Talk about misinformed! The original Yahoo! story provided the documentation of inappropriate benefits provided to the Bush’s by the OTHER ex-con sports agent/marketer that made Bush the highest paid athlete in amateur sports history, Michael Ornstein. Ornstein was Bush’s summer employer and a USC-certified booster. Ornstein admitted to the infractions the documentation proved in that original article. Ornstein denied an allegation made by a former business associate (NOT an ex-con) that he personally observed Ornstein paying the Bush’s one of their weekly stipends, asserting that he even loaned him some of the money to make the payment.

The documented and admitted infractions by a booster is a DIRECT involvement for which USC is fully responsible. It was USC that brought Bush to Ornstein! One might ask how it is that Heritage Hall would approve an ex-con sports agent/marketer as a certified booster. And why the university would direct their marquee player to that ex-con and then ignore both.

It is also astonishing to hear these excuses about the parents living 3 hour away. Bush was living in a plush LA condo paid for by Lake and Michaels. Bush was parking his newly acquired car — also paid for by Lake/Michaels — in the USC parking lot! Was that too far to look? Bush and the car were on the cover of a magazine devoted to classic cars. But no one at USC, not a player, a coach, a compliance officer, no one noticed where Bush was living or what he was driving to practice…for 2 years? Bush’s parents were not driving the car, they were not living in the LA condo. USC’s All-American Heisman candidate either received NO scrutiny, or the obvious was intentionally ignored. Both possibilities constitute an egregious lack of institutional control warranting serious sanctions.

How is it that no one who writes or responds to this blog knows any of this? And why are many of you still questioning Lake’s credibility when Bush has admitted in his court filings that Lake’s claims are valid? His legal position is that the Michaels confidentiality agreement (read hush money) REPAID all of Lake’s claims. Bush does not deny he received the inappropriate benefits while a player for USC; he claims to have already repaid them.

On the heels of this we find all of this repeated in the Guillory/Mayo affair. There is Guillory, actually sitting in Heritage Hall, as Mayo is faxing his LOI. It is too simplistic and convenient to blame the basketball program. Or the football program. Those programs are merely manifesting the “just win, baby,” attitude of Heritage Hall and reflected in the Trojan fan base.

In light of all of the above, why is every last one of you not outside Heritage Hall demanding heads roll and sanctions be self-imposed? Could it be that Trojans value bragging more than honor? From an outsider’s point of view, the answer to that seems as obvious as Bush’s ineligibility and USC’s culpability. Wonder not why there are so many “haters” out there; it is not inappropriate to despise the despicable. It has nothing to do with USC’s pathetic domination of the VERY PACIFIC 10 and the equally inept “Big” 10 of recent years: no fans outside of those 2 weak conferences care about that meaningless success.

You might also consider the offense fans take when the Trojan fan base widely proclaims that ALL programs are dirty. It is here in this very thread! And it is widely asserted by Trojan responses in most blogs dealing with the corruption in Heritage Hall. No. Everyone does NOT cheat. Most schools that discover they have broken rules self-report and self-impose penalties. That is the spirit of the NCAA. The members are institutions of higher learning, where ideals are promoted. They are not bastions of cheating, Trojan projections notwithstanding. The broad based animosity rightly directed at USC will cease when the school and its obnoxious posting fan base conform their behavior to the norms expected in the NCAA. Then threads such as this one will no longer pollute the intenet with self-serving misinformation and false indictments against the nation’s academic community.