Bush to lose Heisman

[Phishfan]

Sources are reporting that Reggie Bush will have his Heisman win stripped from him. They plan to leave that year vacant. I'm glad they are stripping him, but I'm mixed on no one holding the trophy now. Do you think second place should get the honor or do you agree with leaving it vacant?

[Fau Teixeira]

i think it's irrelevant .. college awards are meaningless compared to your shiny superbowl ring

[Sunstroke]

i think it's irrelevant .. college awards are meaningless compared to your shiny superbowl ring

That seems like a really limited view... The Heisman is worth quite a bit, unless all you're doing is projecting NFL futures.

Glad to see Reggie get stripped of it though. Despite my Pac-10 homerism, I just want to see all hints of this sort of behavior out of the college football.

[Phishfan]

i think it's irrelevant .. college awards are meaningless compared to your shiny superbowl ring

This sounds like the position of a person who doesn't care much for college football.

[Brian Fein]

I think its BS.  He won the Heisman, so be it.  What happens off the field or behind the scenes doesn't make him a better player.  If he was caught 'roiding up, then maybe I'd agree, but this is not a good reason to revise history after the fact.

This is the NCAA saving face, showing that they won't put up with this stuff.  What happened, happened.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

i think it's irrelevant .. college awards are meaningless compared to your shiny superbowl ring

I don't agree with your analogy.  Heisman:BCS National Champion::league MVP:Superbowl.

I will take a national championship over a Heisman or a ring over the mvp.  

[Phishfan]

I think its BS.  He won the Heisman, so be it.  What happens off the field or behind the scenes doesn't make him a better player.  If he was caught 'roiding up, then maybe I'd agree, but this is not a good reason to revise history after the fact.

This is the NCAA saving face, showing that they won't put up with this stuff.  What happened, happened.

But he has since been ruled an ineligible player. What justification do you have for awarding a trophy to an ineligible player?

[Phishfan]

Chris Fowler is reporting that he has spoken with the Heisman trust and that the reports are false. They have not made any such decision.

[Dave Gray]

I agree with Brian.

You can't "UNDO" things that happened on the field.

[Phishfan]

I disagree. USC has already been stripped of its National Championship. You may feel you can't take it back, but the fact is that it has already happened. Bush was ineligible to play, therefore he is ineligible to earn any awards as a player. I have yet to hear any compelling reasons why an ineligible player should earn a reward.

[Brian Fein]

He was NOT ineligible to play WHEN he was playing.  You can't rewind 5 years and say "oh yeah, all this stuff didn't happen because WE missed stuff and didn't catch people"

That's not how it goes.  It DID happen, he WAS eligible AT THE TIME, and nothing should be changed that happened many years ago.  Never.

[Phishfan]

No, he was thought to be eligible, but he really wasn't.

USC knowingly put a player on the field that they knew was accepting money (if you don't think they knew just go back and read up on the dramatic lifestyle changes both Reggie and his family went through). I feel you can't ignore or reward cheating. That does nothing to help correct future actions.

[Sunstroke]

So, if Reggie Bush had gone in drag his entire time at USC, competed in women's sports, won every possible title, including "top female athlete of the year"...and then he got caught five years after he left USC when someone finally noticed his adam's apple, does that mean he actually WAS a female during his college years?

He cheated, he got caught... Take the awards away from him that he won while cheating.

[Landshark]

No, he was thought to be eligible, but he really wasn't.

USC knowingly put a player on the field that they knew was accepting money (if you don't think they knew just go back and read up on the dramatic lifestyle changes both Reggie and his family went through). I feel you can't ignore or reward cheating. That does nothing to help correct future actions.

The question is, how is accepting money cheating?  It doesn't affect his performance on the field.  I agree with Brian.  If he was taking Performance Enhancing Drugs, that would be one thing.  But accepting money is something he did off the field that didn't affect his performance on it. 

Every college pays off its athletes.  USC was just stupid enough to get caught. Now they have to pay the penalty.

[Pappy13]

The question is, how is accepting money cheating?

Because it's against the rules?