The burning Bush issues

What do you think would have happened if Reggie Bush had pulled his bush league actions against, say, oh, the 1985 Chicago Bears or the Minnesota Vikings when they had the Purple People Eaters defense?

I can tell you what would have happened. The next time Reggie Bush took the ball, he would have been taken off the field on a stretcher.

GLENN M. LANGDON

Garden Grove

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New definitions for “bush league” and “cheater” are the same: Reggie Bush. Bush league refers to his play in the Saints’ loss to the Bears and cheater to his and his parents’ need to violate NCAA rules on payments to athletes.

THOMAS KEHL

Thousand Oaks

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I made the mistake years ago of planning a family trip to the museums near USC on a day the Trojans played Notre Dame in the Coliseum. My wife and kids fretted as we crawled through traffic and the gigantic corporate blimp loomed large in the sky.

Division I sports is big business, handsomely profitable for the colleges and the officially nonprofit NCAA.

Given the obscene sums raked in by Division I schools and the NCAA, it is a cruel injustice to investigate Reggie Bush for accepting gifts while he played for USC. He was an integral part of a program that brought benefits to the NCAA and USC in the form of corporate sponsorships, sale of television rights, and generous contributions from alumni.

Technically an amateur but in reality a worker in a commercial enterprise generating more money than the lesser pro sports, Reggie Bush and his family deserved a share of the wealth. Now a positive role model for other pro athletes, he donates a portion of his salary to Katrina relief in New Orleans and insists that all corporations he deals with contribute similarly.

The investigators should leave Reggie Bush alone. Instead, let’s question why the NCAA deserves to keep its tax-exempt status.

RALPH GOLDSTEIN

Altadena

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Point your finger and somersault this, Reggie:

Bears -- Super Bowl.

You -- home.

MITCH PARADISE

Los Angeles