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So it looks like our boy O.J. took a couple of bucks …allegedly. Around 30K according to Louis Johnson’s interview with ESPN. In the week since the allegations surfaced, the NCAA has opened up an investigation regarding Mayo, and Johnson was contacted about his comments made to the “four letter.” Unlike some, I will not carry on, lobbying for the NCAA to drop the death penalty on USC Trojans.

But don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of blame to go around.

Start with USC. As the saying goes, ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.’ Well, Rodney Guillory had already fooled the Trojans once. Former Trojan Jeff Trepagnier also had a relationship with Guillory. It was revealed Guillory provided airline tickets for Trepagnier and former Fresno State guard Tito Maddox to visit a Las Vegas based agency. As a result, Trepagnier was suspended for a short time in December of 2000. Fool you twice? Shame on you, USC. Why even go down that road, with a guy who had already shown himself to be a problem to the program?

Even Mayo’s mom wasn’t able to get the prize recruit-turned-one-and-done to end his ties with Guillory. For SC to think they could police the relationship is downright foolish. Conversely, to think they didn’t need to (or were better off not) is even worse. Still, when Guillory walked into Tim Floyd’s office “offering” O.J. Mayo, Floyd and the Trojans bit. Recruiting just doesn’t work that way. Usually the players that are “offered” are big on heart, short on talent and hoping for a place to continue their playing careers. They’re not the nation’s top recruit.

This process, in a word, questionable.

O.J. definitely had an agenda. Likely it wasn’t to single handedly dismantle the Trojan’s basketball program, but make no mistake, the idea of being a stand alone star in the glitziest market in the country was a draw.

Floyd and the USC Athletic Department did an investigation on Guillory (in which they found nothing), but by agreeing to once again associate with him, they still set themselves up for failure. They took a calculated risk in an effort to raise the profile of the basketball program to compete with Ben Howland’s bunch across town. Unfortunately for them, they believed (enough) in Mayo and his “mentor” to take that chance. They got burned… allegedly.

But it’s not just USC and their apparent willingness to make the proverbial deal with the devil, or at the very least look the other way. Let’s move on to the AAU circuit. On the one hand, there are positive benefits because it allows the nation’s top prep players to compete against each other. But at the end of the day, AAU ball is a business. The same large tournaments hosted across the country that give players a chance to compete and coaches a chance to scout elite athletes in one location also allow the Rodney Guillory’s of the world to come around, befriend those players, and aim to strike it rich down the road with their hot shot prospect.

It forces high school aged athletes to make very adult business decisions as they field an endless stream of promises and potential benefits. Keep in mind, a lot of these tournaments are away from home, so there’s not always that parental supervision to protect these athletes. Sometimes the coaches, for whom AAU ball is a business as well, don’t protect the players, either.

There’s also the long held debate over shoe companies and the big talent camps they run. If you’re a Nike kid, you can’t be with Adidas and vice versa. The shoe companies are in a position to decide what sort of opportunities a 16 year old can or can’t take. Kevin Love for example, was a “Nike kid.” Love played on a Nike AAU team, but decided to go to the Adidas/Reebok sponsored ABCD camp to play against stiffer competition. Love was kicked off of his Nike AAU squad. The shoe companies are developing ties with players well before they even step foot into an NBA Arena. Tracy McGrady, a product of the ABCD camp, is endorsed by Adidas. While Kobe Bryant is with Nike now, he entered the league as a “Adidas kid.” Again, those connections often start with the coaches.

How about what’s going on in Indianapolis? Certainly the NCAA bears some responsibility. If it is true that O.J. took the benefits, do most fans care? If they do, do they understand the motivation? Of course, the NCAA objects because they’re not profiting from the alleged 30K. The NCAA doesn’t mind extorting “student athletes” they know have no interest in being in school as long as money is being made. When they lose control of that, then it’s a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of intercollegiate athletics, however, I do not agree with the NCAA’s treatment of its “student-athletes.”

These kids generate millions upon millions of dollars for their schools and the NCAA, but are not allowed to take a dime. Yes, most of them are on full scholarship, but after tuition, room and board, there’s not much left for, as the old folks would say, “pocket money.” So essentially, they’re like the normal, broke college student. The difference is, unlike the normal, broke college student, they’re not allowed to work. NCAA rules prohibit “student-athletes” from having just about any job. So tell me, where is the money supposed to come from?

Suppose a player didn’t have any money and a local handed him two dollars to grab a couple items off the dollar menu at a local fast food joint. That, my friends would be an NCAA violation.

How many times have you received tickets to a sporting event, play, or an amusement park from your boss or a co-worker? Imagine being told a few days after you attend the event that you have to pay back the money for the tickets or else you wouldn’t be allowed back at your job.

Okay, maybe that’s not the best example- I don’t know if you actually like your job. But the scenario is exactly what played out with Mayo when he received a pair of ducats to a Laker game from Carmelo Anthony.

“But,” you say, “the kids receive a free education.” That’s great, except Mayo didn’t come to SC for the education, but rather to enhance his marketing opportunities in a large market before taking off for the NBA. In Mayo’s case, short of some sort of miracle it was already predetermined that he would be one and done. You and I can go to school to USC to get a great education. OJ Mayo didn’t need one to get into the NBA.

Which brings me to David Stern. As a basketball fan, the one year rule is great. The Association is enjoying one of its finest seasons in some time, due in part to a better product on the floor. The NBA’s love affair with the Euro and high school player damaged the NBA. For every Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki, there’s a Korleone Young , DeAngelo Collins, Tony Key, Jiri Welsch, and a Nicoloz Tskitishvili.

And hey, it’s great for the college game, too, in the sense that outstanding, pro caliber talent is forced to spend a year in the college game. Those underclassmen helped make the ‘08 NCAA Tourney one of the best in some time. It had everything you could want in a tournament- Upsets, Cinderella, the historic advancement of all four top seeds to the Final Four, and a championship game ending in OT.

But in a sense, as a college hoops fan, there was the sense of being cheated, since it was so clear that all those freshman stars were only there because they had to be. Because the NBA has mandated it so. And because of the rule, an atmosphere is created to give incentive for players like OJ Mayo to cheat, and for the Rodney Guillory’s of the world to help them do it. The academic calendar is such that unless the one-and-done’s want to go to class and feel a sense of responsibility to do so, nothing keeps them from shining academic duties.

It’s not that every kid out there wants to cheat, or will. Even if the allegations are true, it doesn’t make OJ Mayo a monster. But the NCAA and David Stern have created a system that is set up, on this particular issue, for failure. How smart is that?

Its hard for me to imagine that the NCAA will make an example out of one of its most storied athletic programs. The cash cow that is the NCAA needs USC, particularly Trojan football, to be successful. That’s not really the point. I don’t know what Guillory allegedly said, gave, or promised to O.J. But it’s not hard for me to imagine situations where kids, often with tough upbringings and responsibilities that are larger than any 18 or 19 year old should have, would be tempted to take what they shouldn’t. It’s not hard to imagine a situation where people would want to take advantage of them.

It’s not hard, because I don’t have to. It happens now.

We can’t continue to exploit and market these athletes and expect them to stand by empty handed.

Rahshaun Haylock is a production assistant for CBS2/KCAL9 Sports and does play-by-play and sports reporting for SportsNetUSA.net Internet radio. He likes to take a look at some of the less-talked about issues in SoCal sports.

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