Reggie Bush Scandal: By Far Not the First Or Last in Sports

What happened to the days when young children could look up to their sports heroes with pride and think that they someday would want to be just like them? These days, any child who says he wants to be just like his favorite athlete doesn't mean he wants to be a part of the scandals that plague sports now.

The latest scandal to take over the sports world is the Reggie Bush scandal. According to The Washington Post, the Heisman Trophy Trust will take away Bush's trophy by the end of this month. The reason for this is because the NCAA ruled in June that Bush, a former running back for USC, took cars, money, and gifts. This would make him ineligible for the Heisman trophy. Even though Bush is now a successful running back for the New Orleans Saints, this scandal will surely follow him for the rest of his life, just as scandals have had an impact on other notable sports stars.

The scandal of Mark McGwire's home run record being tainted by steroid use is one that is turning out better for him then Bush's scandal is turning out. The reason being is because McGwire only admitted to steroid use 12 years after he originally hit the home runs, according to MLB.com. McGwire is still eligible to be inducted into the hall of fame, even if he receives enough votes. However, Reggie Bush performed of his own accord, but has been stripped from the record books for something less. If the Reggie Bush scandal broke years from now, when Bush was no longer playing professional football, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal, just as McGwire's scandal was briefly in the news.

One scandal that is comparable to the Reggie Bush scandal is that of Marion Jones. According to ESPN, Marion Jones was stripped of the five Olympic medals she won in the 2000 Olympics in track and field. Jones was totally erased from the Olympic records because of her admitted steroid use. Not only were her records stripped from the Olympic results, but also all of her results back to September 2000.

Jones' scandal is worse than both Bush and McGwire's because she was stripped from the Olympic record books and of her medals. Since there is no national platform for track and field, she has no way to redeem herself. It has taken Jones years to come back into the spotlight, and the scandal that she created continues to haunt her. She signed a deal to be a part of the "Tulsa Shock," a basketball team in the WNBA, but even at the news conference to announce her new job, questions about her scandalous past still arose, according to ESPN.

Just as her scandal has come up years later, when Jones is making a comeback in a completely unrelated sport, no matter what Bush does in the future, every article will list the Heisman Trophy scandal that he finds himself embroiled in now. The only way that Bush could overcome this scandal is to do something in sports that is so unprecedented on the field that he would become a hero again. So far, there is no example of this with sports scandals that directly affected the game.

Time will only tell if Reggie Bush can overcome his scandal. But one thing is for sure, that he needs to produce a winning season with the New Orleans Saints and play an integral part of that winning season.

Sources:

Cindy Boren, "Report: Reggie Bush will be stripped of Heisman Trophy" The Washington Post

Matthew Leach, "McGwire opens up about steroid use Slugger apologizes, says he used PEDs 'for health purposes'" MLB.com

Associated Press, "Jones stripped of five Olympic medals, banned from Beijing Games" ESPN.com

Associated Press, " Jones joins Tulsa Shock" ESPN.com