AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > January > 26 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBush hit jackpot, Trojans take hit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
It was last April when EA Sports announced that Reggie Bush would be on the cover of its new video game, “NCAA football ‘07.”
The concept of a money-making video game about “amateur” athletes really wasn’t all that outrageous. Besides, three days before the game’s unveiling, a report broke that Bush’s parents may have been living in a home rent-free in San Diego. You might say it was Reggie’s own little Trojan horse.
Here’s an idea for a new video game: “Take The Money And Run,” the story of college athletes who auction themselves off between classes, then bolt before investigators arrive, when a program spontaneously combusts in the rearview mirror.
Chris Webber, a gifted basketball player at Michigan, with charm, grace and a Pepsodent smile, was convicted in 2002 of lying to a grand jury about payments he received from a booster while in school. Other than public scorn, the penalties to Webber were minimal. His career earnings in the NBA had long since surpassed nine digits and, as a bonus, he dated Tyra Banks.
But Michigan? It forfeited 113 wins. It took down postseason banners. It accepted a one-year tournament ban and was placed on 3 1/2 years probation.
That seems balanced, doesn’t it?
Bush might want to familiarize himself with the Webber case. Or not. (Probably not.) A similar story could be played out at USC. The Trojans reportedly are central to investigations by the NCAA, the Pacific 10 and, oh yeah, the feds.
Like Webber, Bush has talent, charm and a smile. He is coming off a terrific rookie season with the New Orleans Saints, the NFL’s feel-good story of the season. But that is as far back as Bush would prefer to look. It gets ugly before that.
Since April, more details have broken about benefits Bush and his family are alleged to have received while he was in school. The Web site Yahoo reports federal agents have secured tapes of recorded conversations between Bush, his family and an investor in a sports marketing company indicating that he received benefits totaling $280,000.
I realize a coach and a program are culpable in situations like these. But there’s a pretty good chance that USC is going to end up taking a far bigger hit than it deserves for the actions of one kid. If the Trojans are put on probation, current players — not Bush — will take the hit.
Should federal agents, the NCAA and Pac-10 find wrongdoing, Bush may be asked to return his Heisman Trophy. I’m guessing he will be allowed to keep his $51 million contract, and his endorsement deals with Pepsi, Adidas, Hummer, Subway, EA Sports and a cologne company.
Bush just purchased a $5 million home in the Hollywood Hills. It sits above the Sunset Strip, with views of Malibu. Bush will live there only during the offseason.
I guess USC players or their parents can sleep there during the season, if Bush wants to branch out into the agent business.
One sensed USC was distancing itself from Bush when it wouldn’t give him a sideline pass for the Rose Bowl (as the school provided for Marcus Allen, Ronnie Lott and Charles White). But there’s only so much distancing a school can do.
USC has been as dominating a college football factory as we’ve seen for some time. Its record since 2002: 59-6. The Trojans were 37-35 in the previous six years. With no NFL team, they have been L.A.’s biggest show.
But coach Pete Carroll might want to reconsider an NFL job now. At the least, sanctions could force the school to vacate wins from the time Bush was deemed ineligible. At worst, there’s probation. That depends on how responsible the NCAA believes USC to be.
But Bush can’t be touched.
A year ago this month, Bush announced he was turning pro. Asked at the news conference about likely becoming a millionaire, he said: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. I don’t think it will until I get that first check.”
We would like to think that’s the order of things. History and probation tell us otherwise.
Permalink | Comments (25) | Post your comment | Categories: Jeff Schultz
Comments
By GT
January 26, 2007 08:29 PM | Link to this
When are they finally going to bust UGA for all of the shady recruiting over the past years? They’re due for probation more so than USC.
By Dawghead
January 26, 2007 08:40 PM | Link to this
Na-ah Bee. Nope. Law enforcment needs to be looking into what kind of blackmail Reggie Ball was using on Gailey.
By paulwesterdawg
January 26, 2007 10:04 PM | Link to this
There’s nothing worse than teams that cheat. Says the Tech fan while his team is on probation for playing with 11 ineligible football players including Joe Hamilton.
Hey dumba$$. Look in the mirror.
By Jay
January 26, 2007 10:11 PM | Link to this
…and uga athletics never cheat? Tell me about Tony Cole, Jim Harrick, or why Vince Fooley isnt AD anymore. What a joke uga is…trash school of the south.
By Straydog
January 27, 2007 12:41 AM | Link to this
Everybody cheats….they just dont get caught….. YET! Just look at UF right now i wonder!!!
By Peter
January 27, 2007 06:04 AM | Link to this
Spare me the outrage. How much money has the Trojan athletic department made for that school? Tens of Millions and when I pay I pay to see the players.
These kids in the major sports don’t have a whole lot of time to get jobs. Bush? Football was his job there.
Want to stop it? Start spreading some of that wealth the players way.
By Cafuture
January 27, 2007 06:55 AM | Link to this
Bush is just a typical athlete. It is a shame but you are right, Bush somehow should be held accountable. USC will definitely pay for this because the story is not going away, just gettting worse. I guess this will be a good way for Auburn to at least get a NC for the undefeated season!
By Will
January 27, 2007 08:48 AM | Link to this
Unfair as it sounds, you have to punish the schools for the actions of their players. Imagine the impact if schools were left totally off the hook for the decisions and actions of their scholar-athletes. What would the landscape look like if schools were simply allowed to say, “We didn’t know our players were breaking the rules.”
GT fans - You’ve been cheating and lying since time began, and you haven’t won a legal football game against UGA since Bobby Ross was your HC. Think about that for another year.
By Gene
January 27, 2007 08:57 AM | Link to this
It appears that there is just too much money in sports, and it is only going to get worse. I didn’t see where Jeff mentioned UGA in his column. Georgia has its share of problems, for sure, but Jeff is writing about players and agents bringing puishment on schools and innocent players, and I don’t think that there is a legal fix to this.
By BirdDawg
January 27, 2007 09:06 AM | Link to this
Here’s the thing I wonder about… how culpable is the LA Media, specifically the LA Times, Jeff Schultz?
Those of us who follow college football have heard for years about how Pete Carroll lets sports agents walk around his locker rooms and roam the sidelines of his games with free reign.
So why hasn’t the LA Times, and all of their idiot talking head reporters we see on Around the Horn shed more light on this very DANGEROUS practice of Pete Carroll’s?
Sounds to me that if Pete Carroll let all of these agents have that kind of presence in his program, and access to all of those impressionable kids, well, it sounds to me like Pete Carroll and the Trojans are implicit in all of this.
Sounds like a lack of institutional control to me.*
And one more thing, when a socially retarded, slide-rule stroking idiot of a Bug calls UGA cheaters, that really is the pot calling the kettle black.
Hypocrites.
By de-cider
January 27, 2007 09:18 AM | Link to this
I realize a coach and a program are culpable in situations like these. that’s it, end of story. Like BirdDawg said an atmosphere is created around some of these programs which allow these types of transgressions to take place. I hear Pete Carroll carries a water bottle with a fake bottom in it
By Spicoli
January 27, 2007 09:23 AM | Link to this
Better title would have been: “Another Bush cashes in while leaving bill for the next generation.”
By Stuck in Kentucky
January 27, 2007 09:32 AM | Link to this
If you ain’t cheatin’, You ain’t trying.
By The Voice of Reason
January 27, 2007 09:51 AM | Link to this
Peter, the players ARE getting paid … with a scholarship that is, in many cases, worth over $100,000.
If they have the common sense and the work ethic to take advantage of the opportunity, the players can earn a degree that will continue to serve them long after their athletic skills have deserted them.
(Of course, a significant percentage of “major” college athletes will not earn a degree because they have no business being in a university setting in the first place, but that’s another debate for another day.)
As for the arguement that the players should be paid, I ask you this: do all of them get paid the same?
For example, the fourth-string QB at Ohio State probably put in as much time and effort as Troy Smith. Do they get the same amount of money?
You might say, “well, nobody bought a ticket to watch the fourth-string QB, they came to watch Smith, so he deserves more.”
My response is, “But Smith couldn’t do what he did without his linemen, his backs and his receivers. How much do THEY get paid?”
So, Peter, since you have all the answers, how would you pay each member of a major college football team? Do you want to get agents involved in the process and have them negotiate with the coaches and ADs?
One more thing: no one is forcing these “student-athletes” to play college sports. If they are being “used”, they are also “using” the school, either to get an education or to find their way to a professional sports league.
Either way, it’s their own decision.
By Gene
January 27, 2007 09:58 AM | Link to this
Sports are a little like the Middle East. Until about 50 years ago, our present enemies were among the poorest countries on earth. US oil companies came in and developed the resources, and the American public created the demand. Now we have filthy-rich sheiks who do us harm. We really need to get back to minor-league baseball, and real student athletes. We are not only addicted to oil, we are addicted to sports—me included—and therein lies the rub.
By Mike
January 27, 2007 10:04 AM | Link to this
Peter, if the players feel taken advantage of for not sharing in the wealth, they are free to walk away and not play. Thats the great thing about America, you don’t have to do things you don’t want(except obey laws). I do get tired of people complaining about the money college athletic bring in. Its a non-issue. You could take away all of the scholorships and there would still be kids, although with less talent, that would fill olut the rosters. Take your free education, food, room, board and be happy with it, or do something else.
By The Professor
January 27, 2007 10:21 AM | Link to this
Amongst the rancor everyone has some valid points. The kid’s are being “used” while getting a free education (I’m still paying for mine) but the scholarship athletes from poorer families can’t get a job (other than minimum wage at McDonald’s, which doesn’t make sense with the little spare time the kids have) that might smack of violations - the $20/hour job doing nothing at the local trustee’s car dealership. The poorer scholarship athletes can “afford” to go to college cut can’t afford to go out with their more affluent friends, i.e. have any social life. Puts them in a difficult situation.
By de-cider
January 27, 2007 10:23 AM | Link to this
Sports are a little like the Middle East??? Actually, they are nothing alike. what a bunch of nonsense. This whole thing with Bush appears to be another example of too many jackals trying to make money off a kid, and I think that probably includes his step-father. Although I don’t agree with Peter, the amount of money the athletic depts. bring to a school is a huge issue, and apparently is pretty important to the schools.
By Hamp
January 27, 2007 01:07 PM | Link to this
Actually, the Pell Grant takes care of the majority of underprivileged athletes by giving them money each semester.
Remember, if you are going to pay the football players, ALL the student athletes at the school will have to be paid because of Title IX.
By sw-atl
January 27, 2007 01:08 PM | Link to this
Video games? What does Jeff know about video games?
He’s too old for that. It must be his kids or something like that!
I guess he’s trying to be current…
By L. M. Hull
January 27, 2007 01:22 PM | Link to this
If my school had lost to our arch rivals 5 years in a row I would be hoping that the other school was cheating. Actually, they both cheat but UGA cheats better, and plays better too.
By War Eagle
January 27, 2007 01:32 PM | Link to this
USC, Oklahoma, Auburn, Texas and others can`t compare to the King of King in cheating and to top it off>>>NEVER GOT CAUGHT,BECAUSE NCAA WAS AFRAID OF HIM. this is what made him so good…….BEAR BRYANT
By NCAA
January 27, 2007 03:19 PM | Link to this
The NCAA created this monster with their crazy rules. Heck, if my family was struggling and the coach’s and the school were making millions off of my exploits, I’d take the money and run. Where is the outrage with the NCAA and its crazy rules?
By Pat
January 27, 2007 03:47 PM | Link to this
It is clear to me that you Sawg haters are from Savannah State or maybe GSU, get over it every school cheats at one time or another
By KKK Jeff Schultz press lynch mob
January 27, 2007 06:32 PM | Link to this
Jeff Schultz you did vick wrong with out facts now mr. Bush. you love bashing black player. Jeff you not a man .you love lynching brother in the press!