All over the national media in the last 24 hours has been the news that Reggie Bush has decided to forfeit his Heisman, and return it to college football. I’ve actually refrained from writing anything on this topic until today. My position on the issue remains the same: this has to do with USC and not the Saints. I care about Reggie Bush, sure, but I could care less about USC. Something actually moved me to write about it in the last 24 hours, though, and that was the support Bush garnered from his teammates.
Whether it was Brees, Will Smith, Heath Evans, DeMario Pressley, or others, it was awesome to see all those people speak publicly on twitter about the issue. The support he got from his teammates is of course the way it should be, but it reinforced my belief that things are just different in New Orleans and with the Saints. This locker room is tight and it’s been that way for the last four years. These guys have each other’s backs, and the Saints start first and foremost with character. As much talent as they have, I believe that their character is ultimately what contributes most to their winning ways. Without heart and support, success is hard to achieve, and this was a subtle reminder just how strong the Saints are at their core. The main thing I took from the 24 hours is that the Saints are a true “team” in every sense of the word, and you could go as far as to call them brothers.
Aside from that, here’s my stance on Bush returning his trophy: anything he accepted had zero impact on his production on the field. Was he wrong to do what he did? Absolutely. Should he have known better? Absolutely. But with that said, that had no bearing on what he did to embarass other teams every Saturday. He was without question the best player in college football that year, and he has a case for the best running back in college football history. If you had a chance to watch him, he was unstoppable. College football was simply not challenging enough for Bush, and any team that lined up against him was immediately severely overmatched. I’m saying this as a diehard LSU fan that rooted passionately against USC. Vince Young knows better than to accept that Heisman, because he knows that Reggie Bush is the only deserving recipient.
Here’s what else I’ll say about this: what do you expect a 17/18 year old athlete to do? Sure, you’d hope they have the conviction, morality and maturity to decline something that is against the rules. But did you have that wherewithall at that age to pass up on millions? I’m pretty sure I didn’t. The problem is not Reggie Bush, the problem is the people with influence and money on the game that have decided to make things corrupt. If you gave every young athlete just out of high school the same opportunities Reggie Bush received, upwards of 90% would walk down that same exact road. Does that make it right? No. But we’re all human, and it’s safe to assume the average young athlete just starting college football probably has less intelligence than the average person reading this blog. The educated and calculated prominent figure heads, with power, control and money, are the ones making the decisions to offer the athletes things they can’t refuse. Ultimately, those guilty parties are the ones that should be stripped of their roles. It may hurt college football programs to turn against their biggest investors and producers off the field, but until someone takes a stand this will continue to happen and the game will continue to be corrupt.
Blame Reggie Bush all you want for making bad decisions, but in my mind he comes out the winner. He’ll grow, learn and mature from the experience and become a better person for it. The puppet masters that dangle carrots in front of the less fortunate youngsters are past help. Regardless of what business you are in, I believe there is still a place for having principles and integrity. You can still have success, even when unethical practice is very prominent with your competition. I truly believe that. That could be a naive take, but eventually the respect one will earn from playing by the rules will earn them the ultimate reward.
I’ll leave you with the last statement we’ve received from Bush to this point. Reggie ended his commentary perfectly, saying, “Now that this is behind me I look forward to the future and winning more awards and championships here in New Orleans! Who Dat!”
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