This is beyond stupid, although I agree with CAAR that he is being mature by doing so.
All of the illicit behaviors didn't affect him on the football field. The guy was simply put, the most dominating running back I've seen in college football since I started watching the sport closely, which is probably 16+ years. He was easily the best player on the field and the fact that his mom or he lived in a house that was paid for by an agent didn't affect that.
The school is the one that cheated, not the player.
This is beyond stupid, although I agree with CAAR that he is being mature by doing so.
All of the illicit behaviors didn't affect him on the football field. The guy was simply put, the most dominating running back I've seen in college football since I started watching the sport closely, which is probably 16+ years. He was easily the best player on the field and the fact that his mom or he lived in a house that was paid for by an agent didn't affect that.
The school is the one that cheated, not the player.
You guys aren't serious are you?
You think he's doing this out of the goodness of his heart? I have not much doubt in my mind there has been lots of "under the table" talks going on and in the end, everyone agreed to have Bush "forfeit" based on his own free will.
Allows him to save face and allows the Heisman committee to not have to be the bad guy.
With that said, I doubt he would with any sincerity be doing this all of his own, unprompted, accord.
I agree with you. The only way I would expect him to give up the award was if he was found guilty of something that was directly related to his on-field performance. For instance, if it had been discovered that he shaved points or was on steroids at the time. His family living in a house paid for by an agent did nothing to affect his performance on the field. I find it hard to believe that he was the only Heisman winner ever to be guilty of that anyway.
Still, it's probably best for him to give up the trophy and try to distance himself from the entire situation. The Heisman is a joke of an award anyway.
It doesn't, and shouldn't, matter. Had he been caught in all this BEFORE the 2005 season, he would have been ineligible. The award is also supposed to represent integrity. Bush earned a TRIPLE facepalm on that front.
If you can find other Heisman winners who were proven to be guilty of such violations during their college playing days, then he would be allowed to keep it simply because of precedence. But if he's the first to have those violations PROVEN, then he absolutely should have given it back, because he didn't deserve it. Besides, Young should have won it in the first place.
I'm sure that's the majority opinion.
Like I said, my opinion is that if it didn't affect performance on the field, if the infraction didn't give him an advantage, I wouldn't expect him to give up the trophy. I'm amazed how much things change just because these are technically amateur players. The home run record holder in baseball was a steroid freak...along with #2 and #3 as well. An honor that was directly tied into their crimes. And they are allowed to keep their records and awards. But if your family accepts something from an agent...well let's take everything away from him.
Admittedly, I've always been a Reggie fan. So that is probably clouding my judgement.
It's nonsense. Although I believe Vince Young was more deserving that year, Reggie Bush isn't the first heisman winner to take money and he won't be the last. I wish he would have sold the trophy on Ebay.