Return of the Heisman

Reggie Bush gets his trophy back, and wants his records back too

Reggie Bush is right up there with the very best football players I’ve ever seen. His NFL career was just okay, but in college? Goodness gracious.

This was before the running back became the afterthought of the sport. There wasn’t a single back drafted in the first round last night, once unthinkable in days of yore. I grew up in a time when RBs could still win the MVP. Adrian Peterson, LaDainian Tomlinson, Shaun Alexander. And of course, my hometown guy, Marshall Faulk.

That’s all history now, but believe me when I say this: as good as all those guys were, and a lot of them were plenty good in college too, none of them held a candle to USC Reggie Bush. He was that electric. Check the tape. It’s all there.

However. If you were to go and check the NCAA’s record books to see about Bush’s stats, you wouldn’t find them. They were vacated back in 2010, along with USC’s 2004 national title, and most infamously of all, Bush’s Heisman trophy.

After a years-long investigation and/or legal odyssey, stemming largely from allegations that Bush and his family had accepted improper benefits while he was at USC, he gave that trophy away.

This week, he got it back. I don’t know many people who ever advocated for the NCAA going back and vacating much of anything, but I do distinctly remember there being a much bigger section of the commentariat than we’d hear now saying ‘rules are rules.’

I’m not hearing any of that now, mainly because those rules? The ones Bush broke? Like, say, athlete compensation? Yeah, those aren’t the rules anymore. Not by a long shot, and that’s been true for a few years now.

Bush has been banging the drum on this since NIL came to the party in July 2021. Let’s revisit, guys. What are we doing here?

Apparently, the Heisman Trust — yes, that’s really what it’s called — has decided to hear him out. So says their president in a statement.

"We considered the enormous changes in college athletics over the last several years in deciding that now is the right time to reinstate the trophy for Reggie. We are so happy to welcome him back."

You know what? I’m happy too. I’m glad the same trust that never saw fit to rescind O.J. Simpson’s Heisman is now coming around to thinking hey, maybe, we shouldn’t make a habit out of this.

And you better believe Bush is pretty happy about this too. He’s always maintained that he shouldn’t have been pressured to give the trophy up, and moreover, he continues to deeply criticize the NCAA investigation that led to that outcome and — he feels — sullied his reputation.

He’s not dropping his defamation lawsuit. He wants those records back in the books, and he thinks he’s finally got the momentum to force their hand. He might be right. Permission to speak freely? I’ll be rooting for him.

Poetic justice comes to mind here, and let me take this opportunity to issue a take.

Retconning rarely ends well. Sports are about stories, and in Bush — one of college sports’ greatest legends — the NCAA and the Heisman Trust needlessly made a martyr. I feel similarly about the steroid era in baseball, by the way. We remember, okay? Just put an asterisk. This is dumb, and has always been more than a little bit dumb.

And not for nothing — for every O.J. Simpson in Canton, there’s a Ty Cobb in Cooperstown. Highly inexact example there, but you get the idea. The Hall of Fame is a museum. I guess you could call me… anti-sanitization, on matters not pertaining to public health.

Enough. Like we said, sports are about stories. Just tell us what happened. And don’t try to tell me what didn’t.

Also, This

🏆 We cover Bush’s odyssey in Episode 4 of our podcast, which is now officially dated! Fortunately, the backstory isn’t though, so come through if you haven’t:

🅰️ So A-Town’s down with Michael Penix, Jr., eh? I don’t hate it. I mean, I kinda do, and I don’t understand the timeline with Kirk Cousins at all (who is reportedly… frustrated) but damn. That was the one surprise last night, and it might count for two. Didn’t see that coming. Neither did my Falcons fan friends, one of whom responded to my check-in text with the (punctuated!!!) word ‘Mayhem.’

🤝 At first blush, pretty confused by the Bills — who, reminder, have lost both Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis this offseason — trading down to hand the Chiefs the fastest receiver in the draft, Xavier Worthy, then trading down again as the two teams in front of them took two more receivers.
(Update: actually — I happen to like Keon Coleman, so I’m letting this one slide until Worthy rips a bubble screen for a game-winner in next year’s AFC Championship game. Till then, you win this round, Beane.)

🗽 New York, stand up! The Knicks are in a tussle with the Sixers and the streets are abuzz with semi-legitimate title hopes. I’d love to see them make a run, especially if Boston starts going soft on us again, though I don’t know if you’d even consider picking New York over Denver if it came to that. Speaking of which…

🎬 Los Angeles, sit down! I have been greatly impressed by Anthony Davis all year, and what LeBron is still doing, somehow, needs no further praise. But the whole “it was a close sweep” thing last year is also true this year, which sort of makes both points. It was close. It is close! Against this Nuggets team, though, close isn’t that close.

🤓 As I mentioned last week, the shining hope of St. Louis right now — with the Blues missing the playoffs and the Cardinals well on their way — is the revival of a competitive basketball team at SLU. The new coach, Josh Schertz, is indeed bringing Robbie Avila with him from Indiana State. You know, this kid? Affectionately known as Cream Abdul Jabbar, with, as one friend of mine suggested, a surefire NIL deal with Fitz’s Root Beer?

We are, as the kids say, so back.