Hey VINCE....Your 2005 Heisman Trophy Is On It's Way To You...

So it turns out that Reggie Bush WILL have to vacate his 2005 Heisman Trophy after all! Score! This will be the first time ever in the 75 year history of the award that it will be taken away from the winner, and I couldn't be happier. While nothing "official" has been done as of today, it looks pretty much like a done deal.

Now look, I understand that Bush is certainly not the first guy to take things that were against the rules, and he won't be the last by a long shot. I get that. I also understand that if we're really interested in being accurate, we could if we wanted to, take back a whole lot more Heisman Trophy's that were given to guys that took money and gifts over the decades of college football. That's another argument for another time.

The fact of the matter is, Bush and USC got caught. They got caught for one reason only, and that's arrogance. They really didn't believe all of the money and gifts would come back to haunt them. They really thought nobody would rat them out. Nobody would cry foul. Nobody would care. Well guess what? When certain people like Lloyd Lake get ripped off, they tend to seek vengeance their own way, and they also tend to tape record incriminating phone conversations, as well as hang onto paper trail evidence. If people like Lake are going to go down, they'll take everyone with them.

Had Bush and his shady family had simply paid off their debt to Lloyd, we wouldn't have found out about any of this.

Parting Shots

The Beard will be taking his act out on the road starting Thursday. I shall return Monday with fresh thoughts and perspectives, but before I go here are some quick hits:

• I absolutely LOVE that USC is sending Bush's Heisman Trophy from 2005 back! Good luck with Pat Hayden as the new Athletic Director. Not sure what he's going to do? Maybe nothing, or maybe he just needs to be some B.S. Face of Integrity for the university? Either way, I love that USC is being forced to pay the piper. Believe it or not, I'm hearing from these ignorant, arrogant, and self-indulgent USC fans and alumni claiming that they are being "unfairly singled out". If by unfairly singled out, they mean, "It sucks that we got caught cheating" then yes, my hemmorhoids bleed for you Trojan Nation. Go screw yourselves.
• Imagine that, Bobby Jenks blew another win for the White Sox tonight. Jenks gave away the Sox best chance of sweeping the Mariners in Seattle since 1994. So congrats to him on another dubious milestone achieved. I've already shared my thoughts on how much he needs to be removed as the closer post-haste. Hopefully tonight gives Ozzie enough cause to do exactly that as the Sox head into Oakland.
• The rumor mill is circling and candidates Ryne Sandberg, Bob Brenly want to manage the Cubs, and hell even Joe Torre won't rule himself out as a possible candidate. Again, it's going to take more than a good manager to make a winner out of this bunch, and I still don't care what Ricketts said, I don't believe Jim Hendry is back next year.
• The Bulls are supposedly working out Tracy McGrady. YAWN. McGrady is so washed up parents tell their kids to "Tracy McGrady" before they go to bed.

See you guys soon!!!

Approaching Zero Hour

The book you see pictured is Tarnished Heisman written by Don Yaeger. There's a link to Amazon.com which provides further information on the book on the right hand side of this blog. It's a very shocking expose of not only what a dirtball Reggie Bush is, but also illustrates the cost of doing business in big time College Football. When I first read the book two years ago, not only was I surprised at exactly what Bush and his family were accused of, but the overwhelming conclusion I reached was that the only thing Bush was really guilty of, was not keeping his improprieties quiet by reneging on his debt.

With that said, a striking development took place today with the news that Bush settled his lawsuit with Lloyd Lake. Lake is the man who was the Bush Family hookup with all the cars, cash, a freakin $750,000 HOUSE for Bush's family to live rent free in San Diego, and various other little "perks", all under the impression that they were going to form a Sports and Entertainment firm called "New Era" with Bush as their premier client once he turned pro. When the Bush Family stone-walled Lake on repayment for everything they borrowed from him, Lake revealed that he had tape recorded conversations with the Bush Family which give specific details regarding who gave what to whom, and filed suit.

Here's where it gets even more interesting. This lawsuit along with a Yahoo Sports Special Report in April of 2006 also led to an investigation by the NCAA which initially began as a probe on Bush, but their findings led them to investigate the entire USC Athletic Program. The NCAA is expected to reveal it's findings relatively soon, and if they find that Bush was in violation (and btw HE WAS) he could be deemed ineligible retroactively and that would lead to not only the forfeiture of his Heisman Trophy, but also the Trojan's 2004 National Championship.

The way I see it : USC should get ready to tear it's banners down from the Captain Happy Pete Carroll era, and Bush should be packing his Heisman Trophy up so he can mail it to Vince Young. As I said before, it's pretty clear that Bush was not the only one on the USC team that had special "arrangements" that the school did more than look the other way on. Yeah Bush might have made it a little harder for the NCAA to gather all the evidence by settling his lawsuit rather than give a sworn deposition, but the damage is done. They have more than they need already. This whole era is finally getting the just comeuppance it deserves.

It ended up being a "New Era" indeed...