Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Introduction

In June, the NCAA deemed Reggie Bush ineligible his senior year at the University Of Southern California. It was said that Reggie Bush had accepted approximately $290,000 worth of items and money from agents while still attending USC. As a result the Heisman Trophy Trust said that as a result of Bush not being eligible to play football his senior year, he must return his Heisman Trophy he won for 2005. Bush is the first person in the 75 year history of winners to have lost his Heisman. Reggie relinquished the trophy out of respect of the Heisman Trophy instead of it being stripped from him on September 14, 2010. Herschel Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner, said that it was wrong for the NCAA and the Heisman Trophy Trust should not have done that to Reggie. Herschel saw that Reggie won the trophy by working hard and being a great player. The money didn’t have anything to do with Reggie’s skill on the field. As a result of Bush’s bad decisions, the University of Southern California also has to pay sacrifices for his mistake. USC has to surrender one of their National Championship Trophy wins, and the school is suspended from attending a bowl game for the next four years. With Pete Carroll moving into coaching in the NFL, some fingers point at Pete. Speculators say he knew that Bush was receiving funds and left coaching at USC so he would not get in trouble. Of course, Carroll denies knowing anything about what is going on with Reggie Bush.

Five years after Reggie Bush leaves college football and enters the National Football League the NCAA decides to look deeper and decides that Bush was ineligible five years ago. Is it too late for the NCAA to do anything about it? Can the NCAA really change a whole year in a blink of an eye? Since the NCAA decided deem Reggie Bush ineligible for a year they probably should look at every great player’s history to see what went on while they were attending college. Fans say that since Reggie Bush has to relinquish his Heisman Trophy, O.J. Simpson should have to do the same when his situation was worse. But, the NCAA declares that they cannot do anything about Simpson’s situation since it happened after he left college football. The NCAA can change a person’s whole career in a blink of an eye. Is that too much power for an organization to have? Some fans may believe that the NCAA is too strict with their policies and shouldn’t worry so much about what is going on in the college-athlete’s life. They believe that the NCAA’s job is to focus on helping athletes make smart decisions and become the best player than can be. If the NCAA didn’t worry about what is going on in a college-athlete’s personal life they would have more money and will not feel as much pressure. Other fans may say that if the NCAA had more rules and more strict consequences there wouldn’t be any problems with athletes like we see today with alcohol, money, and drugs. Then you have fans that believe that only certain areas of rules need to be changed.

Should the NCAA lose some of the power it has now and not worry about the college-athlete’s personal life and focus more on helping the athlete get better? The NCAA has the power to change an athlete’s career with the snap of a finger. Should that power be given to anyone or anything on Earth? Also college kids are going to make mistakes throughout however many years they attend, but it isn’t the NCAA’s job to punish them. Shouldn’t the NCAA let the law deal with their punishment and focus more on the athlete’s performance? No matter the case too much power is a bad thing, but it may or may not be for the NCAA. Through the sources I read, I saw more people leaning toward not giving the NCAA as much power and focusing on making the college-athlete a better player before snooping in on the athlete’s personal life. Also letting the players earn money is introduced by doing camps or certain loans.