Burning Bush

Does turning down what surely was to be a large payday enhance investigative reporter’s Don Yaeger’s credibility?

Other than as a reader of Sports Illustrated, I don’t know much about Yaeger’s work. And I don’t in any way mean to imply that he lacks credibility in any way or that there was ever any question about his credibility.

But I must admit, I’ve been awaiting the release of his book about New Orleans’ Saints running back Reggie Bush — aka the Heisman Trophy winner out of USC — with a bit of skepticism.

If you haven’t followed the story, Bush (and his family) are accused of receiving payments from a sports agent while Reggie was still playing at USC. Technically, this is not illegal, but it is a violation of NCAA rules and regulations. (Not paying taxes on the money might be illegal — I’m not a lawyer and I don’t want to proclaim something true when I’m not sure.) If it were to be proven that Bush and Co. received the payments, theoretically USC could forfeit the games Bush played in, could forfeit a National Championship and Bush could be stripped of the Heisman award.

If I recall correctly, a lot of the work on this story originated on the Yahoo sports web site. (I wish I could find the old links to the stories.) Now, Yaeger is out with a book called Tarnished Heisman: Did Reggie Bush Turn His Final College Season into a Six-Figure Job?

This is from the Amazon listing:

Don Yaeger, a former Sports Illustrated investigative reporter who documented the Duke University lacrosse case in the shattering New York Times bestseller It’s Not About the Truth, reveals the heated controversy behind Bush’s high-flying rise before turning pro for the New Orleans Saints, going back to his first taste of fame, when Bush landed in the pages of Sports Illustrated and all eyes were watching to see what was next for the USC sophomore. What few eyes saw, however, were the ties between Bush and two San Diego men, cofounders of a fledgling sports agency, who claim to have paid Bush and his family in cash and gifts to ensure his endorsement — benefits including a vintage car, lavish trips, and an upscale home where Bush’s family lived rent-free. Don Yaeger exposes the NCAA-prohibited activity in which Bush allegedly engaged, and also shows how USC and its coaching staff appeared to have turned a blind eye to the increasingly luxurious lifestyle of their star athlete and his family.

With the explosive information revealed in Tarnished Heisman, Bush stands to be ruled ineligible — a decision that could cost his alma mater the 2004 national championship title, force the forfeit of every game Bush played in after losing his eligibility, and potentially strip Reggie Bush of the shining prize of his college career: the Heisman Trophy.

photo from the Amazon web page

Until now, I’ve remained skeptical of the story. The feeling had nothing to do with Yaeger or the reporters for Yahoo. And it’s not that I don’t believe that any given star college football player would receive improper benefits. Part of me would be more surprised to hear that they didn’t. And the issue of whether or not these players are unfairly exploited by the school’s and the NCAA and that this exploitation leads to the accepting of these benefits is a valid discussion for another time and place. But I am very surprised that someone as prominent as Bush could get caught and that there might actually be real penalties for him and his school and it’s there that my skepticism lay.

Things like this just don’t happen to players like Bush and to NCAA football flag bearers like USC.

But Yaeger made news recently for another story and oddly enough, it impacted my feeling on the impending Bush book.

From the New York Daily News, via ESPN.com:

Former Sports Illustrated associate editor Don Yaeger, who had initially planned on collaborating on Jose Canseco’s next book, has decided against working with the former slugger, according to a published report.

“I’m passing,” Yaeger told the New York Daily News. “I had a chance to review the Jose Canseco [material] that he provided me. I don’t think there’s a book there. I don’t know what they’re going to do. I don’t think he’s got what he claims to have, certainly doesn’t have what he claims to have on A-Rod. There’s no meat on the bones.”

The fact that Yaeger would turn down the opportunity to work on the Canseco book — sure to get a lot of attention and I presume a nice fee for whoever decided to ghostwrite for Jose — suggests to me that he felt there was “meat on the bones” in the Bush story.

I haven’t read the Bush book yet. I’m a bit confused about the release date, actually, since it’s supposed to be coming out next week while Amazon says it’s already available. One way or the other, I’ll get to it soon enough.

And the author’s most recent decision makes me more ready to believe what he has to say about Bush.

QUICK UPDATE: There is a discussion of the book and some of the issues surrounding it at Adam Rose’s USC blog with the Los Angeles Times.