Mr. & Mrs. Link

Good news in the Trojan Family.  Reggie Bush has settled his court case and will not testify at a public deposition that was supposed to happen today.

Bush settled with would-be sports marketer Lloyd Lake, who was suing Bush for nearly $300,000, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed. The source requested anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak publicly. Yahoo! Sports, citing a source, reported the settlement Tuesday night.

Now before the haters break out their pitchforks and accuse me of being glad we dodged a bullet that rightfully had our name on it, let me clarify.  This deposition had very little bearing on the NCAA ruling about possible sanctions.  Reggie Bush could have murdered, say his ex-wife and boyfriend and then led LAPD on a slow-speed chase in a white Ford Bronco.  If USC reasonably didn’t know about it, it’s not a question of ethics.  See that get’s lost in the media frenzy to tear down USC – this isn’t about what Bush’s family did, it’s about whether the institution of USC was complicit in it.

Do I think something fishy happened with Reggie Bush with regard to NCAA rules?  Yes.  It’s pretty obvious that his family took benefits they shouldn’t have.  But can the NCAA punish USC for the actions of an athlete’s family?

See, that’s the real issue here – not whether mom and dad Bush took money, but whether USC’s Athletics Program had some responsibility to know about it.  What level of internal enforcement is an academic institution required to take?  Should they hire private investigators to stake out anyone who interacts with an athlete?  The NCAA has traditionally not required that level of enforcement, the the real issue isn’t what Reggie Bush did but what USC knew.

Had this deposition occured, it likely would have been about what Reggie Bush did, not what USC knew.  Yet, in the media, that would have been enough for a conviction.

The shine has worn off the USC football program (Reggie Bush, Pete Carroll, Michael Garrett and now Lane Kiffin have all been targets to some extend of media criticism).  From a media perspective, USC’s greatness became boring – it no longer generated valuable clicks.  So queue controversy and suddenly readers are clicking again.  The more controversy you can generate, the more clicks you get.

It’s the American cycle of fame: make news building them up, and when that get’s boring, make more news tearing them down.

So this deposition would have been a kangaroo trial for the institution of USC, despite the fact that it actually had very little bearing on USC in the first place.  So, yes.  I’m glad it’s not going to happen.

Now the NCAA can make it’s ruling and we can put this whole mess behind us.  My guess is, USC will get a slap o the wrist because, honestly, the institution didn’t do that much wrong.