OJ Mayo #3: U.S. Culture and the One-and-Done Rule
May 22, 2008
Google “one-and-done rule” and the search results are, well, hilarious. Everybody and their mother are touching on it. A blogger claims that myriad problems created O.J. Mayo. A mainstream columnist blames the NCAA for a, having players for one year is better than not having them at all, philosophy. Another columnist casts doubts on the rule and claims it is under scrutiny by the NCAA while NBA Commissioner David Stern defends his rule.
And on and on they go until the spin behind the pieces disintegrates as they become mired in mind-numbing exercises in futility.
If we are to believe Louis Johnson, Rodney Guillory approached O.J. Mayo when Mayo was 14 (he’d already played two years of varsity ball by that time) and over the next six years gave money and gifts to the combo-guard to the tune of a paltry $30,000 while allegedly hoarding somewhere between $170,000 and $220,000 supplied to him by Calvin Andrews of the sports agency, Bill Duffy and Associates.
However, cutting through the maze of “what if” and “they shouldn’t” and “he’s selfish” when it comes to Mayo, is one simple and very, very important fact:
There was no “one-and-done” rule some six years ago.
If every allegation levied by Johnson is gospel, Rodney Guillory, Calvin Andrews, and O.J. Mayo could never have imagined in a million years that David Stern would institute a rule mandating that a player be 19 years old and at least one year out of high school to be eligible for the NBA draft.
There was no rule that was so utterly ridiculous in its being, so against the basic premise that a person in this country has the right to seek employment whenever he or she feels they have the ability to do so, so revealing in that it completely eradicates the image of David Stern as an autonomous commissioner, and because the NBA is so predominantly black in its player makeup, so viscously racist.
To attempt to blame 14-year old O. J. Mayo - or any young athlete - for an incident such as this, is at least sublimely naive, socio-culturally irresponsible if you want something somewhere in the middle, and at worst disingenuous and racist.
The sad fact of America is that we thrive culturally in this country in large part precisely because we prey on our young. Youth sets fashion trends to the point where it dictates preferred and desired body type for middle-aged men and women, creating an entire industry out of the vain attempt to look younger than you actually are. Youth feeds and therefore dominates our entertainment and arts industries. Uninventive current rock and rap music dominates our airwaves to the point where people yearn for something, anything of meaning. Youth, and the maintenance of it, has become our primary cultural currency.
We are always on the lookout for the “newest” and “freshest” thing “out there.” And that “thing” just happens most times to be some young man or young woman too young to come close to dealing with the responsibility and the pressure that comes with being thrust into a position or societal role they most likely did not seek in the first place and has nothing to do with whatever it is they produce.
And when that person acts their age exhibiting the slightest sign of immaturity ——– we seek to crush them.
Our media quickly turns to mean-spirited snark and hyperbole to place an inordinate emphasis on their trials, to break and enter into their private lives, and psychologically assault them to force them to bow before those in the media so that they can dance around the youthful psychic corpse like a cackling pack of hyenas do upon finding a freshly expired wildebeest in the Veldt. And should their prey react poorly, the media tramples the youth underfoot on their way to whatever they deem as the next apple of their eye.
Go-betweens exist as artist and repertoire (A&R) people actively courting musical talent, offering the promise of millions for their signature on a contract. Talent scouts scour the U.S. looking for the next great young actor, the next great model. Anyone from parents to the talent themselves are offered the promise of fame and fortune if they just sign with “Acme Talent Agency.” Angel investors and venture capitalists read business proposals half the day, conduct seminars for young entrepreneurs a quarter of the day, and conduct interviews the remainder of the day. And they do it for the right to procure a percentage of some up-and-comer’s company.
Unlike the arts and entertainment and business worlds, the world of “amateur” sports must hide its go-betweens, the people who actively seek out and procure talent for waiting coaches, colleges, universities, and the boosters who keep the machine monetarily afloat. Because of the ruse that is amateur athletics, its governing body, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has created a plethora of rules - many arcane, antiquated, or purposely vague - to oversee its product. Chief among their rules are those dealing with recruiting.
Despite the vagaries of the restrictions placed around the recruiting of high school athletes, the rules in and of themselves do not contribute to “cheating” to obtain prize recruits. No, it is the combination of the rules with power and prestige of being associated with a successful collegiate athletic program that creates the atmosphere for what is known only in amateur athletics, as cheating. Between the program and the players to be recruited is a long line of men who will use any means to achieve their end: get the object of their desire to their appointed destination - the college campus or until recently in the case of Mayo and others, the NBA.
To achieve this end these “middlemen” (also known as ‘runners”) or “influence peddlers” prey on children as young as 12. Sometimes the middlemen are high school or local summer league coaches. Sometimes they are friends of the young person’s family. Sometimes they come out of the blue with Blackberries full of impressive and influential contacts for the youth to see.
Once a youngster’s confidence is gained, the gifts come. Tickets to professional games, clothes, cell phones, money, and more can come the way of a pre-recruit. In the case of O.J. Mayo, it is said that most of these items were bestowed upon him (though he tooled around the USC campus on a bicycle) in exchange for his loyalty to Calvin Andrews of Bill Duffy and Associates sports management (BDA). Duffy is a super agent and represents NBA stars Carmelo Anthony and Yao Ming, among others (Duffy has repeatedly said he has given nothing to Mayo).
As we all know, Rodney Guillory, who acted as an influence peddler to former USC basketball player Jeff Trepagnier, is alleged to be Mayo’s middleman-confidant. Though O. J. Mayo’s mother says she never trusted Guillory, Mayo has said repeatedly that Guillory has acted as a strong influence on him - as a black man.
Again, if Guillory did give gifts to Mayo, it is only because there was no “One-and-Done” rule for a 14-year old O. J. Mayo - no hint of a rule like this, no hint that David Stern was anything other than a commissioner who acted on behalf of the entire National Basketball Association, and certainly not acting mainly as an extremely well-paid mouthpiece for the owners.
Guillory, on the other hand, are as American as a late 20th-early 21st century apple pie — as is Mayo. The pie may be rancid as a piece of a cultural whole, but it is pie, nonetheless.
Because the Mayo affair involves black males it gives this situation a completely new spin. That this involves O. J. Mayo, a well spoken, celebrated black basketball player allows the spit ‘em up and chew em out sports media an opportunity to spew venom his way. Michael Wilbon, the celebrated columnist of the Washington Post spewed venom at Mayo well before he ever met the young man. He intimated - as much as one can intimate to a national audience - that he’d seen Mayo’s type before and that Mayo was “a punk.” However, after actually meeting Mayo, Wilbon’s perceptions of Mayo changed completely. Unlike his peers, though, Wilbon, upon meeting Mayo realized his mistake and voiced it on national television just as he did when he called Mayo a punk.
Much of the rest of the press - and their followers on the Internet - have maintained their disgust for the soon-to-be NBA guard, regardless of their proximity to him.
In another twist there are those in the media who have pounced on solely or primarily on Guillory and have acted - wrongly - as Mayo’s protector.
O. J. Mayo is largely not placed in context with what he was - a poor, black 14-year old teen with nothing to speak of except his ability to play basketball when he was first approached by Guillory. He is depicted, rather as a feted athlete who did what every other feted black athlete does…. cheat.
That Mayo has stressed Guillory’s role in his life is not perceived as the choice of a young, fatherless black man thankful for finding a role model he could actually respect. Instead is seen as Mayo being thankful for finding a sugar daddy, which makes the scene between two black people a willful black-on black crime with black man Calvin Andrews acting as front man for the black puppet master for the entire affair, Bill Duffy.
Is it possible, though, that Guillory is complex enough of a human being to be both mentor to Mayo and an influence peddler? Or be a mentor and by default act as an influence peddler solely because he is the most influential black male adult in Mayo’s life?
No one has bothered to take Louis Johnson - the object of ESPN’s Kelly Naqi’s “investigative”, made-for-television piece on the affair - to task because he came up with receipts with Guillory’s name on them. Not Mayo’s and Guillory’s names —- but Guillory’s; complete with a tale for each receipt.
No one has chimed in with a call of “bullshit,” of, how can Johnson’s story be believed because he was busted for cocaine distribution, got out of jail and sought out Guillory, and was hoping to make quick dollars off whatever it was Guillory was into. Where is the charge that Johnson is just out to make money off of everyone’s back by writing a book about what little he really knows of the entire affair? Where is the charge - as Stern made about ex-NBA official Tim Donaghy - that the felon, Johnson, is attempting to lay blame elsewhere to get himself out of any future legal trouble because he already has a record?
All we get are reductionist, stripped-down perceptions of “what really happened” and “who’s to blame.” And when blame is cast in more than one direction, it is cast in such a wide net as to render the entire “problem” as hopeless.
The “problem” appears to be that we cannot seem to place what might have happened to O. J. Mayo in any real context. To pick and choose villains is the usual, hackneyed, easy way out. And the preferred out for most people reporting in any way on this story.
To attack the root of the issue - our very culture - for this problem is tantamount to a admitting that everyone from ESPN to Naqi to every writer casting aspersions in any direction other than on our culture is to be blamed. And no one wants to do that.
But.
There is one thing we can do. And that is to stop blaming teenagers for recruiting indiscretions. Even if that athlete is from a perfect nuclear family with a great and solid home life. Children will make mistakes, period. No matter how many people have done it before them, some child somewhere will think they will be the one who out-slicks everyone and has their cake and gets to eat it, too. It’s part of growing up. And for someone from a background as destitute and challenged as Mayo’s, the chances of making a mistake are exponentially greater.
You have less than nothing and watch images of people with everything and get told that this is what you should aspire to long enough and there’s a damn good chance your morals will reflect some form of the depravity with which you have been inundated.
So don’t blame Mayo - and toss the “black actors” biases out the door. After all, the O. J. Mayo story is today’s quintessential American success tale.
And it is as wholesome as a cultural apple pie today can be.
Comments
17 Responses to “OJ Mayo #3: U.S. Culture and the One-and-Done Rule”
Got something to say?
Beautifully constructed and written. There is no victim and no one really to blame outside of the culture that produces the archaic rules that the NCAA governs by.
Every time I read about a recruiting “scandal” I keep thinking of Dan Jenkins, who boiled it down in one of his books that coaches and players are forced to operate in a world they had no hand in creating.
Thanks S2N… I did not read whatever Jenkins book that that thought of his came from but I’m glad to be able to reintroduce and/or continue his line of thinking…..
Amen dwil. I always find it strange that no one wants to blame American culture itself. They ram down your throat what it is to be successful, and act like kids aren’t seeing this, too. As an adult, many (but definitely not all) find out that the image of the successful person is just a mirage. You can be a success and live like the Jeffersons, or like Roc and Elanor Emerson. Of course, you never hear about the Emerson’s side.
Mayo, like kids from almost any background was just looking to get his. Who was he to turn it down? I’ve seen rich kids get caught up with shady characters because they thought that they were getting something for nothing. It strikes me how all of these self-righteous folks seem to think that if they were a teenager and as good as a player as well let’s see, Psycho-T is made out to be, that if someone offered them $20,000 for nothing, they’d turn it down. Yeah, right! They aren’t thinking about the NCAA and it’s arbitrary rules enforcement.
OJ Mayo is just ESPN’s latest cash cow. Right now, there’s no Bonds to boost ratings. Pacman has been quiet for a while. So, the WWL had to drum up interest for a while. BTW. Funny how that shocking interview with Miguel Tijada didn’t get the outrage that ESPN thought it would!
kos-
Thanks…. and well put.
Dwil, your passage about both Guillory and Mayo being complex figures with complex motivations was so on point. But, that’s the most difficult thing for the media to ever process. We in the media rarely give readers or viewers a complete picture of individuals because it’s so much easier to stuff them into boxes and move on.
D - it’s from his novel You Gotta Play Hurt, when TCU is accused of paying players in college football:
“Today, the educators at universities with winning programs not only ran the NCAA, they went around grasping for TV and bowl money with one hand while feverishly fanning themselves with the other as the pretended to fret over academic integrity. These were the true phonies, the terminal hypocrites. The only realists were the football coaches. They were forced to buy players to survive in a world they didn’t create.”
It’s probably a bit different with coaches pulling Nick Saban money in football and the star basketball coaches getting better money, but that’s what I always flash back to.
S2N-
Thanks for supplying that quote. It’s still the same today. They’re still paying through the people I mentioned….
I can never work up any anger over these types of stories.
The issue itself, I think, has little to do with understandings of race or culture or poverty - though I think the coverage of the issue has everything to do with that. The problem lies with the anitquated notion of amateurism in the US in basketball and football.
Do you ever notice that you have never seen these problems in baseball or tennis or golf? Why? Because there is a structure outside of American colleges to funnel young athletes into the professional ranks.
Nike could send an 11-year-old girl to a tennis academy in Florida, buy her parents a house in a gated community in Orlando, and the world would barely blink. That is because we have logical path to transition into the pro ranks for tennis players. 18 year olds are given hundreds of thousands of dollars and sent to podunk towns in upstate New York to learn nothing aside from how to throw a slider while avoiding statutory rape charges. And we are fine with that.
It’s only football and basketball where we force athletes to fake being something they aren’t.
First post here and I’ve always enjoyed reading your writings, DWil.
I’ve never understood why the elite basketball players don’t graduate HS and play in Europe for a year. Seems like a win-win for everyone but the college programs.
Jim -
Honestly never thought about that……about a player jumping to Europe for a year, then coming back to play in the NBA. I would guess though, that the reason you wouldn’t see that happen would be because the European teams would rather lock you up for a couple of years. The danger in that is the same as going to college. All of your strengths and weaknesses would be exposed. Maybe even more considering the age of some of the players playing in the Euro leagues.
BM-
Thanks.
Myron-
Of course you won’t get worked up over this story if you cannot understand its cultural relevance - and in the U.S. that automatically includes race because the focus of media attention is centered around race - because this only occurs in sports where young black men a predominant.
Jim- (and kos)-
Thank you for reading. There is a reason why players don’t jump to Europe: contract length. It is almost impossible for an American player, especially one who has talent to get a one year contract. Teams will not sign a player for a year causing them to fill a roster spot and potentially miss out on another player of similar talent that can be signed for the standard multiple year contract (remembe, they’re trying to win ‘chips over in Euro-ball land, too!).
I understand it’s cultural relevance just fine. I just find the morality of major college football and major college basketball to be a fraud. If you play college football in a BCS conference or college basketball in a conference that - generally speaking - gets more than two teams into the Tourney each year…the college should pay you. Simple. End of story.
I don’t think it’s all that difficult to understand Mayo’s childhood and high school life or why he would be a target of athletic pimps or why he would accept their money. Hell, I grew up in WV. I’ve known who he was for years, just like I knew he Randy Moss was when he was 13. It’s pretty difficult for big-time athletes to hide in WV.
@Myron: co-sign
Guys,
Plain and simple, guys, there’s a kid out there who is 11. His dad is trying to make him the next Tiger Woods. He wants to be the youngest to win (insert name of major tournament” so he can cash in on the wealth and fame that goes with it. But to borrow from a well-known movie and TV series “You got big dreams. You want fame? Well fame costs. And right heeeere is where you start paying. In Sweat.”
If someone is of the age of majority, let ‘em play for pay.
Myron-
Obviously it is a fraud. However, you wrote:
I can never work up any anger over these types of stories….
The issue itself, I think, has little to do with understandings of race or culture or poverty - though I think the coverage of the issue has everything to do with that. The problem lies with the anitquated notion of amateurism in the US in basketball and football.
Wrong.
You attempt to take the focus off the race-racism aspect of false amateurism when in fact these matters have much to do with culture, race and racism. The antiquated notion is, not-so-ironically kept in place where it most impacts young black student-athletes.
So, after failing to notice the isolated pockets where this antiquated notion of amateurism occurs and who it impacts most, you don’t get “worked up” over “fraud” because —- what? It’s just the way “things” work? It’s just life?
How pat; how easy. But your dismissive line of thought smells of something rancid and something ultimately hurtful of those young men impacted most by this “antiquated notion of amateurism” that just so happens to coincide with the largest revenue-earning sports for colleges and universities and the NCAA - and has the largest black athlete participation, therefore having the greatest impact on black student-athletes enrolled in those colleges and universities (where those student-athletes at some colleges and universities sometimes comprise the bulk of black student population!)
But.
According to your line of thought there’s no reason why this should be a point of cointention; no reason for anger or ire; no reason for meaningful conversation. In fact, according to you the race-economy aspect of this purposeful false amateurism doesn’t even exist.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Right?
The prostitution of college athletes is comical. Colleges make MILLIONS off its’ “amateur athletes” and offer a bullshit college tuition in return. The kids can’t work and can’t accept any “gifts” in order to preserve some innocence that simply doesn’t exist.
Why don’t we ever tell the truth? The truth is these colleges are no different than a corporation. If you pay one athlete, you need to pay them ALL! It all winds up to the colleges/NCAA losing money and they don’t want to lose. It’s plain and simple. Why can’t someone just tell the truth?
Anyone who thinks these “students” shouldn’t be paid are a collection of jackasses, plain and simple.
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