View From Bennett Avenue

One of the worst aspects of shipping something is finding a box that fits. And so I can empathize with Reggie Bush as he struggles to return the Heisman Trophy he won less than five years ago. Fed Ex, UPS or regular mail? How much insurance? The process is much tougher than the UCLA defenses he faced in the day. If he is really in a bind Bush can call Southern Cal and ask them how they shipped back their copy of the trophy, which they did back in July.
Should he have given it back? He really did not have much of a choice once the Heisman Trust--and no that is not the name of a failed savings and loan--announced that the award is meant only for eligible players. So once the NCAA declared Bush ineligible retroactively for what he and his family accepted from sports marketers, he was ineligible to win the award that he already had won. It is dumb, of course, but a rule is a rule.
You see the thing about the Heisman is that people in charge of maintaining its standing as the premier individual trophy in all of American sports feel that it is much more than a most outstanding player award. It is meant to honor the great player who best represents the sport. Bush is an interesting test of this in that he not only was a brilliant football player but an outstanding example of what is good about athletics--on the field at least. He worked hard and was the true leader of that record-setting offense (based on the pro careers of Leinart, White and Jarrett, Bush deserves two Heismans). Of course, he felt that his talents deserved compensation. That he accepted so much and then continued to deny responsibility despite overwhelming evidence against him was as much of a problem in the end for Bush as the technicality of him being an ineligible player the year he won the award. So while he was the best player that season--and that should not be questioned even if the runner-up easily won the MOP award in their bowl match-up--he cannot keep the trophy. It is rather cut and dry.
Bush also suffers from being the third winner of the award from USC to go on to embarrass the Trust. We all know about O.J., but even 1978 winner Charles White, the great tailback from the John Robinson days had to auction off his copy of his Heisman to pay off a tax debt.
Bush's failings coming on top of the problems of other winners should highlight the need to eliminate the sanctimonious element from the trophy. It is hard enough deciding who is the best individual in a team sport played by thousands without checking if a guy took cash or fit the profile of someone who will commit heinous crimes in the future. Most voters now just go with the best player approach. But a Trust is a Trust, especially when the trust is broken.