Krsitian: Reggie Return to Sender?
USC “returned to sender” their replica of Reggie Bush’s 2005 Heisman trophy. In an attempt to separate from the Bush scandal, USC shipped the hardware back to the Heisman trust.
Should Reggie out and out return his copy?
What if you were a part of the Heisman trust, would you ask Reggie return it?
Former New Orleans Saint and USC Trojan Billy Miller is not pleased about USC and the NCAA’s actions. “For USC to take the stance…we’re going to remove Reggie Bush from USC? Half the kids that are there right now, are at USC because they watched Reggie play football,” exploded Miller. “You can’t pretend he (Bush) was never there! He’s the reason we’ve won national championships, we’ve won Heisman’s, and Reggie’s the reason we have a winning tradition,”
Bush was ruled ineligible in the 2005 season for allegedly taking cash gifts, but hasn’t been asked to return his Heisman. Miller says Bush should keep the prestigious hardware, “I don’t like it, because if you’re looking at infractions that might or might not have happened off the field, Reggie Bush earned that Heisman trophy for what he did on the field by his play.” Miller continues to blast off about the NCAA and USC raising the question about whether student athletes should have their stipend increased. Right now depending on the cost of living, student athletes get a small sum of money to take care of rent and incidental charges while in school.
Miller brings up a good point, “How much money did USC make off Reggie on jersey sales?” I asked Billy if he thought it might be time to start paying student athletes. Miller stopped short, “When you are on scholarship at a school, a lot of kids don’t come from much. I didn’t have a pot to piss in when I was at USC…you come from nothing. So, when you get a scholarship to a university and they give you a stipend, after you pay rent you might have 100 dollars to your name. I know things need to be addressed more. They don’t need to get paid, but something to help them maintain a descent lifestyle.”
I hear where Billy’s coming from, but what about the students who are not athletes? Most of them don’t have much either. Sure, you have some whose parents have money and that’s great.
My point is this, why should the student athlete be treated differently? They know the rules, and in this case Reggie allegedly broke the rules. I do think it’s laughable that USC would attempt to separate from Bush considering they haven’t done anything to former Coach Pete Carroll. Carroll had to know this whole thing was going down on his watch. I’m not for paying athletes, the education is enough.