THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Bush giving Heilman
By Jared Shanker
REMEMBER when, on that
cold December night in
2005, Vmce Young
walked up to the
podium in an
expensive Italian
suit at the
Downtown
Athletic Club in
New York?
Remember when
Young graciously
received the
Heisman Trophy,
fighting back tears as he
thanked friends and family for
all their support?
No? You don't remember that?
Oh wait, that's right. You wouldn't
remember it. Because it never
happened.
Reggie Bush, the explosive,
once-in-a-lifetime talent who had
a highlight reel the length of
"Titanic" and made Pac-10
defenders look like 10-year-old
defenders, won the 2005 Heisman.
Yesterday, though, Bush decided
to forfeit his Heisman amid spec-
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ulation the Heisman Trust was
going to strip him of it later this
week after a four-year NCAA
investigation into the USC athletic
program found that Bush
received improper benefits while
at USC. The Trust is considering
giving the award to the 2005 run
ner-up, Young, who said he would
take the trophy if offered.
My question now becomes
what does Bush giving away his
Heisman prove?
The answer is simple: nothing.
Bush was the best player on any
college football field in 2005, 2004
and 2003. When Bush finally won
the Heisman in 2005, he won with
a total of 2,541 points, second most
in the 74-year history of the award.
Young may have gotten the last
laugh in the national champi
onship game, but Bush was the
best in college football according
to 784 writers, pundits and former
Heisman winners the second
most first-place votes ever.
But Bush did the right thing
not because the award was taint
ed, but because it was becoming
a distraction to his NFL team, the
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SPORTS
back still doesn't change history
New Orleans Saints, and more
importantly, it prevents the Trust
from "vacating" his Heisman.
There isn't an uglier word in
sports than "vacate." Not for ath
letic programs or players but for
fans, historians and record books.
Are we supposed to just remove
Bush and his jaw-dropping array
of jukes, leaps and spins from our
memories? Are we to no longer
recognize Bush as one of the most
dominant players of the decade?
The possibility of vacating
records doesn't just stop with
Bush, though. USC will almo - st
undoubtedly be stripped of its
BCS national title from 2004
the same year the Trojans went
13-0 and won eight games by
more than 30 points, including a
55-19 dismantling of Oklahoma in
the national championship game.
Does anybody really have the
gall to argue the Trojans weren't
the best team in 2004? Yeah,
Auburn went 13-0, too, but few
argued in Auburn's favor unless it
was to play devil's advocate or
more likely show the inepti
tude of the BCS system. The
Trojans were a Goliath that had
no David. Now, they're a king
without a crown, and the 2004
season might as well have never
been played.
Legendary coach Bobby
Bowden trailed Joe Paterno by
just one win in early 2009, but an
NCAA ruling forced Florida State
and Bowden to vacate 14 wins
from 2006-07, drawing a curtain on
the race between the two.
Did Bobby Bowden not coach
his Seminoles to 14 victories that
year? (Maybe Jimbo Fisher did,
but that's a different story) And
what do you tell the teams that
lost to the Seminoles that year?
They don't get the win. It's as if
those 60 minutes were meaning
less, because as far as the NCAA
is concerned, there is no winner
or loser just a vacated victory.
It's a good thing Bud Selig and
Major League Baseball aren't fol
lowing in the NCAA's footsteps.
There's little doubt that some of
the game's greatest players of the
last three decades spent more
time sticking needles in their butt
rather than busting it in the
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15, 2010 I 11
weight room. The way to deal
with them, though, is not to strip
them of their accomplishments.
The only thing worse than Barry
Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's
home run record would be for
MLB to refuse to acknowledge
Bonds played 22 seasons.
Everybody knows Bonds is the
all-time home run leader, and
that he cheated the game. But to
erase every performance
enhanced dinger isn't the way to
go, though.
Bonds, much like Bush, capti
vated the sports world in the
early part of the last decade. His
shame should be attached to his
accomplishments, not revoked
entirely. Let us decide how to
contextualize Bonds', Bowden's
and Bush's accomplishments.
Sports can't rid itself of its histo
ry, no matter how it was written.
And vacating does more than tak
ing games from the win column.
Jared Shanker is a senior majoring in
journalism and history and is the
Collegian's sports columnist. His e-mail
address is jpss226@psu.edu.