As a USC fan, I am disappointed to say the least that we are on probation for a few years and cannot go to a bowl game.  You may think this next response is because I have maroon and gold glasses on, but people are ripping Reggie Bush far too much for what he did.  OK, he took money when he wasn’t supposed to, but I would not use the words “cheater” when referring to him. 

Reggie never took PED’s to make his body do what it is incapable of doing by itself, and that’s the true cheaters of the game.  His play on the field was his natural ability coming through, and he simply was the best player that year whether he took money or not.

What I would like to know is how many of the superstars from the past have taken money?  How many of them have won awards?  We’ll never know,but I’m sure the list is a very long one. That doesn’t excuse what Bush did, but what would you have done in the same situation?  Offering huge amounts of money, expensive cars, or even homes to teenagers coming out of high school would be very, very tempting.  I wonder if all these media guys who are ripping Bush would have turn down a free$100,000 if it were offered to them.

I have even read some columnists who are ripping into Bush now that he sent the Heisman back.  I guess in their eyes he cannot do anything right, but you have to give him some credit for sending it in, albeit somewhat late in the game.

The monster we have come to call the NCAA is making literally billions of dollars on these athletes who risk severe injury playing a game like football, yet we can’t even give them a free cheeseburger.  While the NCAA brass cashes check after check, they seem to play the amateur card far too much.  Sure, many of these athletes get a free scholarship, but is that equivalent to what they would make in a business making billions?  Not a chance.  And what about the kids not on scholarship who are helping the NCAA make their billions? What do they get for risking life and limb for the NCAA?  Not a damn thing. 

Did you hear about the player that sold his jersey from last years bowl game?  The NCAA suspended him for four games this year for selling it even though it is his property!  If that isn’t the classic example of the NCAA running amok, I don’t know what is.  They love our system of capitalism except when it applies to the players.

So I can easily forgive Reggie Bush for his mistakes, even though it is costing USC.  Another great idea by the NCAA:  let’s punish innocent kids and coaches for what another entirely different team did years ago.  It’s like sending someone else to jail for a crime they didn’t commit. 

I am not condoning what Bush did, I just understand it.  That much money is far too tempting to the superstars, and I think if I had been one, I might have taking it, as well.  On one hand, what Bush did was wrong and he knew it, but on the other hand, the monster that the NCAA has turned into also makes more than its share of mistakes, but they’re making way too much money to try and fix their wrongs. 

So fight on for USC. I will always love and admire Reggie Bush.  He’s a class guy who is not the arrogant superstar we have come to know far too many times.  He made a mistake, but it’s one that literally thousands of athletes have made. If you hang a carrot in front of a rabbit, he will take a bite of it.  And who do we lay all the blame on?  The rabbit.  Why don’t we ever go after the guy who dangles the carrot in front of us?  Why doesn’t the NCAA or the states themselves go after these agents or people that offer us the golden carrot? 

I do have my own confession to make before I close.  When I was at Chico State in the 70’s, I have to tell the truth and get this off of my chest.  I did accept free beer from people in Chico if I would enroll and become a student there.  I even accepted more free beer if I would go through graduate school and get my teaching credential at Chico State.  The guilt has been killing me for years, and I think I will mail them back my diploma because I accepted free gifts and I am a cheater.  So I am sending it off Fed-Ex……..in two years……..right after I retire.