OJ Mayo #4: Recruiting Wars Ain’t Nothin’ But a Modern-Day Slavery Thang

As I pulled into the small media parking area looking for a space I saw something that made me feel uneasy. I was at this small east coast university to finish a story on the burgeoning rivalry between two small college basketball programs looking to separate themselves from the other schools in their conference and join the carousel of "big-time" [read more...]

OJ Mayo: U.S. Culture and the One-and-Done Rule

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 [read more...]

The Sports Blogosphere and Today’s Latest News

And finally, as a tie-into relevant headlines of today, what's really wrong with the sports blogosphere… Because it, like the mainstream sportswriting landscape is filled with and run by far, far too many utterly soulless white people. Because you - the utterly soulless ones - demand that everyone think and perceive just like you. Because there are too many black people who acquiesce [read more...]

O. J. Mayo Report 2: Investigation, the ESPN Way

ed. note - read D-Wil's Monday column on O.J. Mayo here. Chapter 2 of Marc Isenberg's book, Money Players: A Guide to Success in Sports, Business & Life for the Current and Future Pro Athletes, is titled, "College Rules!" The initial words of the chapter are these from sports agent Richard Woods: "As soon as you have given a player money you have [read more...]

Hart Surgery: Basketball Like It Oughtta Be

All year long there are good sports on television. Some games, or series, rise above the others and reach must-watch status. There aren't many, so you have to pay close attention when they come around. We were deprived of one of these recently, when both the Red Wings and Avalanche lost in the first round of the NHL playoffs. They [read more...]