I was disappointed to see Cam Newton win the Heisman Trophy for one reason only.  In the first line of the guidelines that the Heisman trust wrote up, it says “athletic excellence with integrity.”  As an avid USC fan, it was very disheartening to see Reggie Bush lose his Heisman, but I completely understand why.  He failed the integrity part and he doesn’t deserve it, but how about Cam Newton?

Not only is there a cloud of suspicion over his head regarding his dad trying to sell his services, he also got caught cheating in class at Florida,and he stole a laptop computer.  When the cops came to his dorm room, he threw the laptop out his dorm window.  Few people believed Reggie Bush when he said he didn’t take any money, and they were right. How many of them believe Cam Newton when he said he had no idea his dad tried to sell his athletic services?  If his dad contacted Mississippi State for money, how many of them believe he didn’t do the same at Auburn? If I was Reggie Bush, I would be wondering when they are sending back my trophy because Newton broke more rules than I did.

Here is the main problem: when integrity or character is an important benchmark, we will waive it if the athlete or coach is a superstar with great talent and they win. Bob Knight is a classic example of this.  On one hand, I would agree he was a great coach, but on the other hand, he is a poor human being.  He choked and kicked his players, and verbally abused them. He threw a chair out in the middle of a basketball game because he was mad at the refs.  He treated the media with disdain and tried his best to humiliate them, as well.  When answering questions, he would mock them.  When he coached the team at the Pan Am games, he refused to come out of the locker room at half, and sent his team out alone to finish the game. All of this is forgiven because of one thing:  he won.  If he had lost, he wouldn’t have been hanged from the nearest tree.  If his character is at all in question still, all one has to do is watch that video tape of the time he was on someone’s property hunting birds without permission.  Some of his shot from his shotgun hit the property owner.  When the owner went over to question him, Knight started yelling and screaming at the guy he just shot!! Unbeknown to Knight, the whole affair was being taped.  Yep… a real classy guy that deserves to be in the Hall of Jerks.

Many fans believe Pete Rose deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, but baseball also has integrity and character written into their guidelines. He broke the cardinal rule of baseball by betting on the games.  He wrote a book saying he didn’t bet on the game, and then when he finally came clean, he didn’t do it in a public forum such as ESPN.  No, he wrote another book that he sold to us.  He also went to the big house for tax evasion. Now I ask you this:  should we waive the integrity clause just because he has more base hits than anyone?

How many of you have seen a star athlete in high school getaway with breaking rules because the coach or administrator did not want to enforce it for fear that they might miss an important game?  I saw it in my first year as a student teacher.  The star QB got in a fight on campus, which was an automatic suspension. He wasn’t suspended, however, because we had a playoff game that day. That rule was enforced on every other student that year except him.  All it does it set a terrible example for the rest of us. It builds up resentment and animosity for the people playing by the rules.

A radio guy, Paul Feinbaum, appeared on ESPN and called a voter who wouldn’t vote for Cam Newton, “utterly ridiculous”.  How could he possible think it is that far out of line?  After all, integrity is in the first line of the guidelines, and is it completely out of line to question Cam Newton’s integrity?  No way. 

I’d like to use Michael Vick as another example. First of all, I am a tremendous dog lover.  No one loves dogs more than I do.  What he did was appalling, but he deserved another chance….to play football.  Why? Because he served his time, and he has now spoken to thousands of high school kids about the evils of what he did wrong.  Instead of beating around the bush, he freely admits his mistakes and blames no one but himself.  However, if I were a voter for the Hall of Fame, he would never get my vote regardless of how great his career turns out.  Sorry, but he had major integrity issues.  Letting him back into society after serving his time is fine, but not into any Hall of Fame.  

In closing, did you know that athletes who have previously won the Heisman Trophy also get a vote? I’m assuming that Reggie Bush didn’t get a vote because he forfeited the trophy.  That’s just fine by me, but what my question is, did O.J. Simpson get a vote……from prison??  If so, then the system stinks because we are sacrificing our values for one letter- “W”. Now, that’s  what is utterly ridiculous.