A pointless exercise

Brian Hamilton

Chicago Tribune

The Heisman Trophy explicitly honors a player who pursues "excellence with integrity." The Heisman Trophy Trust explicitly "ensures the … integrity of this award."

So after 75 years, the Downtown Athletic Club morality police should put out the APB on Reggie Bush's mantel decor? Please.

The idea that every Heisman winner but Bush has demonstrated unimpeachable integrity is hopelessly naïve. College athletics was dirty before Reggie Bush and will be after Reggie Bush. Asking him to ship a statue back is a grandiose, reactionary, pointless exercise. It won't change anything, least of all how we view the Heisman Trophy.

It goes to college football's best player, always has, and usually without much concern about how he got there.

bhamilton@tribune.com

Return to sender

Matt Murschel

Orlando Sentinel

For some reason, Elvis' "Return to Sender" comes to mind when I think of Reggie Bush and his Heisman Trophy.

Reggie should return to sender! He should be forced to give his Heisman Trophy back.

Bush broke one of the cardinal rules in college athletics as the NCAA determined he took illegal benefits during his time at USC. The Heisman Trophy is not simply about your stats and on-field achievements, it's about integrity.

He had his moment, got the national attention and the perks of being a Heisman winner. No one can take away the elation he felt when he went on stage and accepted the trophy but, sadly, he didn't deserve it. He should do the right thing and return what doesn't belong to him.

mmurschel@tribune.com

If the asterisk fits …

Gary Klein

Los Angeles Times

Under the terms of the NCAA sanctions, USC is required to disassociate Reggie Bush from the program, so that means his image, jersey and trophy must be removed. The return of the statuette to the Heisman Trophy Trust is largely symbolic. Remember, the same NCAA that slammed USC with penalties is preparing to hear the school's appeal. Shipping the trophy to New York allows USC to say, quite contritely, "Look NCAA, we're being compliant."

It has been five long years since Bush won the vote and accepted the trophy. Retroactively rescinding it and leaving 2005 without a recognized winner would be symbolic, but I'm not certain that's the right move.

No one is a big fan of the asterisk, but in this case it fits. Of course, getting Bush to hand over his trophy for engraving probably would be a challenge.

gklein@tribune.com

Can't rewrite history

Paul Doyle

Hartford Courant

Sorry, but it's too late to rewrite history. Reggie Bush won the Heisman Trophy as college football's best player and there's no going back to scrub his image from the prestigious award.

USC returned its trophy for largely symbolic reasons, which is nice and tidy for a program in crisis mode. To outsiders, it's a powerful message for the school to remove all trappings of Bush's success.

But let's not pretend Bush is the only Heisman winner with a checkered resume. He won the trophy for his production on the field, and that will never change.

Let him keep the award, but let's also remember the story of the Trojans every time we see highlights of his Heisman season.

pdoyle@courant.com