It's Hard Out Here for a Star at USC

Since this is a New York Sports blog, I am writing this under the guise that if OJ Mayo is available for the Knicks to take in the NBA Draft, I think that they should select him, over Eric Gordon and over Jeryd Bayless.

By now I am sure that you have all read the story about one of OJ Mayo's confidants coming clean about all of the violations that Mayo committed as a high schooler and as a freshman at USC this season. Allegedly Mayo was receiving cash and other gifts from his friend/advisor Rodney Guillory who was getting the money he was spending on Mayo from BDA (Bill Duffy Associates), the sports agency that Mayo signed with when he declared for the NBA draft. Obviously, if true, this is a violation of NCAA regulations and Mayo as well as USC and BDA should be punished for it. This is all well and good, I have no issue with there being punishments when a violation occurs. However, on Sportscenter this morning, there was a 5 to 10 minute piece in which the Outside the Lines reporters spoke with Louis Johnson (the confidant who is accusing Mayo and Guillory, after Guillory "sabotaged Johnson's relationship with Mayo") and then proceeded to follow around Mayo and Guillory with their accusations. The reporters ambushed Mayo the day of his press conference to announce his draft intentions, on one of the happiest and most important days of his life, Mayo was confronted and attacked by these so-called reporters. I understand that they were just doing their jobs and that as journalists it is their duty to find the truth. But Mayo is still just a kid, was it really that important for them to ruin his draft intentions? Did they need to come in guns ablaze trying to catch him and trick him into admitting that he had received money from BDA? No it was not. The piece reminded me of the recent Miguel Tejeda piece that Outside the Lines did, where they confronted Tejada about his age, and the fact that he is two years older than the Astros organization believed. Two freaking years. The way that ESPN covered the story you would have thought that he had admitted to taking steroids, with Roger Clemens, in Jose Canseco's house, will falsifying documents for terrorists. Yes Tejeda made a mistake and yes Mayo might have potentially made a mistake, but the guerrilla tactics that these reporters are using to confront these men make the reporters seem like the bad guys.

-Mose