It would be totally wrong for me to anoint the OJ Mayo mess as either "the" or "one of the" worst scandals in college sports history for a number of reasons.
One, it simply wouldn't be true. Two, using the words "scandal" and "college athletics" in the same sentence has become much too ordinary in recent years. And three, we simply have no reason to be shocked in the least by anything incorrect, immoral, impractical, inane, insensitive, insipid, or incomprehensible that happens in college football.
So in this edition of "The 3 Ring Circus", we focus on USC athletics, where the laughs just keep on coming. Where we dig into the realm of cheats, charlatans, fakers, fabricators, mythomaniacs and yarn spinners that encompass the 3 biggest liars in the OJ Mayo mess.
Where some things may even be alleged until proven true. Better keep those fingers crossed.
#3: USC Basketball & Athletic Department
Stop me if you've heard this one before, perhaps just with a few of the names changed to protect the lack of any real innocence.
"The NCAA and the Pac-10 reviewed O.J. Mayo's amateur status before and during his enrollment at USC, and did not identify any amateurism violations. Mayo and USC fully cooperated in these investigations."
For a school that resides in one of the largest and most porous media markets in the world, it's amusing and quite revealing in how stunning and slowly USC reacted in this situation. It seemed to take months for this Athletic Department to finish circling the wagons and begin telling their tall tales using what has become the pre-fabricated "just fill in the right names" denial press release. Standard equipment for some schools and every Presidential candidate.
The Southern Cal Athletic Department has an annual operating budget of over $75M dollars. That's an "M" for "million" in case you missed it. This would give them just enough cash to have every possible investigative tool at their fingertips. Oh, and let us not forget their own "in-house" investigative unit which is charged with making sure nothing even remotely illicit floats onto the public wind. Standard equipment for some schools and every Presidential candidate.
USC would like us to believe they had no clue there was anything amiss with OJ Mayo. No idea he accepted over $30,000 in cash and gifts over a 4 year span. Not a hint about yet another bottom feeding rodent of a fraud sports promoter who was gleefully feeding this kid anything he could to buy his favor. Not a whiff of anything shady while Mayo was in high school in two different states and on the receiving end of even more gratuities.
Only emanating from Hollywood would anyone even remotely swallow fiction written this badly.
#2: THE NCAA
Stop me if you've heard this one before, perhaps just with a few of the names changed to protect the lack of any real innocence.
"The allegations of improper benefits received by O.J. Mayo before and during his enrollment at the University of Southern California -- as outlined in ESPN's May 11, 2008, segment of 'Outside the Lines' -- are new to the NCAA. This information was not available when the NCAA examined Mr. Mayo's academic and amateurism status prior to his collegiate enrollment, and we will review the information in conjunction with the institution and the Pac-10 Conference."
Today's Must Reads
The NCAA has more tentacles than anything Jules Verne could have possible dreamt of. They stand watch over everything that happens in college athletics with a visage that would make Don Corleone proud. Talk to anyone who has ever been close to those dust-covered halls and, in many cases, those dust covered leaders and they will all tell the same tale.
Nothing gets past the NCAA.
Yet, time and time again they would like us to believe they are indeed fallible. With an ear ever so slightly to the college ground you will hear whispers about both the NCAA and the Pac-10 both knowing the issues and pitfalls that surrounded OJ Mayo. Those same rumblings will hint that both entities let the responsibility, and the blame, fall squarely at the feet of USC. The correct phraseology here would be "washing our hands" of any possible responsibility.
The NCAA is no longer, and has not been for quite some time, all about the athletes. Because the actual figure is a closely guarded secret and only what they want you to hear is actually made public, there are those who peg the NCAA's yearly operating budget at well over $750M dollars. One recent operating budget noted that over 97% of the Championships budget was from television and marketing rights fees. Which would help explain why this monopoly continues to practice a brand of legal extortion in continuing to withhold a National Title football playoff system.
Always leave 'em wanting more, and never allow your bargaining chips to come off the table until you know you've got the mark right where you want them.
For those who might ask how to tell when the NCAA is speaking something other than the truth, the answer is easy.
Just watch for their lips to move.
#1: BOOSTERS & FANS
At first glance they may be twin sons of different mothers, but in the end they share the most damning trait of all.
College Presidents do not run their Athletic Departments. Athletic Directors do not run their programs. Head Coaches do not run their respective teams and programs. They should be in charge, but they're not.
Fat cat boosters are the ones who truly make every important decision. People such as T. Boone Pickens, who dumped almost $170M dollars at the feet of Oklahoma State as a mere trifle after plowing them with so much more. Christy Gaylord Everest and her family has dropped close to $80M to the University of Oklahoma. Bobby Lowder has donated over $20M to Auburn University, and those close to the program will tell you that nothing happens in that Athletic Department without his blessing.
Many rabid fans are at the other end of this fraudulent fiscal spectrum. The ones who collectively pour millions of dollars into their favorite University via the various sports teams. Who soak up every single special edition tee shirt and hat, every little piece of eventually disposable junk with the school moniker on it, peruse the campus bookstores before games insuring they have the very latest in cheering gear, and who would mortgage their first born male child or wife, whichever is easier to handle in a tax write-off, to get those choice seats for a chance to watch their side exact a serious whipping on the depleted team from Our Lady of Great Agony.
Understand, however, that I hold nothing against most fans for any of these acts. At face value, there is nothing like being part of that atmosphere on game day at any college football field in America on a fall Saturday, or a packed gym any night of the week in college hoops. What they, or you, spend your money on is your business. And I'm not holding up every single fan or booster as an example of those who tell tall tales. Those who are being held to scrutiny know exactly who they are.
From that fan perspective, these are the same people who every time their school is bagged for breaking a rule, or when an athlete is jacked up for slapping around a girlfriend or two, say absolutely nothing. Must have been a mistake, they'll say. Couldn't happen to one of our kids, they will contend. Did you get the points for this weekend?
Conversely, when a hated rival is tapped on the lawbreaking shoulder by the NCAA, they start to seethe and foam at the mouth. Bellowing for retribution at the least and beheadings at the worst, they decry these cheaters for having the audacity to ruin the college experience by flaunting the rules and using their young and innocent athletes for mere fiscal gains.
These two sides meld together in a soupy morass of hypocrisy and fraud. Instead of being insulted and embarrassed by what is supposed to be an educational facility first and an athletic factory second, they will drop their dollars in gladly and defend the holder of their hallowed cash. The same ones who will demand an immediate exit for the second stringer who gets caught smoking a joint in his dorm room, then will vigorously come to the defense of the star player whose fist just happened to get in the way of that woman's face. Who even if they do verbalize their meek attempt at righteous indignation will still buy those tickets and continue to feed the coffers of those who could make a real difference, but instead make real money.
These are the fans whose misguided silence and outrage are turned into the same lucre those boosters wield in making every single decision many of these schools ultimately decide. The fans and boosters who fail to take a stand for playing within the rules. Whom if they really wanted to stop what happens almost daily at places such as USC would refuse to support these programs with one nickel or one cheer.
The ones who continue to lie to themselves that they are not part of the problem.
Veteran network sports commentator Ed Berliner can be read here at "The Bleacher Report" and TBR readers can listen to comments from a wide variety of national and regional sports commentators at www.speedingbulletnetwork.com.
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2 months ago
Isn't the OJ Mayo situation calling into question the USC "basketball" program and not the football program?
Great passion in your voice!
Cougar Lew
from 2 months ago
Lew, you are exactly right and I made the mistake. Goes to show how often I've heard about college scandals. I have corrected my mistakes and you have my thanks. Best, Ed.
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