Paul Daugherty: Mayo and One and Done

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Mayo and One and Done

Since it came out that a sports agency bought and paid for OJ Mayo for about $30,000 worth of trinkets -- allegedly -- we havent been able to blame the NBA fast enough. One and done, we've decided, is the root of all this evil. Poor OJ was just doing what he had to do to survive.

Sorry, but that airballs the point. Entirely. The point is, rules is rules, as Bobby Bowden once said. You wanna play in the NBA, here's what you have to do. The blame does not rest with a pro league that is entitled to do what it sees fit to protect/improve its product.

The fault lies with (alleged) dirt bags like Mayo's (alleged) bagman, Rodney Guillory. And with Mayo himself, for knowing the rules and ignoring them... allegedly and allegedly, amen.

To my knowledge, no one associated with the NBA instructed Mayo to take clothes, airplane tickets, a flat-screen TV etc etc and no one demanded that guys like Guillory make their living as human leeches. If you want to be part of an organization, whether it's NBA or IBM, you have to play by their rules. When you don't, it's not their fault. It's yours. Thus endeth the lesson.

14 Comments:

at 12:02 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul - You make some good points. Yes the fault lies with Mayo and Guillory. NBA of course wishes to protect it's product -nothing wrong with that.

But look at the unintended consquences of this NBA policy. A one and done player departs in March after perhaps successfully completing four courses with all C's in things like the history of sports. Is he really a student athlete - don't think so.

Mayo and probably many others have taken $ under the table. If caught there's punishment for the school but not the player so why wouldn't a one and done guy be inclined to take the $?

It's a bad policy for college BB.
If policy is to remain then NCAA needs to come down hard on USC and then perhaps more school compliance officers will pay due diligence and weed out abuses.

Could the policy be overturned in court by a player challenging NBA's right to exclude him at age 18?

at 1:45 PM

Unknown said...

I seriously doubt a court could step in. Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams challenged the NFL rule that requires you to be 3 years out of high school and lost.

Paul, would you have done the same thing OJ did? I can't blame him. How is it going to harm him at all? It's not. The NCAA might impose sanctions on the program, but that will only punish the players left behind. They might take away the wins from that season and take down a banner. Big deal. Just like Michigan's championship with the Fab Five "never happened."

at 2:13 PM

Anonymous said...

Guys like OJ are like human viruses. They infect every organization they get into.

I suspect one of the major reasons OJ fled NCH was because it was pretty obvious he wasn't going to pass the Ohio Graduation Test. That meant no diploma. No diploma meant no college entrance no matter how lax the NCAA admission rules are for athletes.

I suspect he never did think going to classes and behaving like any other normal student was part of the contract he had with any school he attended...high school or college. Just win, baby. W's and $'s counted a heck of a lot more than A's, B's or C's.

Now he has infected USC. Time will tell what price the Trojans will pay for their NCAA "cure."

No matter which NBA team drafts him, he will eventually cause them grief. That's how self-absorbed guys like OJ are. Infection spreaders.

at 6:16 PM

Unknown said...

I agree with your point about the one who was a corrupter of youth, but you miss the mark regarding OJ.

He was a minor in HS and a one-and-outer in college. We're talking about a kid from the other side of the tracks between the ages of about 15-19.

If this were a government sting operation against a minor, we'd be calling it clear entrapment of someone without the maturity to handle the offers he was getting.

It is entirely legitimate to have different expectations of minors.

In short, a poor kid ran into a corrupter of youth.

at 9:16 PM

Anonymous said...

I was under the impression that it was the NCAA rules that were violated and since he's leaving the NCAA they can't do anything to punish him. Does the NBA really care about when someone became a pro?
I don't always listen to your radio show so it may have all been explained there.
You do blog for a newspaper too right?

at 9:33 PM

Anonymous said...

Hey 2:13
If you were a great car designer and Ford offered you a job worth a million or two a year straight out of high school, would you be a human virus for taking the deal?
Especially if you knew your abilities would expire by the time you're 30 and possibly sooner?
If you didn't you'd be an idiot. This is America, we have the luxury (and some would say imperative) to capitalize on our gifts, abilities and successful hard work.
I suspect there are a lot of guys making $12 to $25 bucks an hour who were one blown knee or bad ankle away from having the opportunity to play professional sports. I know at least two.

at 9:51 PM

Monclova Steve said...

2:13 Anon,
I "suspect" that you have no idea what you're talking about. But, I "suspect" that you simply want to prove your moral superiority by throwing out unproven accusations.
Let me be clear -- I'm not a fan of OJ Mayo.
But have some facts before you trash somebody. Otherwise, your post is simply a mean-spirited rant.

at 12:03 AM

Anonymous said...

I agree.
Nobody wants to pin any of the blame on the player. These college 'kids' are all over 18 years old and certainly know that receipt of money or other perks is wrong. Problem is there is minimal consequence to the player - and the agent for that matter. The school, if anyone, ends up taking the fall.
Unless there are direct and significant negative consequences to the player and agent nothing will change.

at 7:33 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul,

This is over 2 years old, and Mayo doesn't even live in OH any longer. This is a mute point.

at 9:24 AM

Anonymous said...

I'm sick of people talking about the "purity of sports." THERE IS NOTHING PURE ABOUT ANY SPORT. North College Hill wasn't complaining when they were whoring out OJ MAYO across the state and the country. Bringing in thousands of dollars into there athletic department. So what OJ Mayo got 30k. Boo hoo. I really don't see the big deal. Once again, there is nothing pure about high school sports, or any sport. Once you have ticket prices at the gates, the purity goes out the window.

at 11:00 AM

clay said...

Paul- Mayo did nothing wrong."This is nothing new.Sports agents hounding high school and college athletes is as common as steroids in baseball"And also " It's funny how the person who usually says the most is the one who got"kicked off" the gravy train.If Mayo did do something wrong? The problem is nobody says anything until AFTER the player leaves school to go pro rember "THE FAB FIVE"

at 4:38 PM

Cheviot Sports Authority said...

I don't read about OJ Mayo or pro basketball, especially this time of the year. But I would like to see OJ Mayo and Chis Henry meet in a drunken street brawl. I would have to bet on Henry, I think he has a little more experience.
ST CSA

at 9:39 PM

Anonymous said...

hey, "clay". what's with "all" the "quotation" marks"?"

"jason"

at 12:26 AM

Anonymous said...

Talk about opinions all over the map. It's not the fault of the NBA. Taking the cash and the toys is not kosher, and if he did it, he knew it. To blame the NBA is like blaming the bank for being open, therefore that's why they got robbed. I'm not sure what is more sad. That a kid does something like this, or all the people who defend it by saying, "Hey, all these other guys did it".

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Saturday, May 17, 2008

Mayo and One and Done

14 Comments: