Heisman Trophy Gone
“He’s at the twenty, the ten, the five, and touchdown Trojans. This young man has all the ability to become a star in the NFL.” This was heard many times by anyone that watched Reggie play and was said by many announcers that had the opportunity to call his games. Reggie Bush was one of the best college football players and was rewarded with the Heisman trophy. After years of speculation, it was finally proven that he broke one of the NCAA’s rules. He was given money and many other gifts from two sports marketers that wanted to use his name to make money. Reggie should have never won the Heisman in the first place and he should have never been on the ballot.
Taking money violates one of the qualifications to become eligible to be nominated for the award. One of the qualifications is that any player cannot be eligible for the award if he has broken any of the NCAA’s rules. “There is proof that he was given money and many other gifts and not only him but his family also received these benefits,” according to William C. Rhoden of the New York Times. It is not fair to the other candidates that are worthy of the award and did not break any of the NCAA’s rules. There are reasons why there are rules to qualify and the NCAA sets these rules to show that the recipient is the best of the best. The NCAA made these rules for a reason. The NCAA already made the University of Southern California give their trophy back and put them under probation. “The trophy should not just be vacated, it should be awarded to the runner up, Vince Young,” says Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel. It should go to Young because he was the runner-up and just like when the winner of a Miss USA pageant is unable to fulfill her duties, the runner-up fills that role. He deserves it more than Bush because it was Young’s Longhorns that defeated Bush’s Trojans in the Rose Bowl. Not only did Young beat Bush in the Rose Bowl Young scored the winning touchdown and Bush had a costly fumble that led to the Trojans’ demise.
There are many reasons why many feel he should keep his trophy. One of them is that he did not cheat; taking the gifts did not affect his play because with or without the money he was one of the most explosive players in all of college football. This is true, there is no questioning his skill as a player, but he is supposed to be a role model for the younger generation. Taking money or gifts just because you are athletic is not right because many people have other greater talents but are not offered any money. Also, there were many other players that followed the rule of not taking money, and they had a great season statistically. The NCAA made those rules for a reason and because Reggie broke them, he has to deal with the consequences. One of the biggest arguments why he should be allowed to keep it is that; one former winner was put in jail for counter fitting, another sold his to get out of personal debt, and the last person was OJ, all three of these winners did not have their trophies taken away. They may not have had their trophies taken away by the committee, but two of them lost their due to their own problems. In all the record books it will list each of them as the winner of the Heisman because when they won the award they followed the NCAA’s rules. It could also be debated that he is an athlete and he probably get special treatment from the schools and others and how is taking this gift wrong from taking anything the university provides him. Reggie is an athlete and athletes do receive special treatment in college because they make the college money and make them known to other athletes. The things he receives from the university more than reimburse him from the cost of college so it takes away any problems with paying for college. The university is also providing a free education to him, when others are struggling to pay their tuition. The gifts he received from the marketers are just bribes to make that agency money by using the name Reggie Bush. He may have just been used to everything given to him and that it was not wrong to take the money and gifts from the agency. Reggie should still know the rules of the NCAA before playing and it is not an excuse that he thought it was no big deal to accept gifts from others.
Reggie Bush was one of the most entertaining players to watch in college, but rules are there for a reason and nothing can change that. He made some mistakes, but he has to live with the consequences like the rest of us have to and should not get any special treatment because he is an athlete. It is time that the rules be enforced.
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