Bush's USC story may just be beginning


So now, tapes have supposedly surfaced of Reggie Bush while he was at USC. And apparently, they're not of long touchdown runs against Fresno State.
If a report on Yahoo.com is correct, a federal probe has turned up recorded conversations between an investor in a failed sports marketing agency and Bush and his family, possibly discussing gifts and cash during Bush's heady days as a Trojan.

The report mentions $280,000 worth of largesse. Considerable pizza money for a college kid - if he wants to buy pizza for the entire population of Pasadena.

If true, the recent golden era at USC just became a little less golden.

If true, Pete Carroll's majestic program now comes with the whiff of spoiled produce. The next knock on the door might not be a high school quarterback recruit from Long Beach, but the NCAA.

If true, Bush can send back the 2005 Heisman. COD, if preferred.

Admittedly, this is raining on a few parades. Bush's rookie contributions to the feel-good story of the New Orleans Saints. Carroll's speedy restocking of the shelves at USC, including winning the Rose Bowl.

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But every morning's news report must come with a few downers. Here amid the glow of a Super Bowl, what else can we use for football bad news, on the rare days no Cincinnati Bengals are arrested?

USC is not used to unbecoming headlines. Carroll's program, bubbly and productive, has been a Fantasyland for years. National championships. Heisman winners by the handful. The quarterback dating celebrities. The most unflattering thing said about the Trojans lately is they couldn't beat UCLA.

But this story has grown unsettling. It took an awkward turn at the Rose Bowl, when reports surfaced that Bush had wanted to be on the sideline that day with his old teammates but was pointedly not invited.

USC said it had exhausted its small allotment of VIP passes. But it was not unreasonable to wonder if the school was trying to avoid the Bush saga in the way its quarterback would try to elude a blitz, hoping to keep distant from a situation that might get ugly. If so, it is a sorry end to happy days.

Meantime, USC could very well be ranked No. 1 in this fall's preseason poll. Carroll might, however, start having to answer questions he's never heard before. NCAA sanctions are possible. Life in Troy might not be quite so much fun.

But so it goes in big-time college sports, where it can take awhile for the dirty laundry to show up. Beware stories with happy endings. Sometimes, they have postscripts.

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