Reggie Bush Settles with Lloyd Lake

I realize I am little late to the party on this but I wanted to offer my take in on this...P

In what has to be the most expensive game of chicken that I have seen in a long time, Reggie Bush settled with Lloyd Lake yesterday.

So what does it mean and how should we interpret it?

What it means is that the NCAA won't be getting either Bush's or Michael Michales testimony on the record. That should effectively end this investigation. The NCAA is set rule on the whole mess in the coming weeks so there should not be any surprises coming down the line.

USC is far from out of the woods on this.

Seeing we really don't know what was in the official list of infractions the NCAA presented to USC back in November and seeing that no one has discussed the testimony from February's hearing there is still much to speculate.

So how should we interpret these developments?

Settlement talks appeared to be in the works since Monday morning, soon after San Diego Superior County Judge Steven R. Denton ordered that Lake, Michaels and Bush all submit to depositions in hopes of moving the civil suit forward. Lake was scheduled to appear in a San Diego courtroom Monday to give his deposition, but that was scuttled when Bush’s attorneys asked for a one day continuance in hopes of opening talks between the two parties. Lake’s deposition then failed to take place on Tuesday as well, apparently canceled after reaching a settlement with Bush. Michaels’ deposition was expected to come Wednesday, and Bush’s on Friday, but both are expected to be canceled as the civil suit against Bush, who now plays for the New Orleans Saints, and his family is withdrawn.

If we are to believe the tone of the article it would appear that Bush was looking to settle. We really can't be sure because all of those negotiations would probably be part of a non-disclosure that would accompany the settlement.

But how are we to be sure?

Lake has dodged his deposition in the past.

Lake and his team had to know that anything Lake says in the deposition could be used against him later. Lake has a felony conviction on his record and I believe he is currently on probation. His admission to giving money to the Bush family while Reggie was an amateur athlete is against the law in the State of California. That could have potentially affected his probation status.

So while there are many who will say that Bush blinked one has to wonder if that was really the case.

Yes, Bush had settled with Michaels in the past but from the tone from all of these proceedings one could surmise that Bush refused settle with Lake because of what Lake was demanding. I am pretty sure that had Lake simply asked for the same 300k that Michaels got this would have been settled a long time ago, but because Lake was asking for so much (reportedly 3.2 million) Bush drew a line in the sand.

If that is really the case then I don't blame him.

I would not disagree with the assertion that Bush didn't want his story on the record. Bush's settling with Michaels may make that obvious to some...there has to be something there, right? But people settle all the time simply for the sake of convenience.

On the other hand, Lake is perceived as some hanger on who brought little to the table in pure monetary value in all of this, yet he tried to get his cut of the action simply because he saw everything going on. Lake could make all sorts of assertions in the press but until he takes an oath it is all just hearsay. For all we know Lake made have lowered his demands to Bush to try and salvage something out of this because once the deposition takes place you have no more leverage. Your cards are out on the table.

In the end this all speculation...no one knows just how it all went down.

I am just thankful that this part of the saga is over...