Reggie Bush deserves to keep his Heisman...
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killdeer
my problem with this whole thing....you have a young "amateur" athlete; in the culture of college football, where the game plan is to do as you are told...
...the powers that be offer cash to a 19, 20, 21-year old athlete in the context of something legitimate as he is clearly serving as an employee of one of the largest football franchises in the US...amateur or college status be damned....the merchandising and seat licensure and TV money is huge...
...and none of those executives are giving back any of their awards...
the system is broken, and everybody blames the most accessible figure, which may be Bush...
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/19/1831411/reggie-bush-should-have-stood.html -
Red_Skin_Pride
killdeer;489222 wrote:my problem with this whole thing....you have a young "amateur" athlete; in the culture of college football, where the game plan is to do as you are told...
...the powers that be offer cash to a 19, 20, 21-year old athlete in the context of something legitimate as he is clearly serving as an employee of one of the largest football franchises in the US...amateur or college status be damned....the merchandising and seat licensure and TV money is huge...
...and none of those executives are giving back any of their awards...
the system is broken, and everybody blames the most accessible figure, which may be Bush...
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/19/1831411/reggie-bush-should-have-stood.html
None of that matters though. You agree when you sign your NLOI to enter into an institution governed by the NCAA. You break the NCAA rules, you get punished. Actions have consequences. He was an adult when he did what he did. His compensation for playing was getting what would normally be about a 80,000 dollar or more education, for free. The heisman goes by basically the same rules. They have the right to look at the situation, use what the NCAA found in their investigation and make a decision based on that.
Now you are right, the people that get off scott free that shouldn't are the agents (and I think that will be changing soon) for offering the things they offer knowing it's against the rules of the NCAA. However, it's basically common knowledge that you can't take free shit (be it money, cars, rent, homes etc) from agents or anyone else really for that matter. So I don't buy this whole "oh he was only 19/20 and didn't know any better and they tricked him and blah blah blah". Bullshit. He knew exactly what he was doing and so did USC.
And that's the biggest thing that I have an issue with in your post, is you make it sound like players like Bush aren't "fairly compensated" for their services..."amateur or college status be damned...the licensure and TV money is huge" And who benefits from all that TV exposure, jersey sales and hype? Sure the schools do. SO DO THE PLAYERS, ESPECIALLY PLAYERS LIKE BUSH who are top draft picks. If you can't play by the NCAA's rules, nobody has a gun to your head. You don't HAVE to play college football...there are several other routes you can take to make it to the NFL. So why does basically EVERY player good enough to play college football, play it? EXPOSURE. College football and the body that governs it (NCAA) provides the showcase and medium for athletes like Bush to show off their talents and basically allows them to make MILLIONS of dollars down the road, but sadly some kids can't play by the rules, and then complain about it when they're caught.
Bottom line: Classic case of someone getting caught with their hand "in the cookie jar" so to speak, and now wants to deny it and act like they're innocent. He agreed to the rules, then broke them, and now he won't admit it and people are defending him for no reason. Flawed logic, and not the way the world works. Sorry to burst you're (and Reggie's) bubble. -
Darkon
Red_Skin_Pride;489226 wrote:None of that matters though. You agree when you sign your NLOI to enter into an institution governed by the NCAA. You break the NCAA rules, you get punished. Actions have consequences. He was an adult when he did what he did. His compensation for playing was getting what would normally be about a 80,000 dollar or more education, for free. The heisman goes by basically the same rules. They have the right to look at the situation, use what the NCAA found in their investigation and make a decision based on that.
Now you are right, the people that get off scott free that shouldn't are the agents (and I think that will be changing soon) for offering the things they offer knowing it's against the rules of the NCAA. However, it's basically common knowledge that you can't take free shit (be it money, cars, rent, homes etc) from agents or anyone else really for that matter. So I don't buy this whole "oh he was only 19/20 and didn't know any better and they tricked him and blah blah blah". Bullshit. He knew exactly what he was doing and so did USC.
And that's the biggest thing that I have an issue with in your post, is you make it sound like players like Bush aren't "fairly compensated" for their services..."amateur or college status be damned...the licensure and TV money is huge" And who benefits from all that TV exposure, jersey sales and hype? Sure the schools do. SO DO THE PLAYERS, ESPECIALLY PLAYERS LIKE BUSH who are top draft picks. If you can't play by the NCAA's rules, nobody has a gun to your head. You don't HAVE to play college football...there are several other routes you can take to make it to the NFL. So why does basically EVERY player good enough to play college football, play it? EXPOSURE. College football and the body that governs it (NCAA) provides the showcase and medium for athletes like Bush to show off their talents and basically allows them to make MILLIONS of dollars down the road, but sadly some kids can't play by the rules, and then complain about it when they're caught.
Bottom line: Classic case of someone getting caught with their hand "in the cookie jar" so to speak, and now wants to deny it and act like they're innocent. He agreed to the rules, then broke them, and now he won't admit it and people are defending him for no reason. Flawed logic, and not the way the world works. Sorry to burst you're (and Reggie's) bubble.
Nice post. My feelings are the same. -
rydawg5It reminds me of Jim Thorpe losing his gold medals. The culture, media, and public opinion was that it was an injustice that he lost them, because he played a few baseball games for pay before going to the Olympics.
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Fly4Fun
rydawg5;489357 wrote:It reminds me of Jim Thorpe losing his gold medals. The culture, media, and public opinion was that it was an injustice that he lost them, because he played a few baseball games for pay before going to the Olympics.
Ummm except it would be the total opposite here. The culture, media and public opinion is that Reggie Bush deserved to lose the Heisman as he broke the rules in taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for himself and his family. -
rydawg5Fly4Fun;489383 wrote:Ummm except it would be the total opposite here. The culture, media and public opinion is that Reggie Bush deserved to lose the Heisman as he broke the rules in taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for himself and his family.
I totally agree .. for some reason the other half of my post never showed up. I meant to put that the public opinion was for Jim Thorpe yet against Bush.