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New York, New York Let's see now (and stay with me on this): If a couple of top-shelf investigative reporters from an enterprising sports department of a first-rate web site are to be believed, as part of a federal probe, members of Le Family Bush, including their meal-ticket son, were caught on tape possibly discussing gifts and cash totaling some $280,000 with investors in a fledgling sports marketing agency interested in representing the former Heisman Trophy-winning running back from USC. All this, hard on the heels of earlier allegations by those same inquisitive souls at Yahoo! Sports that current New Orleans Saints running back Reggie "Somersault" Bush or his family had accepted money, gifts and other benefits worth more than $100,000 from the now-defunct agency (New Era Sports & Entertainment) or his current marketing agent, Michael Ornstein, while still in school. Well, I have to tell you I'm shocked – shocked!!! – that in this day and age a USC tailback, an iconic position in college sports would be approached by agents offering hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal inducements if only he would agree to their representation (after his college eligibility expired). Or that the family of said tailback would agree to accept plane trips, limousines, clothes and cash to help facilitate such a decision.  Would anyone be shocked if Reggie Bush were not the lone A-list college athlete who may have taken a pay-off? Of course, Reggie Bush, his family, and Ornstein said nothing untoward occurred. "Once the smoke clears everyone will see we've done nothing, absolutely nothing wrong," declared Bush. And you know what? He's absolutely right. You see, I'm not talking about NCAA by-law 12.3.1.2, which states an athlete shall be deemed ineligible if he or she accepts benefits from agents or their marketing representatives. I'm talking RWR. Real World Rules. In the Real World there's nothing wrong with scores of sports marketers wooing someone – or his family – with the Hall of Fame commercial upside of Bush. Nothing surprising about the fact the table reportedly involved Ornstein, a well-known and controversial figure in NFL circles, and an upstart agency seeking its first, break-out client. The pretenders had likely been eliminated by the time any serious dollars were allegedly paid, the green and gold American Express card lunches and dinners long since replaced by Platinum and Black card candidates – major players seeking a 15 percent or more return on their investment. A few years back I wrote a piece about an "honest" agent attempting to break into the big-time, searching for that one draft-choice that would legitimize his efforts. We met at one of the post-season meat markets. He was nice kid, naïve, scrambling around the lobby and elevator banks just to arrange meetings with potential fourth and fifth-round draft picks. First or second rounders? Forget it. They'd long since disappeared off the board -- signed, sealed and delivered to men who know, in the real world, the top 100 names in the NFL draft are on some agent's payroll – often two or three –before the first snap of their final season in school. You see, in the Real World, every agent worth his Armani suit has a network of so-called "runners" at his disposal. A team of smart, hip dudes who can stroll around a college campus and hang out around a locker room or club without attracting notice; up-and-comers whose job it is to "work" a particular conference or school, befriend the potential Pay Day, pick up checks, buy some bling, and set the stage for a formal pitch by the guy paying the bills. The problem is only about 250 players are drafted by the NFL every year. The NFL Players Association web site lists nearly 900 registered agents. You do the math. It means for every potential buyer there are three or more sellers; for every potential first and second round pick, the number of runners and agents hawking their wares can number into the dozens. Continued...
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