Couple things I wanted to chime in here about the bubbling scandal surrounding 2005 Heisman winner Reggie Bush.
1. I opened the USA Today Sports section today and saw the following headline: Sports Marketer Sues Bush.
Now, let’s be clear here. Lloyd Lake is an aspiring sports marketer. He has never actually marketed anyone. He has just been released from jail, so if anything the proper moniker to apply to him in any headline is “ex-con”. To label him a ‘marketer’ is misleading at best.
Update: One of the guys on ESPN’s College Football Live repeatedly referred to a ‘sports marketer’ who is suing Bush.
Again, if Lake–a convicted felon–is a sports marketer, then I’m the next Hugh Hefner.
Come on, guys, shape up.
2. The one person escaping scrutiny from this whole thing is Pete Carroll. He is the one person who could have nipped much of this in the bud. After all, Bush needed Carroll’s approval before interning with Michael Ornstein over the summer of 2005. Carroll and everyone else in touch with the NFL knows about Ornstein’s scummy past. In 1995, Ornstein pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for his role in a scheme to defraud the NFL. So, Carroll knowingly let Bush intern for a known scumbag. What, did he think that Ornstein was not going to try to become Bush’s sugar daddy? If USC gets in trouble for what Ornstein and Bush wrought, much of it will be traced to that stupid decision to let Bush work with Ornstein.
3. That being said, though most of this stuff is reported in breathless tones, I seriously doubt anything will come of it. Bush isn’t going to lose his Heisman and USC isn’t going to lose its titles. Could USC go on probation? Possibly. But it won’t undo all the was accomplished in the Carroll Era.
Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled blog.
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