Changing the Past is a Dangerous Game

University of Texas head football coach Mack Brown wants to see Vince Young receive the Heisman Trophy award for 2005 since the winner of the Heisman that season, Reggie Bush, has been ruled ineligible for the 2005 season after it was determined he received illegal benefits.

I understand Brown wanting to see his former player receive college football's highest individual honor, but if the Heisman Trophy Trust does indeed award the Heisman Trophy for 2005 to runner-up Vince Young in 2010 its going to set a precedent that is going to be very, very controversial.

Its no secret that there has been widespread use of performance enhancing drugs in MLB. If you use the logic that Vince Young should get Reggie Bush's Heisman Trophy from 2005 because he was the runner up, do you also think that the players who placed second in the voting for MVP and Cy Young awards should be given the awards if its confirmed that players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens did in fact cheat by using PED's?

What about Alex Rodriguez who has confirmed he used PED's? Should he lose his MVP awards?

We know Manny Ramirez has used PED's and was suspended 50 games by MLB last season. Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has been linked to PED's as well. If its found that the two of them used PED's while leading the Boston Red Sox to World Series victories in 2004 and 2007, should the Red Sox have to surrender the title to the Cardinals and the Rockies?

The New England Patriots were caught up in a videotaping scandal in 2007. If we learned that they cheated to gain an edge on their opponent should they be stripped of their Super Bowl titles in 2004, 2003 and 2001? Then would you give the title of "champion" to the team that lost the Super Bowl to the Patriots in those years?

If we try to revise history, its a dangerous game. What is the criteria for revising history and taking titles and awards away years later? If you do it in some cases, why not in others? 

The past is the past. Sadly there is cheating in sports. "Amateur" players are paid illegally. Athletes use performance enhancing drugs to gain an edge or recover from injury faster. Players cheat in order to secure a more lucrative contract. There's so much money at stake these days that many players are willing to take the risk.

I'll be interested to see what the Heisman Trophy Trust decides, but if I were them I would have no Heisman winner in 2005 instead of awarding the trophy to Vince Young 5 years later. 

If they choose to re-write the record books and award Vince Young the 2005 Heisman Trophy 5 years later, its going to set a dangerous precedent.

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