Reggie Bush was spectacular in 2005 playing for the USC Trojans, rushing for 1,740 yards, scoring 18 touchdowns and leading the Trojans to the national championship game against Texas and quarterback, Vince Young.

Clearly the best player in NCAAF that season, Bush won the Heisman Trophy by a landslide, receiving 784 first-place votes and landing 933 points ahead of Young.

Now, years later while coming off a Super Bowl victory with the New Orleans Saints, he is returning the award.

Many people believe Bush should have kept his award and the drawn out investigation may actually make him most remembered of all the winners in the history of the award.

When people are asked about the perfect games in MLB this season, the first one to come to most people’s minds is the non-perfect game in Detroit compliments of the botched call by umpire Jim Joyce. That may be remembered more than the perfect games that went into the history books.

In the same manner, I expect Bush’s Heisman win to be most remembered due to the circumstances surrounding its return.

Here is Bush’s statement that was released by the New Orleans Saints:   

“One of the greatest honors of my life was winning the Heisman Trophy in 2005. For me, it was a dream come true. But I know that the Heisman is not mine alone. Far from it. I know that my victory was made possible by the discipline and hard work of my teammates, the steady guidance of my coaches, the inspiration of the fans, and the unconditional love of my family and friends. And I know that any young man fortunate enough to win the Heisman enters into a family of sorts. Each individual carries the legacy of the award and each one is entrusted with its good name.”

“It is for these reasons that I have made the difficult decision to forfeit my title as Heisman winner of 2005.”

“For the rest of my days, I will continue to strive to demonstrate through my actions and words that I was deserving of the confidence placed in me by the Heisman Trophy Trust. 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.”

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Earlier this week, it was announced that Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy would be revoked. Although there is no doubt that he is guilty of accepting gifts from USC, should he really lose his Heisman trophy because of it?

Well, it’s a complicated issue, to say the least.

The Heisman Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. The key words here are: performance and integrity.

Did Reggie Bush perform with integrity?

The quick answer is yes, he did.

The way I see it is that Reggie Bush didn’t cheat the game; he cheated the system. So even though his off-the field lifestyle was led with bad decisions and illegal action, his on-the-field performance was always outstanding.

And for that reason, he should keep his Heisman.

Perhaps the most interesting topic surrounding this controversy is whether or not Reggie would have done as well if he had not received so many perks courtesy of the university.

No one knows the answer to that, and no one ever will. Which is why we can’t demean his accomplishments during his time at USC.

Regardless of what he received from the university, Reggie Bush played the game fair. It’s not like he was receiving performance-enhancing drugs for four years. He, like every other player, had to earn every single yard and touchdown during the season.

Put it this way: if you gave me a fighter jet and Stacy Keibler, I could never in a million years match Reggie Bush’s stats from 2005. Never.

So, even though I believe Reggie Bush and USC should be punished for their actions, I do not think that Reggie should be stripped of his Heisman. He was voted the winner for one reason: his performance during game time was outstanding.

So you can take away his money, houses, and cars, but you can’t take away his accomplishments from that year. What he did on the field, he left on the field… and that was everything he ever had.

Used with permission of the author.

Logan Rhoades is a Los Angeles-based writer and contributor to Sports Climax. With an extensive knowledge of ESPN topics and celebrity gossip, he is known for mixing sports and pop culture to entertain his readers. Check out his blog and Follow him on Twitter @loganrhoades.

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When Reggie Bush’s advisers either told him or couldn’t get him to settle the claim by Lloyd Lake and Michael Michaels, for close to what was asked, the cycle that led to the NCAA punishment of USC was set in motion.

Lake and Michaels were looking for compensation, after Bush and his family received money and benefits from them while Reggie was in school. In exchange they were to represent Bush as a pro but he stiffed them. He signed with someone else.

There is more than speculation that those two men were the sources for the very first story about this scandal, published in Yahoo! Sports a few years ago.

Next, the civil lawsuits were filed against Bush and his family by the two men. Bush decided to go to the District Attorney to claim that Lake and Michaels were engaging in extortion by seeking return of money they weren’t owed.

An investigation commenced into those charges which amounted to nothing. But on the heels of that criminal allegation, the NCAA began its slow crawl towards today’s announced sanctions against the university.

Bush settled relatively quickly with Michaels but continued to refuse to do the same with Lake. Mere weeks ago, Bush and Lake came to a confidential settlement on the eve of him having to testify under oath about the facts of the case.

In the meantime, the university toughed it out, got in trouble on the basketball side of the athletics department and purged Tim Floyd from his position as coach. Floyd, by the way, was not named as a culprit in the report issued today abut the violations related to OJ Mayo.

Pete Carroll jumped to the NFL as the NCAA was getting closer to wrapping up its inquiry. Bush as we know is ensconced with the Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints and OJ Mayo plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA

The music stopped in this game of Musical Chair as of today. Will the cheese stand alone? That is Athletic Director, “Teflon” Mike Garrett. Story on how Garrett uses plausible deniability, here

The NCAA called the situation at the school, a lack of institutional control and while we wait this thing to play out, one huge question remains, “Will Bush lose his Heisman Trophy?”

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Reggie Bush, pride of USC, Heisman Trophy winner and the second overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft has lost his bid to be tell his tales in a private arbitration. And guess who is most interested in what he has to say? The NCAA, that’s who.

The deposition testimony in a civil lawsuit will create a public record about Bush’s side of a story that is more than four years old. Did he and his parents receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and goodies while he went to college, in exchange for a promise that he would become a client of Lloyd Lake and Michael Michaels after he jumped to the NFL? A promise he did not keep.

The NCAA hasn’t finalized its recommendation about whether there should be punishment meted out after its far reaching investigation into USC’s adherence to NCAA rules. It got lucky that a judge recently ruled that Bush’s testimony cannot remain secret.

The Associated Press reported that the college governing body has asked for a full transcript of Bush’s testimony and that of Mr. Michaels. Presumably it is only after reviewing all that material that USC’s fate will be determined.

In the meantime, the NFL Draft, televised on ESPN will serve as a reminder of what all this is about. Round one is scheduled for prime time on Thursday evening April 22, rounds two and three will go off on the next night and it will all wrap up on the weekend.

Bush sits down under oath on that Friday, April 23. Think those Sports Center updates won’t be have film of Reggie walking in and out of Lake’s attorney’s office surrounded by his team? Why wouldn’t they? Bush is considered one of the biggest recent success stories of a college athlete making it big in the NFL.

If his ability to stay in school and afford the things he needed or wanted was contingent on receiving financial assistance in a way that breaches NCAA rules it is news.

Not big news mind you because you and I already believe that this is a common practice.

The big news will be if USC gets punished in the present for what it might or might not have known about in the past. The school already made an admission of wrongdoing, without actually making one when it sacrificed its men’s basketball team on the altar of being a good citizen in the world of the NCAA.

But that was only about the recruiting of basketball star O.J. Mayo. While he was news out here in LA during his time at USC, he doesn’t move the meter on public interest the way the on again-off again boyfriend of Kim Karashian does.

If the stench reaches the vaunted football team it will taint former coach Pete Carroll and of course the seemingly untouchable and Teflon-like Mike Garrett, the school’s Athletic Director. Bush will go about his business without any cares unless there is something more to hide than allegedly receiving free rent for his parents and goodies for himself.

This isn’t criminal wrongdoing so don’t expect Commissioner Goodell to get involved. Reggie can write a check and make this all go away if he wants to settle the case with Lake. In the meantime, other young men will wait for their names to be called for their chance to make millions playing football. No matter what it took to get them there.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

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