Reggie Bush knows what death feels like. Well, sort of.

The New Orleans Saints and former USC Trojans running back spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday about the sanctions the NCAA hit Southern California with last week.

"[It's] the closest thing to death without dying," Bush said at the Saints' training headquarters. That's nice, Reggie. So we are assuming that you are going to reach into your NFL millions and help pay USC some of the revenue they will lose out on due to a two-year bowl ban. Better yet, help put a handful of kids through school at SC since, you know, the program lost 30 scholarships over the next three years while your parents enjoy that house of theirs. Right? (Listening...) 

Really, it isn't all Bush's fault. He's not the only one who accepted gifts and favors while starring in So Cal. The NCAA cited the women's tennis team as well as the basketball program and the handling of O.J. Mayo. And lets not kid ourselves. This kind of freeloading and cheek-smooching happens at EVERY major program around the country. If it didn't, they wouldn't be winning anything.

The NCAA undoubtedly wanted to hold USC up as a puppet and beat the hell out of them with these sanctions if only to alter its reputation as being a soft institution of tight collars that look the other way. But, surprise surprise, the NCAA missed the boat again.

Lets see... vacating wins? Who the hell cares? The memories are written, the money has been pocketed, and everybody has moved on. Take away USC's '04 title. Go ahead. Does that change the perception of Pete Carroll as a college football coach? Does that make Auburn the '04 champ? No and no.

Bush didn't speak of the rules he allegedly broke, nor does he think he will lose his 2005 Heisman Trophy. Like that matters, either.

The 30 lost scholarships and two-year bowl ban sting, but they sting the current players not the actual offenders. Juniors and seniors are allowed to transfer to another Divison 1 school and not sit out a year if they would like (although they can't transfer within the Pac-10), but how many upperclassmen want to uproot their college experience? It's a shame.

Losing the scholarships is going to hurt SC's depth, but it may or not affect the number of impact players they have on the field. They still have 15 scholarships a year to play with, and big-time players are still going to want to play for the Trojans (great school, Los Angeles, girls, big-time atmosphere, great weather, girls, great program, lots of NFL draft picks, girls...)

Regardless, the culprits are the players who committed the infractions and the coaches who didn't realize what was going on in their own program (sorry, Pete, nobody said it's fair).

So while the NCAA is punishing current Trojans, Bush has a super bowl ring, Mayo is in the NBA, and Carroll jumped to the NFL to accept a multi-million dollar gig with the Seattle Seahawks.

How convenient.