Continue reading »]]> # 3 OJ Mayo

I like to keep the college game in perspective. These are kids anywhere from 17-22 years old (unless we are talking about BYU where the players are something like 24-26 years old and married with children) It is not really appropriate to denigrate kids this young who play the game for free tuition. However there is a rare instance when a player is anything but innocent, and by no means playing the game for a scholarship. Some of these gangsters deserve to be criticized like adults since they just can’t wait to get paid like an adult. OJ Mayo was prima donna thug in high school with a degenerate hood mentality. He was physically abusive, pompous, and looking to whore himself out to the highest bidder as a teenager. He went from West Virginia out to Southern California because that is where he got the sweetest deal, and then he left after one year of less than armature competition with a huge mess behind him for USC to try and cover up. He used the college game selfishly and without remorse as if he were entitled to anything he could get no matter what the rules were just because of his ability.

The Lowlights:

• Arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession in Huntington, West Virginia. Mayo was one of four guys found in a suspicious vehicle by a Cabell County Sheriff’s drug task force unit assigned to serve a search warrant at a house nearby.  The charges against Mayo were later dismissed by a magistrate judge, after the driver of the vehicle pleaded guilty to the charge (though Mayo’s father subsequently had his own difficulties).
• In January of his senior season in high school he was suspended for two games after receiving two technical fouls in a game in which he shoved an official. The suspension was lengthened to three games for unspecified reasons but it was widely reported that it was a disciplinary action related to his altercation with a female student at his school.
• Committed to USC and in his introductory press conference (which he called) sited the media exposure of Los Angles as the primary reason for his decision, as well as his intention to play just one season, and when asked about the celebrity phone numbers programed in his cell phone bragged that his number was so sought after that his coach Tim Floyd didn’t even have it.
• Daniel Hackett was out for six weeks after suffering multiple fractures of his jaw when he was struck by the “elbow” of teammate O.J. Mayo during a pickup game.  Shortly thereafter, it was reported, based upon several sources, including a member of the basketball team, that Mayo punched Hackett during the game.  The player was quoted as saying “Yeah, he punched him,” “They changed the story for the media.”  Despite later denials by Floyd and others, this version of the events was confirmed on multiple occasions.
• During his whirlwind Freshman season at USC he was suspended briefly for violating NCAA rules and accepting courtside seats for a Nuggets Lakers game at the Staples Center from Carmelo Anthony. He was eventually required to pay back the value of the tickets. I wonder where he got the money?
• In 2008 well after he had came and left SC ESPN aired an episode of Outside the Lines that contained extensive, well-documented allegations that Mayo received improper benefits from a sports agent and a runner (Rodney Guillory) both before and during his one season at USC.  It was alleged that Guillory received benefits in excess of $200,000, while Mayo received $30,000 in benefits, including cash, clothes, cell phone service, and a flat screen television for his dorm room.