Reggie Bush Heisman Trophy Decision a No-Brainer

My wife will never win the Heisman Trophy.

Not just because she's a middle-of-her-twenties woman who comes from a bloodline full of females who stand under five feet. Or because just the thought of actually participating in a football game makes her physically ill. No, the wife will ever win the Heisman because she will never attend an NCAA university. By rule, she is not eligible to win any college football award, including the Heisman Trophy.

Neither was Reggie Bush in 2005.

Yahoo Sports and other media outlets are reporting that Reggie Bush will be stripped of his Heisman Trophy award by the end of September. Bush is being punished for knowingly violating many, many NCAA rules. Whether or not Bush's 2005 statistics and performances (both of which have been erased from any and all NCAA/USC record books) earned him the Heisman is irrelevant. Once Reggie Bush broke the rules, he, by the code of NCAA law, officially became ineligible to play football for USC or any NCAA school.

Ineligible individuals cannot win a Heisman Trophy. It's that simple.

Once word got out that Bush was going to be stripped of the Heisman, fans on Twitter and other social networking and sports related websites were outraged. Bush earned the Heisman, after all. It's not like he used PEDs or any similar substance. Besides, what does stripping Bush of the Heisman really accomplish, anyway?

What these tools people and journalists such as Jemele Hill don't understand is that what Reggie Bush and USC perpetrated is no different than when an athlete uses steroids or HGH. By courting Reggie Bush with cars, money and a freakin' house, USC gained an advantage in recruiting and signing Bush; an advantage earned outside of NCAA regulations. What if Bush wouldn't have received all of those "perks?" Would he have attended USC anyway? We'll never know. If he would have gone to UCLA, let's say, Bush wouldn't have been running behind one of the best offensive lines in the nation. Would he have still been number one in Heisman voting that season?

We'll never know.

Arguments such as "Bush earned his Heisman" or "taking the Heisman away solves nothing" are absurd. Once the NCAA's investigation showed that Bush and USC cheated, he officially became ineligible to compete; the same way a track athlete is no longer eligible when he/she fails a drug test. Should Marion Jones be allowed to keep her gold medals? I mean, she earned each one of them. Sure, she did so outside of the rules. She still earned them, though.

If Bush, who was ineligible in 2005, is allowed to keep this Heisman, why can't NFL players head back to college and play on Saturday's? Maybe Peyton Manning can win a national title and a Heisman Trophy. Hey, Bush could go back and play for USC again. He was no more eligible in 2005 than he is in 2010.

Will taking away Reggie Bush's Heisman really stop athletes and universities from breaking the rules? Probably not. Sometimes, though, you do the right thing just because it's the right thing to do. Bush and USC chose not to, and that's why he doesn't deserve the Heisman. The trophy is an honor, one bestowed upon the best college football player during a particular year.

The best player who plays within the rules, that is.

More from Associated Content: Paternoville: Why Penn State has the most hardcore football fans & Best sports fan moment: OSU at PSU 2005

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