Sucker Punched: He Gave It Back?

With all of the pressure from the media and the Downtown Athletic Club pondering their next move. Reggie Bush gave his Heisman trophy back. Now understand that they didn’t take it. He just gave it to them before they asked for it. Actually, I don’t think that they really wanted it. Reggie just let them off the hook. The entire sports world was watching to see if the Trust was going to be bold enough to ask for it, or better yet, would they be hypocritical enough to ask for it. USC had just given their copy of the trophy back and had taken all of the memorabilia of Reggie Bush out of Heritage Hall, the athletic complex for the Trojans.

Now lets look at the hypocrisy of USC in all of this. Now it’s common knowledge that schools like this make a fortune off of guys like Reggie Bush. They all of a sudden get a soul for doing the right thing when the situation blows up in their face. I heard the new Athletic Director, Pat Hayden, say on ESPN radio when asked if he were Reggie Bush would he give it back. He responded by saying, “ If I were him with the soul of Pat Hayden, I would.” My question is why didn’t his soul make him give the millions of dollars back that the school made off of Bush while he was a student-athlete at Southern Cal. How can you act like the kid never attended the university by removing his legacy and keep spending the money that he made for you. You didn’t turn that over did you?

The Heisman Trust didn’t want the trophy back because if they had asked for it. They would have to ask for all 74 trophies to be returned. Let’s keep it real. If a guy is good enough to win the Heisman Trophy you better believe that at some point along the way he was given some type of improper benefit, a free meal, an airplane ticket, some clothes and or cash. The alumni and boosters at these major football programs will do anything to produce a winner. Don’t act like Reggie was the first recipient to be taken care of and he won’t be the last. Believe that!

So if I were Reggie Bush I would’ve told the media, USC and the Heisman Trust to kick rocks if they had asked me for the trophy. Don’t try to have some type of morals after you’ve clearly benefited from my ability to play this game. The media made money by covering the games etc, USC played in multiple BCS Bowl games and sold #5 jerseys at an alarming rate. The Trust only thought about taking the trophy after the intense scrutiny in the media became too much. Everybody covered their rear ends in this situation but Reggie. So without talking to me he gave it back. What’s your opinion?

Jay Graves