thehighcourtofsports.com Blog

One of our loyal readers emailed me last night to get my take on the latest development in the always controversial saga of high school hoops phenom O.J. Mayo.  In case you don’t know (or just didn’t care), Mayo was recently ejected from a game between his Huntington (West Virginia) High and Capital High School.  Mayo received two technical fouls to warrant the ejection, then made contact with referee Mike Lazo.  You can get the rest of the details here, but long story short, Huntington had a big game coming up at Cameron Indoor Stadium against nationally-ranked Artesia High (Lakewood, California) and Mayo needed to play…but there was only the one problem: His ejection mandated a two-game suspension (as well as suspensions for five of his teammates who left the bench during the Capital contest).

To his rescue rode Cabell County Circuit Judge Dan O’ Hanlon (Is it an election year, your honor?), who issued an injunction allowing Mayo to play until a February 9 hearing designed to make a decision on the players’ procedural rights to appeal the suspensions.  Well, hooray for the court system.  Mayo played against Artesia, scoring 19 points as Huntington defeated Artesia 73-66.  They say justice is blind; apparently in O’Hanlon’s court it is also stupid.

I applaud the concept of fairness that O’Hanlon used to free Mayo from his suspension (at least in the short term), because I don’t have a problem with there being an appeals process.  Penalties are often arbitrary, and more often than not, they are handed down with little to no consideration for the mitigating cirmcumstances that make each situation unique.  But this is a case where Mayo had clearly crossed a line, and frankly his actions could have resulted in penalties far greater (like a suspension for the remainder of the season) than two games.  By using legalese to get Mayo and his teammates off the hook, Judge O’Hanlon is sending a couple of terrible messages to those young men.  One, if you are talented enough, somebody will always bail you out, and two, a big basketball game is more important than right and wrong.

I don’t blame Mayo or his teammates for wanting to play.  Anybody would.  But I do hold Mayo accountable for his actions, and more importantly, for refusing to take responsibility for his mistakes.  So he made an error in judgment in the heat of battle.  So what?  But recognize that mistake and take your punishment like a man.

But Mayo isn’t the person who should most be ashamed of himself.  There’s a long list of folks at the front of that line, and it is thanks to them that I announce the return of the contempt lists to The High Court of Sports.  This was a long-time staple at the site, something that we used to do every Friday.  I am going to do things a bit differently this time around, though, as I hope to bring my colleagues back into the fray, and as I attempt to encourage more reader participation.  Starting on each Thursday, I’ll be taking nominations for the contempt lists from our readers and staff, and on Friday we will post the lists on the board.  We’ll consider public figures from any walk of life (sports, politics, entertainment, etc.), and the lists may be as few as one or as many as ten.  I also hope that our readers will submit their own lists each Friday, or at least provide commentary on those that make The High Court’s list.  You can post your own list on the comments board, and you can send me nominations for our list at chiefjustice@thehighcourtofsports.com.

So without further adieu, here’s a special Thursday contempt list, O.J. Mayo edition.

5.  O.J. Mayo…Mayo’s the kid, so he just merits the five spot.  But in basketball terms, this kid has been a man for some time.  The USC signee has had a checkered and controversial high school career, often acting as a hoops mercenary, moving from one school to another.  His presence at Ashland’s (KY) Rose Hill Christian prompted a firestorm when he first burst on the scene as a middle schooler, and then he took his show to North College Hill near Cincinnati.  And when his friend and teammate (and current Kansas State freshman) Bill Walker was ruled ineligible to play for North College Hill this season, Mayo returned to his hometown of Huntington.  Mayo has been the darling of the AAU summer circuit and shoe company reps for years, and it is fair to guess that he hasn’t been an amateur basketball player since he was twelve years old.  None of us can be shocked that he doesn’t expect to have to pay the consequences for his behavior.  But it might be wise for Mr. Mayo to read up on the cautionary tale of Maurice Clarett, another young phenom who never heard the word no.  He’d also do well to remember that the adults that keep cleaning up for him probably won’t be there if he ever ends up in an orange jumpsuit next to Clarett…

4. Dwaine Barnes…Mayo’s so-called ‘grandfather’ (I have no idea if he really is or not) appears to be the only constant in his life, and Mr. Barnes has an obligation to give Mayo the direction he needs.  Meal ticket or not, Mayo needs to know the difference between right or wrong.  Dwaine Barnes should care more about the kid and less about the player.

3.  Judge Dan O’Hanlon…I’m going to give him a slight benefit of the doubt and assume that he had at least a thin slice of the rule of law on his side when he issued the injunction.  But this was pure idiocy, plain and simple, and any man in the position of circuit court judge should know better than to endorse irresponsble and consequence-less behavior to teenagers.

2.  Huntington High administrators…Nice job blacking the eyes of your own school system.  Mayo shouldn’t have needed any other ruling bodies to sit him down.  That should have been taking care of within his own school building.  Nice job, guys.

1.  Huntington head coach Lloyd McGuffin and assistant coach (and legal eagle) Mike Woelful…I’d like to give the nod to Woelful, who is pulling the nifty double as assistant coach AND Mayo’s attorney.  I would guess we have this guy to thank for the injunction, since I doubt most high school players would have had the legal expertise to bring the issue in front of a judge.  Woelful is really a credit to the bar.  B ut the scumbag attorney has to ride shotgun to the head coach, McGuffin.  It is his program, and no one further down this list should have had to get involved.  It is McGuffin’s place to control and discipline his players, and by failing to do so, he failed himself, his school, and most importantly, all the young men wearing Huntington High uniforms.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 10:13 am and is filed under The Daily Verdict. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.