In Reggie Bush's case, in the eyes of the media, the public and the Heisman Trust, he compromised the meaning of the Heisman Trophy. The trophy is supposed to be awarded to the player who, each season, best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. It is the Heisman Trust's job to make sure the winners uphold this integrity and, according to them, Bush did not do that.
Pete Rose bet on baseball, then lied about it. In sports, people usually forgive and forget an act that does not involve violence, such as gambling or steroid use, if the person is truly sorry and comes clean. For example, Jason Giambi apologized for using steroids and now it is just an afterthought. I think if Rose would have come out at the beginning and admitting betting on baseball, he might have been forgiven by now.
The jury is still out on whether or not Cam Newton actually did anything wrong. But if he is found guilty of soliciting money from schools in the recruiting stage, he could receive the same penalty as Bush. The Heisman Trophy might be stripped from the 2010 season, the Auburn Tigers championship season could be erased and his legacy would be turned upside down.
Kobe Bryant probably did not sexually assault that young woman, but he still committed adultery. He is still a great role model on and off the court, but it just shows that one incident can completely skew the view of an athlete. Of course he is always under great scrutiny for anything he does, but it was taken a lot of hard work and positivity for Bryant to overcome that mistake.
And as for Ben Roethlisberger...
Just read the posts. There are five of them. I think that should be good enough.
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