Reggie Bush ain't looking too clean

That's life, and I'm fine with that. But when you sign a letter of intent, you agree to a set of rules. You must abide by the same rules as everyone else, and one of those includes not accepting money from agents. If you do that, then you have forfeited your college eligibility. I don't feel one shred of remorse for someone who thinks he's above the rest, who believes the rules shouldn't apply to him.

As for whoever showed bewilderment about how O.J. could keep his Heisman while Bush could lose his, there's a difference there -- no one ever proved that O.J. violated the amateurism clause that ensures that you're still not a pro.

 

Dog, it's an admirable concept, but (IMHO) not realistic. I just don't see the educational community buying into the concept of mixing mercenary, professional athletes, with amateurs (for whatever that title is worth). More than anything it, would be too close to ceding control of the sport.

Here's the rub, though. Even isolating this conversation to one sport (football), how many individuals are REALLY getting a raw deal here?? If you include all institutions who grant football scholarships, at ALL levels that actually distribute athletic grant-in-aids, how many individuals are we talking about??

If you look at just Division 1-A (or whatever the heck we're supposed to call it), there are over 10,000 kids on full ride. Of those, what % are truly in the Reggie Bush "category"? Kids who are "locks" to make a million bucks from their ability, college experience or not. 100? Seems a bit high.....but I'll go with 100. Not many. As someone else posted earlier, based on my experience 99+% of these kids genuinely benefit from what the grant-in-aid brings to their lives.

I guess I'd love to see some sort of minor league system set up. Not sure who's going to foot the bill (ok....I do. Nobody), but it's a nice thought. Dog, you're correct, it is the school who eventually gets the hammer in these situations. Take it from someone who's been at a school that "got the hammer", it sucks. Greatly.

 

There's the ultimate answer for anyone who believes Bush got his "money's worth" for his services.

The more I look at situations like this, the more I think the guys in the suits are the ones who are wrong, and the 20-year-old athletes are the ones who are right.

And before anyone suggests that we go back to the days when amateur sports were truly amateur ... be careful what you wish for. I think all of us enjoy the current climate a little too much, or else Division II and Division III college sports would be more popular than Division I-A sports.

 

Oh, shaggy.....don't even get me started on the whole "poor student who can't even afford to go for a pizza after the game" myth. With access to Pell grants (it's an entitlement program folks....depending on the schools budgeted COA, it's tax free "folding cash" for MANY of our Saturday afternoon heroes....compliments of you, I and the American taxpayers), add-on state grants (if they choose to stay in-state....and it IS a choice), not too mention low interest loan programs (not for tuition, like most folks ....but to buy the X-Box 360), they're living a college experience that most of their fellow students can only dream of.

Not a judgement...just the facts.

 

Your specific purchases are not available, legally at least.

 

Mo Clarett and Mike Williams took on the NCAA, thought the system needed to be changed. Didn't happen because courts upheld it. And nowadays, Clarett and Williams are looking like they could have used a little more time in college.

 

Ah, but see, you're making my point for me. There would be so few of these kids that it would be unbelievably easy to set up a monitoring system for this sort of thing.

Let's take Bush, for example. In the summer prior to his junior year, when agents and the runners of agents are all over him, why not just let him sign with someone? What you're doing instead is leaving this kid looking at a few grand a month on the table, then looking at his family living in a one-bedroom, borderline condemned home and being asked to decide between taking that money and helping his family or not taking it and following some dumbass rules to protect an institution that's making a shitpot of money off his talent.

Let him sign. Make it clear that as soon as he signs with that agent, the scolly goes away and somebody's gonna have to pay the education bill. Oh, and force 'em to stay in school through at least their junior year. Hell, half of them are doing this anyway. If you just set up a decent system, at least you'll not be needlessly punishing the schools. Because punishing USC in this case is like punishing the guy who built the road where a drunk driver crashed into someone. It makes no sense. The school did nothing wrong.

 

There's part of the larger problem, too.

College is NOT a cure-all for everyone in our society. College is NOT for everyone. There are some who will never get anything out of college, whether we like hearing it or not.

And this applies if you're just talking about their athletic careers, too. There's no telling whether either would have benefitted from more collegiate seasoning.

 

Ragu -- You said USC needed Bush way more than Bush needed USC, but I think Mo. Clarett is evidence of otherwise.

Maybe he was college material, maybe he wasn' t... ok, he wasn't, but I'm sure there are tons of guys that aren't and do use college to get to the NFL. Still, it can really help them and often does. Maybe if Clarett uses a little more sense as a sophomore being on the team makes him a higher pick as a junior and he doesn't blow his chances once he is drafted, or he is drafted higher and a team gives him more chances. We all though OSU needed Clarett way more than Clarett needed OSU too, but we might have been wrong.

I guess at some point I got lost in what you're trying to say ... that there should be a football minor league? There are options. There were options for Clarett, weren't there? I guess I don't really remember, but couldn't he have played AFL or CFL? Sure they suck and wouldn't probably have been as good of experience as the Big 10, but he would have been making (some) money and wouldn't have been wasting his time in school. There are options that don't include college, I think, they just suck. Maybe we'll see some basketball players do that over the next few years and we'll see how well that works out. But from the evidence it would seem that we have (Clarett), college can help an athlete a hell of a lot outside the scholarship factor.

Also, as far as the setting up a pay-for-play system in colleges go, I agree with the guy that said it would be just as corrupt as everything is now, and maybe even more so. That's like saying legalize drugs so people stop becoming criminals. Also, to really follow that theory, I think we would destroy any competitive balance. Reggie Bush would have to make more money because he brings in more money because his team wins more and has more fans and sells more hats and t-shirts. If the arguement is "pay the players because they're earning the university a lot of money" how is it any different to say "pay the best player more because he is earning the most?" Once you start paying them all different amounts, I can see all hell breaking out. Since Notre Dame will sell the most t-shirts and get the most TV money, they'll have to pay their players more. Since they'll pay their players more, they'll get the best players. At least now you can sell "you can be a star here, rather than a role player there" if you're at a smaller school, but when money's involved, I don't know how you can say that any longer. You can say "You'll be a star here and still not make as much money"

 

Hey, if Reggie Bush (or any other NCAA athlete) thinks the rules about accepting cash/gifts is unfair, then the player can simply not play college. No one's forcing them to be an athlete -- and there are millions of other jobs out there. If they do want to be a football player, the CFL and Arena League takes 18 year olds. But if you do want to play in college, then you're making the choice to play at that level and you gotta follow the rules.