In USC’s case, it is severing ties with pariah tailback Reggie Bush and purging him from its history, going so far as to send his Heisman Trophy back to the Downtown Athletic Club.

This is symbolic punishment. And sure, it might hurt Bush’s feelings. But it’s not accountability.

Pundits are screaming that this is the latest proof of a broken system. The NCAA is powerless to go after a long-departed athlete. The school is its only possible target.

Not so for USC, if it would consider my option: litigation.

Maybe I’m naive, but my gut tells me that if anything might make athletes tempted by premature riches think twice, it is the threat of someone grabbing for their wallet down the road.

That’s why I believe USC and the Pac 10 Conference should join forces and make the bold move of suing Bush for lost revenue (potentially millions of dollars thanks to the NCAA’s two-year bowl ban) and other damages.

(Yes, I realize basketball forward O.J. Mayo also played a major role in USC’s punishment, but let’s focus on Bush and his actions, which will have a far longer lasting impact on Trojans football.)

Admittedly, the Trojans were probably complicit in this case. The former coaching staff’s tendency to turn a blind eye to unsavory outside influences has been well documented. But USC, like every other major college athletic department, has extensive education programs in place to ensure athletes are well-informed about NCAA rules against accepting improper gifts and other favors. And having made my living for many years covering a major college athletic program, I know it’s impossible for a school to monitor its athletes 24/7.

But if USC successfully sued Bush for damages, that certainly would send a message that would resonate in college locker rooms across the nation. Wouldn’t it?

Or are superstar college athletes too narcissistic to even care?

What do you think?

Nearly two weeks passed before that story became public, as I privately gloated over holding such valuable knowledge.

Well, maybe “gloat” isn’t the right word. A more accurate verb would be “ruminate.” I have dozens of journalist friends who would have killed to know what I knew, friends who could have advanced their careers by breaking the story. But I held back for two reasons.

1. I did not want to unintentionally thrust myself or my sources into the story, and
2. I believed that Tiger Woods was entitled to privately chase his demons for as long as he could hold off the media.

Look, I don’t disagree that Tiger brought all this scrutiny upon himself. He’s the one who cheated on his wife and screwed countless porn star wanna-be’s from coast to coast. He’s the one who allowed a traffic incident to go rogue by giving the world the silent treatment as though hoping the unfortunate episode would disappear into the haze of so many bad dreams. He’s the one who for years allowed his squeaky-clean lie of a life to be perpetuated by handlers, friends and the media.

But does that make Tiger evil? I don’t think so. It just makes him human.

And Tiger is not just any human. He’s a walking dichotomy — a gifted golfer from infancy who never really had a childhood, yet never stopped being a child until the day he hit that tree.

If anyone needs help, Tiger does. And he deserves the opportunity to seek that help as privately as possible.

Health care reform in its current state in Congress is as dead as my once white-hot passion for a Barack Obama presidency. (More on that another time.) Depending on one’s political perspective, the bills that made it out of the House and Senate either cost too much, don’t go far enough, or are just plain socialist.

In response, I’d like to propose a three-pillar bill that I defy anyone to find fault with:

1. Make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
2. Make it illegal for insurance companies to drop coverage on any patient just because he or she gets sick.
3. Allow individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines.

There. What’s so difficult about that? Such a bill may not provide universal coverage, but it would be a major advance from where things stand today. Insured patients no longer would have to worry about losing their home because of an illness. That long-ago visit to the doctor for a headache won’t lead to denial of coverage when you have a brain tumor removed. And most importantly, we’d open up health insurance to the free, capitalist system, which would certainly drive down costs.

Do you see this three-pillar bill adding to the federal deficit? I don’t either.

Methinks the health care debate is pushing me toward liberterianism.

Now, excuse me while I head back to the living room to watch the Gators continue their thrashing of Georgia’s “basketball team.”

Let me say something right up front. I’m a Gator, and as such I am very proud of Timmy’s accomplishments as a Gator.

But I must side with my first editor as a sportswriter, Sam Cook, now a columnist for the Fort Myers News-Press, who recently wrote:

Religion — except for the ‘Hail Mary’ pass — has no place in sports. In Tebow’s case, he should play football and forget about us sinners for 3 1/2 hours every Saturday.

Amen, Sam.

The fact that you win or lose does not mean Jesus Christ, or any other mythical diety, is or is not on your side. You are not being rewarded, punished or challenged to do better.

You simply won. Or you lost.

Or, as Crash Davis said so eloquently put it, perhaps it just rained.

So leave your biblical passages in the locker room.

That goes for you too, Timmy.

P.S. It sure is interesting that the controversy is being stirred as Tebow plays the worst football of his career, isn’t it?

It’s almost football season! And for that we should all thank a deity of your choice, if you so believe.

This is always a big deal for me, but perhaps moreso this year because of a rough spring for two of my favorite teams. I had to watch the Detroit Red Wings lose the Stanley Cup AT HOME to the young punk Penguins. Days later, the Orlando Magic lost in five games to the Lakers.

If my Detroit Tigers weren’t doing such an admirable job holding on to first place in the AL Central, I’d have great cause for depression and anxiety.

(Funny, I never fretted about the Tigers when they sucked. I’m also a Detroit Lions fan, and their 0-16 season last year didn’t get me down. Which all makes me believe that fans of shitty teams have a much saner existence.)

The coming of college football actually hit me a couple of weeks ago when Sports Illustrated arrived in my mailbox with Tim Tebow looking like a bad ass on the cover next to the words, “Man of Many Missions.”

That made me tingle too.

Tim Tebow Sports Illustrated Cover July 27, 2009. Photo by Gary Bogdon, a former colleague from my newspaper days in Orlando.

Just look at how intense that guy is. And this appears to be during a pre-game walk-through!

I’m not sure Jesus Christ ever walked on water, but I’m pretty sure Timmy could.