working

ADVERTISERS

Sports Outside the Beltway

Will USC Lose its National Titles?

If one is to pass judgement based on pass history of the NCAA, based on this report, Reggie Bush may of just cost himself the Heisman Trophy and his team two National Championships:

The existence of taped conversations between Reggie Bush or members of his family and an investor in a failed sports marketing agency could confirm the New Orleans Saints running back received cash and gifts while playing for Southern California, Yahoo.com reported Wednesday.

A federal investigation into extortion claims by Bush and his family revealed the existence of the taped conversations, according to the Yahoo.com report.

Lake told Yahoo in August 2006 that he contributed a portion of the cash and gifts allegedly given to Bush and his family as part of an agreement to represent the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner when he signed an NFL contract. In September, Yahoo.com reported Ornstein also supplied Bush and his family with gifts while he was still at USC.

According to Yahoo.com, nearly $280,000 in cash, rent and gifts was allegedly given to Bush and his family.

The Pac-10 Conference and the NCAA are investigating whether Bush or his family broke NCAA rules and compromised his eligibility during the 2004 and ’05 seasons by taking extra benefits.

If Bush is found to have violated NCAA rules, USC, which won a national title in ’04 and played for the ’05 championship, could be sanctioned.

Also, the Heisman Trophy Trust requires players be in good standing with the NCAA to be eligible for the award given to college football’s top player. If Bush is ruled ineligible by the NCAA, he could be in danger of having his Heisman taken away.

If true this would be a black-eye to Reggie’s College Career and USC Football. Its a shame that the actions of one stupid person would wipe away the achievements of an entire team, but as many College Programs, like Michigan (Chris Weber), have learned it is the way the NCAA handles these incidents. Only time will tell if these tapes really exist and the damage it will do to two National Championship seasons for USC. It won’t affect Reggie Bush much as he makes millions in the NFL, but for all the other players who didn’t make millions in the NFL and for the school his stupidity could end up wiping their achievements from the record books and hurt the image of an excellent football program for years. But only time will tell how the NCAA handles this.

 
Related Stories:
 
Recent Stories:
 
 
 
Comments
 

Technically, USC would only lose 1.5 National Championships.

Geaux Tigers!

Posted by SaveFarris | January 26, 2007 | 12:23 pm | Permalink
 

RSS feed for these comments.

Comments are Closed

 
 


Visitors Since Feb. 4, 2003

All original content copyright 2003-2008 by OTB Media. All rights reserved.