Tarnished Trophy

     Reggie Bush won the Heisman Trophy in 2005.  After five years of investigation he was forced to return the trophy because of his personal improprieties.  Not only did he take hundred of thousand of dollars, the use of  a three quarter million dollar house his family lived in rent free, trips and a car but the list of under the table gifts goes on and on.  Just as bad, the college he was playing for at the time, the University of Southern Cal looked the other way while all this was going on just so they could win a national championship.  This is just another example of another gifted athlete who thought the rules did not apply to him.  Does all this matter?  Apparently it does not.  Reggie Bush now has a twenty six million dollar contract with the National Football League's New Orleans Saints and Southern Cal's head coach during the Reggie Bush college years, Pete Carroll now has a multi million dollar contract to coach the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League.  Elite college football players and coaches can expect huge paydays when they enter the world of pro football so they could care less about rules that might slow their path to that giant paycheck.

     2005 seems so long ago.  Since then, Reggie Bush has won a  Super Bowl in the National Football League and Pete Carroll has coached the Seattle Seahawks into this years National Football League's playoffs.  Flash forward to this years Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, a quarterback who transferred to the University of Southern Cal from a small Junior College, Blinn College in Brenham TX.  Five years from now  there is a good chance Cam Newton will be forced to return his Heisman Trophy just as Reggie Bush did. The NCAA is investigating whether or not two men tried to secure two hundred thousand dollars from any college that was willing to pay the money if Cam Newton would sign a letter of intent to play football at the college in question. Even Cam Newton's father who is a preacher is under investigation for taking money from people connected to Cam Newton.  The Heisman Trophy winner was suspended but reinstated after all these allegations could not prove he  had knowledge of such arrangement.

     I have always liked football and had a favorite college team before I ever knew anything about the National Football League.  At least as an innocent  child I was able to enjoy football.  As an adult, accepting the fact ""money is the root of all evil" has tarnished my admiration for the Heisman Trophy but I still love the game of football.  No longer are the flying clipboards and headsets of college coaches worthy of NCAA infractions, now even a pastor's son is allowed to play as he walks around with a shadow of suspicion. I sure hope all this has no baring on the Lord's love of the game because God's team, the Dallas Cowboys need all the help they can get.  Nothing should surprise sports fans anymore not even the tarnished halo of the Heishman Trophy.