Heisman hypocrisy has Reggie Bush on the hot seat

If the reports are true and former University of Southern California star Reggie Bush has to return his 2005 Heisman Trophy to the Heisman Trophy Trust, it will be yet another episode in the hypocrisy that is modern college football. That’s because while it’s true that Bush took improperly “lavish” gifts from a sports marketing firm according to the NCAA, gifts that included a luxury apartment for his parents, USC looked the other way as all of this was going on…and is keeping the money it made from Bush’s efforts. USC has covered its own rear end by sending its copy of Bush’s Heisman back to New York and wiping out any references to Bush’s accomplishments from the USC campus as well as its record books. But if the school’s new president C.L. Max Nikias and new athletic director Pat Haden really want to be seen as crusading angels cleaning up the misdeeds of the previous regime, they should actually return the millions of dollars they made off of Bush’s exploits on the field, the money they made from sales of his Number 5 jerseys, the bowl money, TV money, and ticket sales he helped then garner and the money they got by having his image on E.A. Sports Video Games like NCAA 07. WATCH MSNBC COVERAGE OF REGGIE BUSH AND THE HEISMAN:
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But there’s as much chance of USC giving back all of that money as there is of my joining the Trojans starting backfield next year. Considering the fact that I’m a 48-year-old sportswriter, I don’t see that happening. And since that isn’t going to happen, let’s stop pretending that this is anything other than a shameless scam to give the public the false illusion that honesty in athletics is the reason for these moves. In fact, I believe that “integrity in college athletics” is the ultimate in oxymoron. Integrity left the building a long time ago. In its effort to make Bush a non-person in the lore of Trojan football, it is instead making itself look like the ultimate pimp. As long as Bush was scoring the touchdowns, compiling the yardage, winning the national championships, and giving the school constant television exposure, the athletic department at USC was raking in the money and had little regard for such “trivial issues” as compliance or that its star running back was taking money from sports agents. USC won games and national championships and so who cared if a few rules were broken? The Men From Troy made everyone feel good. And like their counterparts in Major League Baseball who made billions in revenue during the so-called “Steroid Era” but threw those players who used steroids under the bus once steroids use was discovered, USC has basically cast Bush out of the Trojan family now that the pile of dirty laundry that they ignored while it was being made has made him no longer useful. (more…)

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