One of the more obvious examples of that moral inconsistency came from Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun. Calhoun was bullying, rude and embarrassing with his response, saying he had no intention of giving any of it back and telling the reporter, "My best advice to you is, Shut up. Get some facts and come back and see me.
Don't throw out salaries and other things. Next question. Calhoun's pink-faced defiance revealed the true face behind the mask: Money is his commodity. He quite comfortably allows his role as a revenue producer to justify his existence.
He did not mention education, sending young athletes into the world as leaders or giving talented kids a chance to explore a larger world -- all the values college sports are supposed to embody. He makes money, lots of it, for his school. Money was Calhoun's club, and he used it. In the latter part of this summer, both Alabama coach Nick Saban and Florida coach Urban Meyer addressed the outside predators -- the agents' subagents -- who prey on college players, but they did it without addressing the inside predators: the coaches themselves.
And so the shell game continues. The NCAA metes out punishments that don't punish anyone. The return of Bush's Heisman is an empty gesture, for it does not and cannot erase the long runs, the broken tackles and the memories Bush created while he was on the take and not telling the truth about it. Forcing USC to vacate the victories gained while Bush was there might sound punitive, but it is as illegitimate at USC as it was at the University of Massachusetts when the basketball program under Calipari was forced to vacate its Final Four appearance because of NCAA violations.
The system remains in place and repeats itself, as it did with Calipari and Derrick Rose at Memphis, college basketball's version of the Bush saga.
The coach in charge of the renegade program leaves for a more lucrative opportunity, denying any knowledge of wrongdoing while checking his checking account balance. The star player moves on, rich and untouchable, and the NCAA and the universities repeat step one. The necessity is actual reform of the entire system, either by acknowledging that college sports are essentially a form of outsourcing and treating it as such or by holding coaches accountable for administering and leaving a program and institutions which are often state-supported accountable for higher learning.
That requires real will and real action, starting with the NCAA taking the "For Sale" sign down from in front of its games. Bryant espn. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Bryant: No losers in the Reggie Bush scandal. USC Trojans. Rams add Beckham Jr. Los Angeles Rams. Superman returns: Cam rejoins QB-thin Panthers. Carolina Panthers. Ruggs' lawyers: Witness says firefighting slow.
Before that, he was a senior writer at ESPN for nine years. Markazi grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from USC in , after which he worked as a staff writer for Sports Illustrated for five years. Lakers guard Austin Reaves to miss at least two weeks with hamstring strain. Reunited: Cam Newton and Carolina Panthers agree to one-year deal. All Sections. About Us. B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options.
By Arash Markazi. Former Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt celebrates scoring a goal for a soccer team in Australia in You cannot deny that and say that you're unbiased. You just can't. Yet, you cannot get around the fact that Reggie Bush should not have even been in a place to do that because under NCAA rules, he should have been serving a suspension during because according to ESPN.
The men paid for everything from hotel stays and a rent-free home where Bush's family apparently lived to a limousine and a new suit when he accepted his Heisman in New York in December That's the facts people. Regardless of whether or not he was the best player on the field, the issue is that he shouldn't have been on the field. His suspension is like a bout of leprosy. We take him away and put him in a colony.
My biggest peeve about this is how some people just want to shrug this off like it was just a mistake or something minor where you step on someone's foot and say you're sorry.
Well, guess what? Its not that simple. Taking items from sports marketers is the sports equivalent of taking a bribe in my mind. And bribery? That's a felony ladies and gentlemen. That's the simplest way to put it in my eyes. The NCAA cannot just let this slide either because what they do sets precedent in case, heaven forbid, something like this should happen again.
If there is no punishment, then there is no incentive to not commit the offense! Why do we resist the urge to drive MPH on the freeway with the top down and the wind blowing in our faces? Because we know that if we are caught, we get a giant ticket. If the rules are not enforced with discipline, then there are no rules. And without justice, there can be no law. Punishing Reggie Bush and taking away the Heisman Trophy may be debatable as proper justice, but to do nothing is no justice and ergo there is no law.
I want the new athletes of this generation and hereafter to know that they do not play for money, and if they get a pass on the rules, then they'll realize that since they are great athletes, they won't be punished. That they are above the regular people. This country is founded on the principle that all of us are created equally. Not one of us can say he or she is above someone or above the rules of society.
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