Here We Go Again

O.J. Mayo received illegal benefits totaling up to $30,000 while in high school and his one year of Division I basketball at USC. Wow, what a shocking development. This is a kid who was being touted as the next big thing when he was in grade school and people are now all up in arms over the latest developments with this kid? It was inevitable that the reports about Mayo receiving cash benefits so that he would sign with a certain agency to represent him in the NBA would surface because he is part of a corrupt system that is constantly being manipulated. Sure, the NCAA talks tough when one of these cases pop up but in the end they say “we looked into it but found nothing improper.” What do you expect? The way the NCAA lets players use their member schools as one year stop-overs allows scenarios like Mayo’s to happen. By the time the NCAA wakes up and attempts to do something the player is usually gone. It’s one year of college and any sanctions are too late. It was clear from his entry date at USC that Mayo was a one and done player. So, unless USC won the National Championship and would then risk being stripped of their title, Mayo and his “people” knew they could do whatever they wanted and receive no penalty. Now he’s off to the NBA and everyone knows he took the money and other benefits, denials be damned. ESPN’s Outside the Lines, which first broke this story, isn’t breaking any historic ground here. Let’s be honest, money is a powerful force. It makes many honest people do dishonest things in order to get it. I’m not saying it’s right, but if you were a high school kid and somebody offered you $30,000 to let him/her represent you later in life you’d jump all over that because you’re human and you probably ain’t rich just yet. So Mayo is no saint in this but he did what most would probably do. I blame the parasites all around him who are supposed to act like adults. Until the NCAA comes up with a policy with some teeth, incidents like this will continue to happen. Now we’ll have to spend the next week listening to denials from all the parties involved. But remember, as is usually the case in sizing up stories like this, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.