Reggie Bush ain't looking too clean

Thank you. I get sick and tired of people saying that student-athletes get no reward for their efforts.

 

From an earlier thread on the jobs board about the USC beat with the OCR:

(No, I don't work for Yahoo.)

The fun has just begun. Wait until they turn their sites on Dwayne Jarrett. USC could be SMU-West of the NCAA ever develops a set of stones.

And yes, John Wooden did play Nero while Sam Gilbert paid off the team.

 

I'm sorry, but I can't stand that excuse for student-athletes who have their hands open to anyone willing to pay them some money up front. Tuition at USC is $15,000. Include room and board, books, meals, parking passes and the like and the cost probably balloons to $20,000 easy. So for six semesters at USC like Bush did, that's a $120,000 education paid for because he's attending classes (or not).

Which brings me to tutors that "help" student-athletes 24/7. I once saw Raef LaFrentz scribble fill in his student ID on the scantron test, hand it to the guy next to him -- presumably a tutor -- and walk out of the class. I bet you that his score on that Greek and Roman mythology test was better than mine. But let's say the student-athlete is honest about the classwork, tutors are still a great resource that the average student doesn't receive.

So don't tell me the kids get nothing from the process. If they're smart, they're serious about the education -- much like SportsJournalists.com's very own Jason Whitlock -- hit the books and prepare once their days as an athlete are done. A lot of us would kill not to pay a lifetime of student loans like student-athletes do.

EDIT -- Junkie and I might not agree on Journey, but we do agree on this. He beat me to it.

 

Let me see if I've got this straight. We're going to criticize Bush for taking a little cash -- money that was damn sure coming his way in a couple of years -- to support his family? And we're going to do that while making some bullshit arguments about how this guy is receiving a free education?

The implications in that are utterly ridiculous. It's rather simple to sit here and say this guy is getting a free ride because he can "run fast." It's also rather dishonest, even more so since the statement is being made by sports journalists. Bush and every college college football player (and most college athletes, for that matter) didn't receive a scholarship because they could "run fast," they received one because they could run fast and they worked their asses off to develop their talents and transform themselves into an attractive employee for a university. And that's exactly what a college football player is -- an employee.

While the rest of the high school was out enjoying a nice, relaxing summer break, these guys were going to early morning workout sessions and then summer practices. Many of them were at the weight room before school started and at practice for three hours every day after school. They maintained a respectable GPA and met admissions standards for the university pursuing them.

Once in college, they started working. A football player, especially one the caliber of Bush, spends a minimum of 50 hours per week on football. There are the workouts, the film study sessions, the practices, the training room bullshit, the rehab that at least half of them go through at some point and the actual games. For this, if you're at a school like USC, the university receives billions of dollars from your work. That money is used in a variety of ways to improve the school. There are few more valuable employees on the school's payroll than the football players.

Look, I'm not saying these guys are out saving the world or making blind people see, but don't toss out bullshit about how they're getting a free education because they can run fast, either. Nobody criticizes the guy who spends four years selling coffee to pay his tuition. And I don't think the college athlete should be viewed as some sort of slacker when he's actually putting in much more time and work.

Don't misinterpret what I'm saying. I'm not giving Bush a pass for breaking the rules. But I understand it. And if you can honestly sit there and say you wouldn't take a little chunk of the pile of money that's being made from your talent to help out your family, you're a better person than me.

 

Bush was paid. He got his tuition, room and board, books, etc. for free. That's payment. Don't give me this bullshit he wasn't compensated shit. I worked my ass off when I was in college at fucking Burger King to make ends meet, not to mention the crappy summer job I had working in a group home for the retarded. I still had $30,000 in student loans. Bush got plenty of compensation without having to take money from an agent.

 

I wouldn't take the money, because I would know the rules going into it. It's like our laws -- you don't break laws, you're going to stay clear of prison.

Apply that to the NCAA. You know the rules, here's an offer for a free education, accept these terms and you're fine. I would abide by them, because that sure would beat getting caught, thrown out of school and having to find someone else to trust you once you've already burned one program.

 

This comes out just in time for the Gameday crew to set up shop in LA.

Should be an interesting weekend.

 

OK, we're never gonna agree on this and I know it. And I've got enough long-running arguments going to start another. So, I'll just agree to disagree now instead of eight pages from now.

But let me ask this: Why is it that we're so caught up with any college athlete taking money from agents?

Forget the rules. I'm not talking about why do we care that they're breaking rules. I'm saying, why do we have this particular rule?

Let's say you're an intelligent science major. You're well thought of, done a lot of good sciencey stuff and a big science place wants to hire you in your junior year. They're gonna pay you out the ass, handle whatever living and school expenses you have and set you on your way. You go. Nobody says a word. Nobody starts talking about what it's doing to science on the collegiate level.

But in athletics, it's different. Why? We'll use Bush here. He's already in school at USC. He's not being lured away to some other team by this agent's money. He's not tanking games or trimming points. He's just getting a little help, passing a little cash on to his poverty-stricken family and getting a little ahead in his chosen profession. What are the purpose of the rules against that? And how does anyone legitimately expect these kids and their families to follow these rules or for schools to enforce them?

Does it not seem rather stupid to anyone else?

I don't know how you could fix it. Maybe set up some sort of registration process in which, after a player's sophomore year, they can sign with and accept cash from a particular agent. I don't know. But it seems to me that the way it's set up now forces these kids to make incredibly tough choices.

 

Looks like Duke the Dog finally suceeded in his Al-Qaida-like plan to spill all the Bush secrets.

Damn you and your infernal hating on humans, Duke, damn you to hell!



In related news, Duke released this videotape to Animal Planet from his Tora Bora-like dog-quarters where he plots, Plankton-like, to rule America through the downfall of Bush's Baked Beans via knowledge of its secret recipe along with all others who carry the Bush name.

His videotape -- rife with baked bean-hating footage, and a fantasy sequence where dogs ate civilally at a table with Victorian manners, while humans drooled for table scraps and chased around a chuckwagon to eat a processed cheeseburger -- had only a three-sentence, defiant message to our nation ...

"Lick my canine balls, America! Duke is taking you all down! Bow wow, motherfuckers!"

 

O.J. still has his Heisman, but Bush might lose his over this?
Hmm.
Anyway, the thing that people are forgeting is the amount of money that Bush brought into the school. Not just TV revenue, but how much money did USC receive from donors, how much money was flowing in from product sales? How much is it worth to have Will Ferrell wear a USC hat or Snoop in Bush's USC jersey while they are doing a national TV appearance? And how much of that is because of Bush's and the team's success?
Nevermind the studies that show the enrollment increases that come with successful athletics.
This is more a problem for the NCAA than USC. As a group, the NCAA can't legislate the actions of parents or those with an extended connection to the athlete.
I do think this would be good time to take a look at some assistance programs and doing something different for the collegiate athlete who is also a celebrity.
Plus, the reality is that 100k ain't really that much in the grand scheme of college sports. Pocket change really in the era of billion-dollar TV contracts.

 

I have no sympathy for Bush. He was so blatant in his explotation of the system, I'll get a kick out of it if he and USC go down in flames.

I also don't give a shit that he did it. EVERYONE does it. EVERYONE'S dirty.

To me, college athletics are the real sausage factory of sports (thanks, Bob Ryan). We want to enjoy these athletes and these teams while clinging to this notion that these guys are somehow the purest form of sports. We cheer for Alma Mater U and swell our chests with pride come bowl seasons or March Madness while wanting to believe that they manage to fit in all their workouts and practices and preparation in between taking a full course load, abiding by the rules that apply to the rest of campus, managing their time perfectly so that they can accomplish everything without cutting corners and not so much as accepting a free soda, never mind several thousand dollars.

It. Doesn't. Happen.

It's like going to Burger King and seeing the people behind the counter wearing gloves and figuring, hey, that food's OK. It's not. But we convince ourselves because to do otherwise would kill our enjoyment.

If we're lucky, the worst thing that happens at Alma Mater U. is the kids get a ton of help to do well in class. But I bet it's not that way 99.99% of the time at any D-I school, never mind a football or basketball hotbed. It is to academia what the killing floor is to food production. ("Don't let the name scare you, Timmy. It's really more of a steel grating)

 

Huh? You're interrupting me ...

Go Ball State!