indianapolis Colts.

"All I want to do is be the best player ever to play this game, and I'd be remiss if I didn't feel that way," Bush said. "If I didn't feel that way when I step on the field, I'd be selling myself short."

"I've always been my biggest critic," he said. "I've always set the highest goals for myself. I aspire to be the MVP of the league, of the Super Bowl, all the highest goals that I can set. Eventually it's going to happen for me."

Bush's accomplishments include:

* Heisman Trophy winning running back from Southern California
* The second overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft
* An impressive rookie season was, at times dazzling. He scored nine touchdowns, combined for 1,307 yards from scrimmage, and helped the Saints reach the NFC championship game for the first time since their inception in 1967
* The most feared and exciting punt-returner in the NFL
* A dangerous runner and receiver out of the backfield to which rival defenses must pay attention

Could a Super Bowl win by the New Orleans Saints turn the perception around that Reggie Bush is a disappointment? Will it take a Super human individual performance on his part?

Excerpts taken from the Associated Press and ajc.com, February 3, 2010.