Wednesday Quick Slant: Reggie Bush's Heisman

Back in May I wrote about the (at the time) seemingly endless wait for the decision of the NCAA regarding the Reggie Bush investigation. A decision hadn't been rendered, but I thought that it would be a lot of waiting for a slap on the wrist.

Well, it turned out to not be a slap on the wrist, and the NCAA threw a midsized book at USC, forcing the Trojans to essentially disavow any knowledge of Reggie Bush. This included removing his trophies and memorabilia from display at Heritage Hall and also led new athletic director Pat Haden to return the copy of the Heisman Trophy back to the Heisman Trust.

Earlier this week Yahoo! Sports (who initially broke the Reggie Bush story) reported that the Heisman Trust was going to revoke the award from Bush and ask for the trophy back. The Heisman Trust has since denied the veracity of the report.

There are quite a few folks who think that if the Heisman Trust does revoke the trophy that they are making a grave mistake. It's another case of hypocrisy against the trodden-on revenue generating athlete, and all Bush did was take a car and a rent free, six figure house for his parents. It's not like he ran a counterfiting operation (Billy Cannon) or committed a convoluted armed robbery in a Las Vegas hotel/casino (O.J. Simpson) or was a deadbeat dad (Billy Sims).

We can address whether intercollegiate athletes should be paid or not at another time, but for me, it's a simple issue:

Reggie Bush was ruled ineligible for the 2005 season by the NCAA. Which means, to me, that he shouldn't have been on the field. If he was not supposed to be on the field, then he shouldn't be allowed to retain a trophy that was acquired during a time of ineligibility.

Because while there are plenty of Heisman winners that performed questionably after their playing days were over, and while there are past Heisman winners who have received extra benefits, only one was caught and declared ineligible, from what I can gather.

That was Reggie Bush.

Is it piling on? Perhaps.

But taking back the Heisman, to me, is the only move.