“Pat Haden, the new athletic director, earlier in the month he said ‘If I were Reggie Bush with Pat Haden’s soul, yes I would give back the Heisman.’ OK, the Heisman’s given back. But Pat Haden, what are you going to now as far as correcting these transgressions? They played with an ineligible player, they went to BCS Bowl Games with an ineligible player, you don’t have the wins no more but you still have the money. What is your soul telling you to do with that money now that you got with an illegal player? That’s the big question that I want to hear answered now.”
Good point. If all is equal, then USC should have to forfeit everything they received during Bush’s tenure – and not just wins. As Howard points out, the Trojans used an ineligible player to not only win, but also receive a payout at the end of the year for the multiple bowls they appeared in.
As the guys at Larry Brown Sports said: It’s your move, Pat.
Not to sound preachy, but when you mess up in life, there are usually consequences that you eventually have to face. Granted, those consequences may come later down the road, but eventually karma catches up with people.
Bush did something wrong at USC. An argument that often gets brought up in relation to this topic is whether or not you or another athlete would have done the same thing (i.e. accept gifts from an agent, booster or what have you). But that’s irrelevant. The point is that he screwed up and until now, he didn’t have to pay for his actions.
But USC certainly did, now didn’t they? They had to forfeit all of their wins during Bush’s tenure with the program and also had to cough up scholarships for future recruiting. Considering Bush broke rules under their watch, they should have been punished and they were. It’s not fair to the current players that they were punished because of what Bush did, but unfortunately they’re the only true victims here.
Some are going to claim that Bush shouldn’t have to give back the award because it was earned for what he did on the field. I buy that and I certainly don’t disagree. But he can’ t keep his Heisman, his Super Bowl ring and his millions of dollars from the NFL while USC is stuck footing the bill for mistakes that he made.
Life doesn’t work like that – what goes around comes around, which is a notion that Bush was just reminded of.
Imagine you’re in a store and while you were shopping, someone decides to steal something and run out the door. Security then blocks all exits, takes down everyone’s information and then bans those people that were shopping at the time from the store for the next two years.
Meanwhile, the person that stole the item not only avoids punishment, but he or she winds up hitting the lottery for $52 million a couple of months later.
Is it fair that the people in the store that didn’t steal anything got punished for one person breaking the law, even though their only connection with the criminal was that they attended the same store? And is it fair that the one person who stole something not only got off scot-free but also cashed in later?
Any reasonable person would probably answer “no” to the above scenario, which is why I don’t feel the least bit sorry for Reggie Bush that the Downtown Athletic Club is expected to strip him from his 2005 Heisman Trophy. (It’s important to note that Bush hasn’t been stripped of his Heisman yet.)
Obviously my shopping analogy isn’t the best fit because Bush never stole anything, but you get the point. Bush broke the rules and the current USC players had to pay for them. Meanwhile, Bush avoids any kind of punishment and not only that, but he also receives a $52 million contract from the Saints on top of it.
Pat Haden, who was recently hired as USC’s Athlete Director, appeared on the Dan Patrick show on Wednesday and gave a rather unusual response to the question: “If you were Reggie Bush, would you give back the Heisman?”
Here’s the video below (hat tip to SPORTSbyBROOKS.com):
If you were Reggie Bush with Pat Haden’s soul? Who the hell talks like that? A simple, “Yes I would,” or “No I would not,” would have done just fine.
I think Haden was the right man to replace Mike Garrett at USC, but I find his response to a rather simple question kind of weird. I know what he was getting at, but it nevertheless was an odd way to phrase it.
