Reggie Bush to forfeit his Heisman Trophy

• lhslep134

  

  per text from ESPN.
• Scarlet_Fever

  

  Will they leave it vacated? Vince Young says he wants it.
• ou1980

  http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2010/09/reggie_bush_says_hes_going_to.html
• krambman

  

  I just got the text as well and heard it announced on 97.1 The Fan here in Columbus. Apparently CBS Sports is breaking the story.
  
  Smart move on his part. It would have been taken away eventually, and this will help him save face a bit. Throughout this whole thing he hasn't seemed very contrite or taken on any blame yet. He's only made comments about how upset he is about he's he's personally been effected by this (like saying that he's upset he can no longer go back to USC, etc.). This is at least a bit of an admission of guilt and an attempt at contrition.
  
  I think that the Heisman Trust would have eventually stripped him of the title anyway. I'm not even sure how there was discussion on this since the Heisman rules clearly say that a player must be eligible to win, and Bush has been declared retroactively ineligible. Since he was ineligible, he can't win the award. It's seemed pretty cut and dry to me for a while.
• ou1980

  GONE
  
  
• Art Modell

  

  He's just pissed he had to take a cut in pay to play in the NFL.
• sjmvsfscs08

  "I would like to begin in this effort by turning a negative situation into a positive one by working with the Trustees to establish an educational program which will assist student-athletes and their families avoid some of the mistakes that I made. I am determined to view this event as an opportunity to help others and to advance the values and mission of the Heisman Trophy Trust."

  HA! What a piece of shit.
• Writerbuckeye

  

  I have no doubt this was a move suggested by his agent or PR folks. It allows him to come across as just a wee bit less of a prick, and show a little remorse (yeah right) for his actions. As opposed to having all the headlines when the New York trust simply takes it away.
  
  My understanding is that it will simply remain vacated and no winner (like Young...who was more deserving, anyway) will be named to replace him.
  
  Some people will buy this conciliatory act -- however, I'm not one of them. All I will remember is how he stonewalled and lied for 3 plus years when the NCAA was trying to investigate. That shows his true "character" if you ask me.
• Little Danny

  

  Right now Reggie is thining "Man what do I need this trophy for. I can buy me as many trophies as I want, I live in a mansion, drive a Ferrari and I have a list of 100 hotties I can call right now for a bottie call". 15 years from now, when he is out of the league and he is a new analyst on ESPN NFL Countdown, he will regret his mistakes and want that trophy back.
  
  Sixteen years from now there will be a public outcry that his trophy will be reinstated. He will cry on TV and claim he was misled by USC, Pete Carroll, was a product of a poor upbringing..... there will also be a movement in this country to give the trophy back to him.
• dtdtim

  Little Danny;483987 wrote:Right now Reggie is thining "Man what do I need this trophy for. I can buy me as many trophies as I want, I live in a mansion, drive a Ferrari and I have a list of 100 hotties I can call right now for a bottie call". 15 years from now, when he is out of the league and he is a new analyst on ESPN NFL Countdown, he will regret his mistakes and want that trophy back.
  
  Sixteen years from now there will be a public outcry that his trophy will be reinstated. He will cry on TV and claim he was misled by USC, Pete Carroll, was a product of a poor upbringing..... there will also be a movement in this country to give the trophy back to him.

  
  Do you care what Rashaan Salaam is up to right now? No? People in 16 years won't care about Reggie Bush's Heisman either.
• Tiernan

  BS move right out of PR 101.... Bush is a POS punk like every other SC player. Young is not much better, leave it vacant for that year.
• Little Danny

  

  dtdtim;484079 wrote:Do you care what Rashaan Salaam is up to right now? No? People in 16 years won't care about Reggie Bush's Heisman either.

  
  Different scenario. First off, Salaam never made it in the NFL. He was cut after having a cup of coffee with the Bears. Barring a catastrophic injury, Reggie will continue to play in the NFL for the next 10 years+. Second, Reggie is a public figure. He banged Hollywood Socialites. Third, when Salaam finished his cup of Folger's he was never heard from again. Given the first two reasons I listed, he will still be in the public eye in some capacity.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  He still got the most votes.
• heel023

  

  He still was the best player for that season. Hell if they were going to strip him of it, why not strip OJ Simpson for what he did?
• bases_loaded

  

  OJ didn't kill two people the year he won it
• lhslep134

  

  heel023;484678 wrote:He still was the best player for that season. Hell if they were going to strip him of it, why not strip OJ Simpson for what he did?

  
  
  What a terrible argument LOL.
  
  Bush wasn't eligible during the season in which he won which violates literally the only prerequisite for the trophy.
  
  OJ WAS eligible during his Heisman season.
• krambman

  

  I think that for many people time skews their perspective on this. Think about it this way. Reggie Bush has now been declare retroactively ineligible for the 2005 season. That was 5 years ago. What if all of this would have come out before the Heisman was voted on that season. Say he played in all the regular season games, but after the end of the season was declared ineligible. People wouldn't have even been allowed to vote for him. Or what if this came out after the bowl game, say just a few months after he had won the award? He would have very quickly been stripped of it without much discussion or controversy. I think that the only reason people think he should keep the award is because it's been 5 years since this happened. The fact is that he cheated before he won the award, so whether he was declared ineligible right away, or five years after the fact, the truth is that he wasn't eligible to win the award.
  
  I also think that they should revote on the award for that year. I don't really like the idea of just giving it to Vince Young (because since you get to vote for three people on your ballot, it's theoretically possible that he wouldn't have won it had voters not been allowed to put Bush on their ballots), and I really don't like the idea of there not being any winner that year. Unlike with the National Championship that USC vacated there are two teams that didn't play each other who have a legitimate claim to it (Oklahoma who lost to USC in the bowl game, and Auburn who finished undefeated). Since those teams can't go back and play each other it's impossible to determine who would have won a game between them had USC been kept out of the game at the time for playing an ineligible player. With the Heisman though, the voters could go back and look at that season and those status again to determine who the most outstanding eligible player in college football was.
• ernest_t_bass

  

  I'm going to play the idiot card here... what exactly did Bush do? And, did that (what he did) effect his performance on the field?
• enigmaax

  Revisionist history is stupid. Doesn't punish anyone, doesn't fix anything. People are still going to talk about how good Reggie Bush was that season.
  
  As for Reggie Bush's character, well, the citizens of New Orleans including hurricane victims probably have a different view of him.
• Pick6

  

  Art Modell;483958 wrote:He's just pissed he had to take a cut in pay to play in the NFL.

  
  That might be the only funny thing you have ever said.
  
  
  
  I respect Bush a lot for doing this. That has to kill him
• ernest_t_bass

  

  Art Modell;483958 wrote:He's just pissed he had to take a cut in pay to play in the NFL.

  Pick6;484713 wrote:That might be the only funny thing you have ever said.

  
  Too bad he heard it on Hard Knocks first.
• krambman

  

  ernest_t_bass;484707 wrote:I'm going to play the idiot card here... what exactly did Bush do? And, did that (what he did) effect his performance on the field?

  
  Bush took several hundred thousand dollars from a sports agent before the 2004 National Championship game. Did it affect his one field performance in that bowl game or the next season? No. Would he have been allowed to play in any of those games had this been discovered right away like the North Carolina party with an agent in Miami? No. So no, it didn't affect his on-field performance, except that his on-field performance never should have happened had this been discovered sooner. The only stipulation to win the Heisman is that you have to be an eligible player. He was not. End of story.