The NY Times ran an interesting article about USC basketball recruit and the number one player in the country, O.J. Mayo and how he ended up with Tim Floyd. There are a lot of people who don’t like this kid at all.
Among the problems he’s had in high school, he was suspended three games for coming in contact with a referee during a game after he was given a 2nd technical foul:
After referee Mike Lazo called two technical fouls on Mayo on Jan. 26, Mayo came into contact with him, causing the referee to fall to the floor as he approached the scorer’s table, according to Lazo.
Now comes this crazy YouTube clip of OJ throwing a pass off the back board and then dunking it. Then he takes the ball and throws it into the stands…in the middle of the game. That was his last game as a high school player and will join USC for probably one season before going pro.
Can’t wait until Brendan starts blogging about him. :)
UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Just a little editorial comment from the webmaster here. :) I actually have blogged about Mayo before, specifically about referee-gate, and the bottom line is that the ref totally flopped in order to make Mayo look bad. It was pretty ridiculous. So that incident really should not be counted against Mayo in any way, shape or form. The showboating business, that’s a legitimate topic of discussion. Also, Mayo’s arrest for marijuana possession was troubling (and made it official that all three of my teams were affected by drug arrests this season, albeit indirectly in USC’s case), but the charges were later dropped, apparently because the weed wasn’t his. (Initially, all four people in the car were charged with possession, which sounds like a “book ‘em first, ask questions later” law-enforcement policy.)
Anyway, Tim Floyd has defended Mayo against his critics. I’ll just say this: we should be very careful to guard against forming harsh judgments about Mayo simply because there have a bunch of half-baked allegations of impropriety that ultimately came to nothing or not much (e.g., referee-gate, the dropped pot charges). There’s a natural tendency to form a negative impression of someone when you hear a lot of bad stuff about them, even if the details ultimately suggest that there isn’t much substance to each of the individual allegations that initially created the negative impression. The tendency is to think, “Well, there isn’t much to that allegation, but there have been so many allegations, so there must be something to at least some of them.” But this tendency is wrong and should be avoided. Allegations of impropriety should be judged on their individual merits, not lumped together and the details ignored. One possible reason we hear a lot of bad stuff about Mayo is because he’s a bad kid, but an equally plausible reason is because there’s a huge media spotlight on him, so everything he says and does is under a microscope that no other high-school recruit in the nation right now has to deal with. Maybe Mayo’s a bad kid, but we shouldn’t jump to that conclusion on the basis of nothing more than a hazy impression that a bunch of negative stuff has been said about him, so he obviously must be bad.
Oh yeah, and in whatever judgments we do form about Mayo, we should also be sure to remember that he’s just a high-school kid.
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Categories: NCAA Basketball & Pools, USC
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March 26th, 2007 at 5:07:27 pm
OJ Mayo is unreal. USC is going to be so good next year. They showed this year that they can hang with big schools and now with Mayo they will crush teams.
March 26th, 2007 at 6:25:39 pm
Okay, so some points about the video. It is near the end of the game. His team was up by 41 points (so his actions did nothing to influence his team’s chance). It was his final high school game ever.
I’d still get on the kid if I was his coach for being a little classless, but just to put the situation in perspective.
March 26th, 2007 at 7:36:17 pm
Throwing the ball into the stands was a stupid act, but in some crazy way a fitting end to his roller coaster career. To me it appeared almost like a release of frustration; a moment where he let his emotions get the best of his judgment. Was it a dumb move? Yes. Was it done to mock the opposing team? I don’t think so.
Very nice post Brendan. I would like to add that this kid has been living with little to no parental guidance since the 7th grade (he started his varsity career in middle school). Now imagine yourself in that position with the media hawking your ever move. I know I would have been guilty of a few fights and being around (of course) people with marijuana.
March 26th, 2007 at 10:30:41 pm
Yeah, Mayo is a showboating jackass, but DAMN, the kid has talent.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:53:38 pm
wasn’t columbine “just high school kids?” It’s no excuse for any type of behaviour, be it criminal or not.
March 27th, 2007 at 1:32:28 pm
Did you just compare a kid throwing a basketball into the stands to a kid killing 12 of his classmates? Wow. Congratulations, you win the award for the most ridiculously idiotic comment on the blog this week… possibly this month!
I daresay this point is obvious to everyone here except you, but just to spell it out: of course being “just a high-school kid” is an excuse for some types of behavior. We all did stupid things in high school, because we were immature and inexperienced at life. That’s one of the major ways you gain life experience: by screwing up when you’re young, and learning from your mistakes. A 30-year-old who behaves in an immature fashion is obviously much more culpable than a 17-year-old who behaves in an immature fashion. I mean, duh! Do you seriously go around condemning every immature high-school kid as a bad person? If so, you’re a self-righteous prick. (Though I’m guessing you’re really just a USC-hater, and you don’t actually carry such an indefensible attitude with you in other aspects of your life.)
Now, if you commit MURDER, or some other extremely serious crime, then no, being “just a high-school kid” isn’t an excuse. Though it may sometimes be a relevant circumstance, as shown by the debate over whether young killers should be tried as kids or adults. But certainly no one is going to say that being young excuses murder, rape, etc. However, O.J. Mayo did not commit murder, rape, etc.
I seriously cannot believe I am wasting my time rebutting such an unbelievably dumb comment. I mean, Columbine = throwing a basketball into the stands… wow. Just wow.
March 27th, 2007 at 3:44:15 pm
First you throw a basketball, next you’re throwing grenades.
But seriously folks, OJ is gonna kill next season. He’s gonna take the audience of non-basketball fans like myself to the Mayo Clinic. I guarantee it.
Yo.
Word to your mutha.
I can’t wait.
March 27th, 2007 at 3:58:24 pm
Cause you start out stealing songs
Then you’re robbing liquor stores
And selling Crack
And running over school kids with your car