I wonder when the hammer will come down on SC? The amount of mounting evidence is huge, and I think I understand why USC assistants have been out looking for jobs in Pro Football. If Reggie took the money, and it clearly looks like he did, then USC should have to forfiet games, maybe the NC, Reggie maybe gives back the Heisman. To me this is worse than what Alabama was alleged to have been involved in with Albert Means. I also don't believe that Pete Carrol was unaware of what was going on... Sargent Schultz defense shouldn't work here. :evil: :evil:
I do not think there can be any question about his guilt. Now whether SC knew what was taking place is an entirely different matter. Regardless it will be a black mark against the university. Don
Even though it's USC, if Bush had not taunted the Bears DBs and somersaulted into the end zone last Sunday, I wouldn't have any feelings about this. After that hot dog move, I really wouldn't mind if he got slapped hard.
I hope Bush gets everything that's coming to him, otherwise there will be no disincentive for future players to try the same thing. As far as USC, I just hope they're treated fairly. If they knew, fine, go after them. I just don't want to see another witch hunt along the lines of what happened with Alabama or Washington.
I've got a different take on this. First of all, I think that the Means affair was worse because the school benefited from the money being paid there. As far as I can tell, the money paid to Bush was after he'd been there for some time and the purpose of the cash was to ensure that he'd sign with the agent giving the money. That having been said, we learned from the NCAA that coaches have to investigate players girlfriends when the girlfriends give the players gifts. (Dunbar matter.) We also learned the tortured logic that the NCAA uses to punish schools in this situation. It goes like this: the players were breaking the rules when they took cash and therefore shouldn't have been elligible to play. Since the inelligible players played, the school got a benefit from the payments. As I recall, Bush unlke some of his other past teammates, was not invited back to be on the sidelines at this year's Rose Bowl. That sure sounds like SC knows that they're going to be investigated big time for what Bush and his family did and want to distance themselves from him as much as possible. It wouldn't surprise me if Carroll headed for the NFL. Lastly, Sid, the Bush display was, I thought a blessing for the Bears. It fired them up. They completely shut down the Saint offense after that and even got a safety. Instead of Bears fans being angry, Saints fans should be.
Excellent point Gip. Obviously, I'm an old school fart. As offensive as taunting is when your team is ahead, it's equally ludicrous when your team is behind. The player sends the message that it's all about him. You certainly are correct that the Bears pounded the Saints after that TD.
Sid I had to laugh at the description of Bush given by one of the morning guys on ESPN radio. He said Reggie went from Babe Ruth (pointing) to Greg Louganis, to Michael Flatley all in one play.
8) "Gentlemen, the problem is clear. We've had too much education interfering with football." .........Professor Wagstaff Horsefeathers (1932)
Don't know how this will play out, but as a few of us have been saying all along, the NCAA has chosen ignore its own rules and procedures in the past so there is no telling what will happen. They may call this a minor infraction or they may threaten the death penalty. I will be an interested observer. By the way, I think Alabama was ruled a repeat offender in the Means affair because one of our players signed or met with an agent before the end of the season back in the late 90's. I don't remember all of the details. I seem to remember it was after the season was over and before the bowl.
actually KP <t>where the NCAA tagged them as a 'repeat offender on probation' stemmed from an incident with the basketball team.<br/> <br/> You had the much hyped agent scandel under Stallings, but before that probation could expire, the basketball team self reported some goofy dealings with a 'slush fund' that may, or may not have been anything at all. The NCAA chose at that time to simply extend the probation. Before that could expire, the Albert Means deal broke loose.<br/> <br/> Now while I just love to rip into the NCAA for the way they handled the Means deal, it was 100% legit that Alabama was still on probation (as an athletic dept), and that is the loophole they decided to drive the Mack truck thru.<br/> <br/> As for USC, I will them ill.</t>
that being said <t>what they did to Alabama from there on out KP was XXX profane.<br/> <br/> I will be interested to see how this develops for USC. Agents are a problem for the NCAA and the school is suppose to be on the look out for such things. That could be construed as a lack of institutional control if the agent/money involvement was flagrant and apparent to any member of the staff.<br/> <br/> Then again, as pointed out above, they just make this sh*t up as they go along so who really knows.</t>