Over the weekend we were greeted by news about another case of OJ from USC breaking rules.  This time the news was  about OJ Mayo, the standout basketball player who is expected to be a lottery pick in this summers NBA Draft. Mayo has allegedly taken $30,000 in the past 4 years, which would be a violation of NCAA rules. The person who reported this abuse,  is a former member of Mayo's inner circle.  Maybe Mayo did break the rules. At this point, I don't care. I do have a message for the Louis Johnson who released the information...STOP SNITCHING!!!!

Yes, I know that Carmelo Anthony got in trouble a few years back for being involved in the Stop Snitching video. But, I am from Baltimore, so, I feel I can take license and use the term without repercussions. Especially since the rest of the country reacted to something they did not understand when the tape was released. Let me first say that I do not condone crime or breaking of the rules. So, save the emails. But I will explain to you the spirit of Stop Snitching with the hopes that you will understand what it means.  You see, the Stop Snitching video is not  aimed at the common citizen. It is aimed at those who are involved in drugs, gangs, crime etc. who get caught and end up singing like canaries. The video asks those people to keep their mouths shut. I happen to agree with parts of it. You cannot spend years doing dirt and then suddenly want to clean yourself of the dirt by telling on everyone else involved. That, my friends is the basics of the Stop Snitching video.

Now, on the  OJ Mayo. Louis Johnson, a former Mayo confidant alleged on ESPN last week that Mayo had received improper benefits to the tune of $30,000 during the past 4 years. If true, this would be an egregious violation of NCAA rules and Mayo's amatuer status certainly could be questioned. The repercussions, for Mayo would be a small smudge on his reputation. For USC, it could cost them scholarships, money, even post season appearances. What Johnson has done, is set in motion something that would minimally affect Mayo, but hurt plenty of others who could be innocent. At this point, I don't care about whether or not Mayo broke the rules. But Louis Johnson, in my opinion is the lowest of the low. He participated. He was involved from the very beginning. In fact, Johnson, benefitted from the alleged actions of Rodney Guillory and Bill Duffy Associates.

So, why did Johnson come clean? He was kicked out of Mayo's inner circle. So, he decided to tell on Mayo and everyone else involved in the situation. He decided to out everyone with whom he commited rules infractions himself, because he presumably would be cut out of the final payoff when Mayo signed ni the NBA. Johnson is no different than anyone else who breaks NCAA amatuer status rules. He is no better than Kelvin Sampson, Jim Harrick, he is no better than anyone who has participated in NCAA point shaving or any other violations. He is, in fact, worse. Because he helped commit the violations and only came clean when he did not get his cut. So, Louis Johnson, you get the jackass of the week award. Congratulations!!!!

NBA Playoffs

We hear over and over again that the NBA Playoffs are a whole lot more physical than the regular seson. We have seen that time and again over the past three weeks. There have been ejections and suspensions to reflect the amped up physical play. Not all of them have been correct. L.A. Laker  Rony Turiaf was thrown out of a game on Sunday for a hard foul. And the Washington Wizards Darius Songaila was suspended for the final Wizards game for a "foul" commited on LeBron James. The calls have been inconsistent. There are have been harder fouls commited with no reactions. While some fouls that happen in the natural flow of play end up stopping games and depleting rosters of quality players in the form of suspensions or ejections. I do hope that during the off season, the NBA and it's referees meet to establish a more consitent interpretation of flagrant fouls and flagrant 2 fouls. While this post season is certainly more physical than others in recent memory, they still pale in comparison to the days when the rough and tumble Eastern Confernce had New York, Chicago, Indiana and Miami fighting to the death in on a court of fire. One can only imagine how many players would be left if the Detroit Pistons Bad Boys were officiated so closely. The Bad Boys were the closest thing we had to MMA in the late 80's. You know, the basketball seemed better then too. Players hit shots under pressure, they didn't openly complain about every call and players moms stayed in their seats when their sons were fouled.

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