USC Football Game Day: Trust in Reggie

It’s interesting how most USC websites and blogs have yet to address Yahoo!’s report on the alleged improprieties of Reggie Bush’s family. I suppose there is something to be said for knowing that Trojan fans don’t want to read the “bad news.” But what about examining the matter as it has been presented thus far and providing a take from a USC perspective?

At the very least, we should have something of a retort with all the misguided ugla fans on the attack. There are a few Trojans who gave it a shot yesterday.

The According to USC Trojan blog asked a few interesting questions:

It is important to note that pretty much every other sports news outlet had a 'brief mention' of it only. Does that tell you something? …

What interest does Yahoo Sports have in doing this investigation when Pac-10 and USC are also doing it? Is there an investigation team bake-off? And how can Yahoo come up with their findings before the rest, and be bold enough to create a stir?

The answer is pretty simple. Yahoo! Sports is trying to make a name for itself. It sees this “story” as its Woodward and Bernstein moment.

TrojanWire had its usual wise-ass take, if that’s what you’re looking for:

And just for the record, even if it meant USC getting another trophy in its case, you'll never catch us calling for Texas to forfeit a title; even if Vince received a million bucks in agent money or they did something crazy like start a drug dealer in the National Championship game.

But most solace comes from a non-Trojan, Will Leitch at Deadspin:

Even if Reggie Bush received money and they take away hardware and fictional titles, it still all happened, and you still all enjoyed it. Honest.

The problem with the angles from TrojanWire and Deadspin is that they inadvertently give too much credit to the Yahoo! reporting. As Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso just said on College GameDay outside the Coliseum this morning: “IF … IF … IF.”

One of the reasons why none of the established, reputable news outlets are investigating this story is that many of the sources involved are scheming sleaze balls, several of whom have already been convicted of white collar crimes.

The other aspect of the story is that all the parties involved are in some form of litigation against each other, which brings into question whatever statements they make. Never mind what that says about the judgment of Reggie and his family in picking their associates, but no real news outlet is going to push this story … unless it is seeking to make a name for itself.

So, where does that leave us? We can over-think this thing and convince ourselves that it doesn’t matter. Or, we can circle the wagons and trust in Reggie:

I'm not worried about any of these allegations or anything like that, because I know what the truth is, like I said from day one. Once the smoke clears, everybody's going to see we did nothing wrong.

Obviously it does affect you just because it is out there. But at the same time I know there's nothing to worry about. It makes you want to go out there right away and tell your side of the story. Show everybody the facts, the truth. But you can't do that. That wouldn't be the right way to do it

I told [USC] the same thing, don't worry about anything. If there was something to worry about, then I would tell you. But there's nothing to worry about.

Okay, Reggie. We’ll trust you. Just like we did at South Bend last year. Just like we did versus Fresno State in the Coliseum. Just like we did when you pitched a lateral to no one in the Rose Bowl … ?

We’ll trust you, Reggie. We’ll trust you …
east coast bias