AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > April > 26 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBush flap shouldn’t be a surprise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Let’s start by obliterating suggestions that Reggie Bush has somehow been damaged in recent days. He will still be the first pick in the NFL draft. He just signed a lucrative endorsement deal with adidas.
This follows Bush’s other deals with IceLink watches, Subway sandwiches and General Motors’ Hummer division - all of which were verified Wednesday when his mother was spotted wearing a new watch, while signaling for a left turn in her new Hummer, as she pulled into a Subway parking lot.
Reggie Bush is a great running back. He’s also an opportunist. You thought he was different? He is bolting campus just as investigators are arriving. I thought only coaches did that.
The day after a reporter knocked on the front door asking who paid for their house, Bush’s parents floored the gas pedal and left skidmarks in the driveway. Now the story is that they were leasing. Since when do renters etch their name in wet cement in the driveway, because I can’t ever recall a landlord asking me to do that?
We spend a lot of time shredding the givers - coaches, boosters and agents - for $1,000 handshakes, cars and houses. We don’t spend nearly enough time examining the takers. Because if Southern Cal somehow pays a price for something Reggie Bush did while the player escapes to the NFL without a mark, he’s no better than Jackie Sherrill or Lou Holtz, who made an art form of hop-scotching from one campus to another to elude personal blame.
Reggie Bush is not the exception. Reggie Bush is the rule.
“This case is just the tip of the iceberg,” agent Pat Dye Jr. said Wednesday. “It’s almost always done in cash so there’s no paper trail. It’s done with the players, the relatives and the friends. With the salaries as high as they are and the sleaze element that’s so prevalent in our business, I think it will always be there.”
Dye has long been one of the good guys in the industry. If he wasn’t surprised by the news that Bush’s parents had been living in a new home in San Diego, it’s only because he has witnessed so much regarding illegal financial inducements in his 19 years in the industry.
He laughed at that suggestion that Bush didn’t know his parents were living in a house owned by a man who sought to market the player.
“Do you not know where your parents are living?” Dye asked. “Do you not go home for Christmas or Thanksgiving? He didn’t know any background about the house?”
As to how often would-be representatives solicit business with similar payoffs, Dye couldn’t put a percentage on it, but said: “It’s pervasive in our industry. It usually comes in less subtle measures: direct cash payments. Theoretically, the player justifies it in his mind as a loan. The agent justifies it as a loan. In many cases, these things are not repaid because the player knows the agent won’t turn himself in. He’s not going to go to the school and say, ‘Your player owes me 25 grand.’
“I don’t have empirical data. But this is my 19th draft and I can tell you it’s as bad as it’s ever been. There’s a proliferation of runners [who solicit clients for agents] on campus. Typically, those are the bad guys while the agents keep their hands clean. My father told me years ago, for every guy they catch, there’s three or four to replace him.”
Dye personally has been “frustrated” by the way things have evolved. College athletes have increasingly gravitated toward relatively novice representatives who provide “instant gratification,” over those with proven long-term success.
“I’ve had clients come in and tell me what they were offered,” he said. “Sometimes it’s two or three years later, and they’ll say, ‘Yeah, I took the money. But I ended up making a good decision [and hired somebody else].’ “
Sounds like Bush.
The Los Angeles Times Wednesday reported new details, linking Bush’s family with a new sports marketing company, New Era Sports & Entertainment. Bush’s stepfather, LaMar Griffin, reportedly even visited a reservation of the Sycuan Indian tribe, with whom New Era attempted to forge a partnership.
Bush didn’t sign with New Era. But it hasn’t seemed to affect his marketability. He’s already a millionaire and he hasn’t even signed an NFL contract yet.
Meanwhile, USC squirms. If it’s found that Bush compromised his amateur status and the Trojans used an ineligible player, they’re cooked. But the guilty party will have been long gone.
Permalink | Comments (28) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Falcons Fan
April 26, 2006 05:55 PM | Link to this
If a coach’s family gets a free house (which almost all of them do) it’s a much-deserved perk.
The NCAA should spare us all the hypocrisy. Stop charging for the games, stop paying salaries, stop accepting television money, stop having shoe and apparel contracts that pay, etc. if you really want only to “develop student-athletes.” If they can’t do that then stay out of the kids backs. Why is it that young athletes are forbidden the same rights and priviliges of free market and capitalism?
By Jamie
April 26, 2006 06:14 PM | Link to this
Athletes on scholarship get a free ride through college, correct. It costs about 15 to 20 thousand a year to attend a major university. Plus, they get living expenses, food benefits, book expenses, etc that could total well over 25,000 a year. These privileges do not extend to the family. When a university violates this, they deserved to be punished. Bush’s family was paying $100 a month on a $700,000 plus home… pretty cheap lease, huh.
By Falcons Fan
April 26, 2006 06:59 PM | Link to this
Cheap? Maybe. But did that somehow hurt you or me or the public at large, or anyone else involved in the transaction?
To what great societal purpose do NCAA rules against athletes families receiving valuable stuff serve?
They do not serve any useful purpose to anyone — except those that control the money involved with the NCAA. The purpose of the vigorous “defense” of htose rules is to “nip in the bud” any expectations of compensation for services rendered so that the most dreaded question will not be asked, “Why don’t you pay your athletes a competitive wage commensurate with their contribution as the so-called professional leagues?”
In the end, all the rhetoric about the ‘purity’ of amateure athletics is hogwash. It’s all about those with the power and money in the NCAA using whatever influence they have to ensure survival of that system so they can keep reaping the money.
By op
April 26, 2006 07:05 PM | Link to this
So lets ban agents. These are college educated athletes, right? Surely they can negotiate their own deals. Cut out the unsavory middleman.
By matt
April 26, 2006 09:31 PM | Link to this
Rules are rules. If they are broken something must be done. If a football player steps out of bounds with the ball on a run then he is out of bounds. There is no”,so what that was shaping up to be a great run let him go.” Not following rules creates an unfair situation. Sports thrives on fair situations and focus on ability whether it be to get the players or play the game. If the NCAA thinks that Bush did something that in some way takes away the fair situation then they should do something.
By RPH
April 26, 2006 09:34 PM | Link to this
I can see this issue from both sides. They should pay student athletes, the ncaa does get rich off these young men and no this situation will not affect me in any way. Looking at it from the other side, there are rules set in place to try to keep a reasonable playing field with recruiting athletes, etc. If you were to break the law and get caught you get punished, or if you cheat in college and get caught you get punished. I don’t have the answer either way. It sounds like USC is going to pay the price, not Bush. I will get a good laugh if they make USC forfeit the national title and take his heisman away. If this is true, don’t expect Bush to be invited back for any reunions or honor ceremonies!
By RPH
April 26, 2006 09:40 PM | Link to this
Oh and before anyone goes crazy to tell me USC didn’t win the national title last year, I know that. I was hypothetically refering to him being ineligible from previous years. I doubt very seriously they would ever take wins off the record for what happened in this case.
By Jamie
April 26, 2006 11:32 PM | Link to this
Falcons Fan… It’s not that it affects you or I in any way. The rules are in place to maintain a level playing field in college athletics. If they weren’t in place, there would be George Steinbrenner-like alums buying all of the athletes. If certain schools are allowed to give benefits to families, it would open up the flood gates to unfair competition.
By Clayton Bigsby
April 27, 2006 01:22 AM | Link to this
Since when is there a level playing field in college athletics? Even forgetting about the so-called “mid major schools”, do you really think even a big-conference school like Georgia Tech recruits on a level playing field as UGA?
By Falcons Fan
April 27, 2006 05:01 AM | Link to this
Do the Falcons give housing to athlete’s families? They don’t have to because they’re free to just pay the player outright.
If an agent gives Pat Kerney a gold watch or some other bling to entice him to sign with him now that he’s in the NFL, does it hurt the “competitive balance” of the NFL? Surely not.
The NCAA rules exist primarily to limit salary expense and maximize profit. Pure & simple.
By p
April 27, 2006 07:47 AM | Link to this
Clearly, falcon fan, you don’t have a clue as to what you’re talking about.
No matter who get paid, dad, mom, aunt etc, the college player is getting an illegal benefit and incentive to play ball for the particular school.
I hope they nail USC bigtime.
By J
April 27, 2006 08:17 AM | Link to this
Nailing USC “big time” sounds good on the surface, but that nails the undergrads, the grad students, the professors, the cleaning crews…none of whom had any complicity in this.
If the alegations we know of so far are true, and if that is as far as it goes, then it means that an individual accepted disqualifying payments on the sly, and possibly implicated the coaching staff by discussing these payments. If the school’s athletic deparment staff knows that something like this is going on, then at that point the athletic staff of the school needs to step in and take action. Bush should have been suspended, or kicked off of the team, or disciplined by the coaches and the school administration.
Who was complicit? The coaching staff (football coaching staff), and some of the athletic staff. Nail them, and them alone. They can be fired and sued for their personal involvement. Why should the girls’ softball coach et al have their careers ruined by Reggie Bush’s fiscal infidelities?
By Jamie
April 27, 2006 09:32 AM | Link to this
Ok FalconFan, you must have some sort of bias or something about this issue. So, no use trying to get you to see the wrong in this. The rules are in place for a reason, and they have been there for a long time. So, if a school or amateur athlete violates these rules, they should be punished. There are a lot of “silly” rules in place regarding recruiting. As far as players/ players families receiving benefits, the rules make sense.
By doc
April 27, 2006 09:32 AM | Link to this
we are the fools to continue the fantasy that the games are about the kids, getting an education and playing one for the school that i am so dearly attached to. college football is the minor leagues for the nfl. great situation for them, they dont have to fund it. great situation for the schools, they make money off of slave labor pretending to say it is about the scholarship. fans continue to pay for the tickets, parking, motor coach parking, an excuse to have a party, play up the status thing or continue to salve their ego that they can hold onto something that is so near and dear to them as the old school.
everyone wins except the players. why should we be critical until they get something of relevance to their lives, a payoff in some way that truly represents the abuse, energy and ultimately the pain in later lives for the physical tarture that they willngly as undeveloped minors put themselves through. we talk about sweat boxes in indonesia when we have a form of it here and then cry when someone is found out to beat the system. as pogo so elegantly and profoundly put it forty years ago; i have found the enemy and he is us.
please avoid the self righteous stuff guys on this one; he should pay, look at the people he has hurt, oh my he should have to give up his stats. really look and dont pretend it doesnt happen every year at every school that plays the bcs schedule. no school is clean on this one.
thanks dave for your insights as usual, now where is tuesday did it get lost between monday and wednesday this week.
By dan
April 27, 2006 11:37 AM | Link to this
I expect most big name colleges are well aware of the problem. It is just easier to sticky your head in the sand. Nonetheless, I would assume the IRS might have some interest. I have long given up the idea that colleges don’t cheat when it comes to athletics. I also don’t believe in the tooth fairy and think that the super athletes are generally honest and don’t get benefits. I agree that the so called “student athletes” should receive some pay based on what benefits colleges get. This is most evident from stories such as the recent one extolling how much money UGA took in and bragging about leading the nation in bringing in athletic dollars.
By Eric
April 27, 2006 01:42 PM | Link to this
Please get a grip on reality people! We can not allow agents, boosters & others to give players (or their relatives) EXTRA BENEFITS. I’m a UT fan, but I can’t go buy Jimmy Clausen’s parents a million-dollar spread and give them a 30 yr lease at $100 per month - just to sway the family away from ND to UT. It’s cheating!!! Reggie Bush knew something…I would’ve asked questions if my family miraculously moved from the “outhouse” to the “penthouse” - and UCLA is not that far from SD county. There’s something “sleazy” about the way Reggie Bush is denying to know anything but name, rank and date of birth. There’s also something “smelly” the way Bush publicists seem to revise their story daily to match the updated facts.
USC and all other major universities have compliance departments whose sole responsibility is to keep the schools legal. It will not hurt my feelings if USC’s one and only BCS championship is stripped away - and they’ll have the Bush family and their own compliance office to blame for it all!
PS Cynthia McKinney is guilty of a crime too (if you or I hit a DC policaman we’d be in jail - she should be treated the same darn way!)
By AltamahaDawg
April 27, 2006 02:53 PM | Link to this
Clayton, what prevents GT from competing with UGA in recruiting?
By AltamahaDawg
April 27, 2006 03:18 PM | Link to this
falcon fan, it’s a totally different argument as to if the rules that exist make sence, and if enforcing them is expected.
doc , are you saying that a footbal player given the opportunity to gain a college scholarship is not benefited in any way. That they are forced into slave labor while everyone benifit but them? Parents are certainly free to decline and pay for that if they choose, or the kid could just not get an education. It also seem to me that players such as this topic certainly do benifit as i doubt Mr. Bush could have prepared himself for the NFL in the pubic parks, on his own. And for those that arent his caliber , the job opportunities are far greater in the private secter as a result. Not to even get into the intangibles from the experience. Nobody debates that the driving force for the bucks are us old alum trying to regain a lil glory of our own, but that doesnt make it wrong. So what. Are company’s to be scolded for providing jobs to employees? They are profit driven after all.
By AK
April 27, 2006 03:23 PM | Link to this
Now all of sudden everybody cares about rules! You guys bash Bonds for hitting 700+ homers with no rules in place and say he should not get credit for his performance. Ok Bush may have broke rules but Bonds didn’t because there were no rules!
By AK
April 27, 2006 03:50 PM | Link to this
Now all of sudden everybody cares about rules! You guys bash Bonds for hitting 700+ homers with no rules in place and say he should not get credit for his performance. Ok Bush may have broke rules but Bonds didn’t because there were no rules!
By Jamie
April 27, 2006 05:56 PM | Link to this
AK.. the rules were in place, they just didn’t test for steroids for some unknown reason. I don’t know why, but the rule was in place.
By Jamal A.
April 27, 2006 06:12 PM | Link to this
Always bringing the black man down. Why is it the black man can’t get a chance in basketball, football, and baseball. you always have to bring something up! We don’t do nothing wrong.
By Bob in SF
April 27, 2006 06:28 PM | Link to this
Just one thing to point out since I live with it out here; a 700k house in LA is a 120k house in the ATL. Not saying this makes it right but the media is screaming “700 THOUSAND $$$!!!! OHMIGAWD! 700k!!!! Almost 3 qrtrs of a million!!!” Now if we found out DJ Shockley’s folks had been renting a 120k house from a booster in Dacula for below mkt. rent would it be HUGE news? I admit the situation isn’t parallel but this story has definitley been blown up somewhat due to the inflated real estate price$ out here. Some friends of mine just bought a mini 3 br in San Jose in a very avg. hood for 750K. I nearly gagged because the same house in the same style hood in Duluth might break 100k…
By p
April 27, 2006 06:33 PM | Link to this
Actually AK, he broke the law taking the steroids, not the rules of baseball at the time.
any other questions?
By Ben Sutton
April 27, 2006 07:10 PM | Link to this
Bob.. I thought your blog was very funny. I just bought a 2 bedroom townhouse in Vinings for 290 K. Man, I would love to find a 4,200 square foot house(the size Bush’s family “leased”) in Atlanta for 120K. That would be the deal of the century. Please tell me where a 4,200 square foot house in metro Atlanta (or in the state of GA) is for that price. I will invest in it immediately.
By Bob in SF
April 27, 2006 10:01 PM | Link to this
Now Ben, your blog was funny too…You know you didn’t buy a house in Vinings. You probably bought a house across 285 in Smyrna that some real estate agent convinced you was in Vinings. The Real Vinings is actually in Fulton Co. between the RR tracks and the river. If your home is actually located in that tiny venerable and beautiful area, my apologies. Real estate is all about location or convincing someone the location is doesn’t suck. I didn’t know the sqr footage of the Bush manse, just saw the pics and assumed it was the usual McTrack 3 BR you see in New Vinings (Smyrna), Duluth, Loganville, Mayretta or P’chtree City. Your 440k house would be a easy 1.5 mill out here in SF. And yes, go down to Jackson GA or Forsyth GA or Barnesville GA and you can find a very decent house for 100k. A block from the square in Jackson, GA is an historic register antebellum georgian, 8 BR with 3 car garage for 480k. If you don’t have to live in a develepment near a strip mall, the deals are out there.
By geechee
April 27, 2006 11:30 PM | Link to this
I thought Bush said something about not being able to talk about the situation. He should have kept his mouth shut. Who was not going to see right through a college kid saying he had no idea where his parents were living? USC can right off this past year as far as records go.
Clayton, don’t start shooting your mouth off about the Dogs. It is NATS that is on probation and now has the tainted reputation not us.
By geechee
April 27, 2006 11:41 PM | Link to this
That should have been write off not right off, sorry.