USC and the 2004 National Title

If you'll permit me a quasi-sports column for a few minutes...

Earlier this week, the BCS stripped Southern Cal of it's 2004 national championship. The action stems from the Reggie Bush mess. The NCAA found him ineligible for the 2004 season because of benefits he accepted from boosters, which led to Bush and the school giving back the Heisman trophy he won that season.

All of that is fine and good. I get why this "matters." But does anyone truly care?

USC destroyed Oklahoma in that title game, 55-19. The fans who were at that game more than SIX YEARS ago saw their team win a national title. They celebrated that night and in the days that followed.

The ruling is a formality. It means USC can't display the BCS trophy. Plus, the Associated Press isn't going to strip USC of the AP national title, so what is really accomplished here?

I started thinking about this during the Auburn title run this year. I'm sure you remember. Plenty of people were saying Auburn was just going to have vacate the title anyway because of the hoopla surrounding Cam Newton and the alleged money demands of his father during the recruitment process.

But those Auburn fans still celebrated winning a national title that night. They'll have those memories forever regardless of whether or not the BCS decides to take it away later. You can't erase that night from their memories.

I tried to think about this as an N.C. State fan. If we were ever to win a national title (HA! but go with me for a second) and it were taken away later. I'm not sure I'd care that much. Presumably, if I wasn't at the game, I would have watched it. I would have seen the win and celebrated accordingly.

Nothing any governing body would do could take that away from me. It doesn't unmake the shirts and hats. It doesn't undo the parties.

Newton and Bush were accused of or found guilty of things that happen at every major sports program in the country. I don't mean that to be an excuse, but if everyone knows it to be true, then maybe something should be done about it.

Picking and choosing the programs to investigate and punish is seemingly arbitrary. Or the NCAA waits until they have no choice but to investigate. I'm sure Ohio State and Jim Tressell did nothing with Terrelle Pryor it didn't do with other big-time recruits and players before him. But because stories surfaced, they had to step in and investigate this time.

In the end, it doesn't matter. USC fans still celebrated a national title in 2004 the same way Auburn fans celebrated this season.

So I guess my question to you is this: If you could have your team win a national championship, but the NCAA would take it away more than half a decade later, would you take it?

I think I would.