Over the weekend, we were treated to video footage of high-schooler O.J. Mayo getting teed up for an excessive garbage time celebration in the West Virginia State Championships. Yesterday, the New York Times’ Lee Jenkins examined Mayo’s unique path to the University of Southern California in a widely linked / discussed piece.
Sports On My Mind’s dwil has observed the widespread criticism of Mayo, and wonders where it’s coming from.
That Floyd Guillory walked into Floyd™s office at 6:30 a.m. means Guillory knew Floyd™s schedule well enough to walk into his office first thing in the morning – literally. O. J. Mayo knows the world want pieces of him – and it wants to see him in pieces. He has been feted by the biggest, best, and shadiest men in the world of basketball and he knows the game; the one off the court as well as the one on the court.So, Mayo sent a trusted friend to look at Tim Floyd – no, look inside Tim Floyd. Guillory was sent to measure every Floyd movement, twitch, and response, verbal and non-verbal, and then report the findings of his exploratory mission to Mayo.
Mayo™s act is something every intelligent businessman would do before possibly embarking on an important new venture.
The precise, calculated moves made by a person as young as Mayo would be celebrated if he was a prodigy in the business world, or if he was an entertainer.
What O. J. Mayo knows more than any young man coming into the NCAA meat house is that he is a one-man corporation. He knows the system is set up to make billions of dollars off the backs of young men black and white, the vast majority of whom will never parlay their athletic talent into performing in professional leagues, and many of whom will never walk the walk to receive their undergraduate diplomas.