The O.J. Mayo mess: spread the blame

If you were surprised by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” report alleging that O.J. Mayo received money, clothes and other gifts when he was playing high school and college basketball, you live a sheltered life as a sports fan.

We all saw this coming.

We all, in a way, are partly to blame.

The O.J. Traveling Circus first pitched its tent in Kentucky when Mayo was a seventh-grader playing for Rose Hill Christian in Ashland.

The first time I saw him play, in January of 2002, Mayo nailed a last-second three-pointer to give Rose Hill a win over Ashland Blazer on a Sunday afternoon before 4,500 fans in Boyd County Middle School.

Afterward, Mayo signed autographs for more than a few adults who didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed about seeking the signature of a 14-year-old hoops star. (I was relieved when his dad wouldn’t allow O.J. to be interviewed. It didn’t feel right to be asking a seventh-grader about his cross-over dribble.)

Over the next few years, as O.J. hopscotched from school to school — from Rose Hill to Cincinnati North College Hill to Huntington, W.Va. — he became a national sensation, and he had an entourage to prove it. It was fun watching him work his magic on the court, but it was disturbing to watch his “handlers” circle around him like vultures off the court.

While he led Rose Hill to the Sweet Sixteen, North College Hill to two state titles, and Huntington to another state championship, O.J. was always a bigger story than his team. For the most part, he handled all the attention like a pro (which, to some extent, he may have been if this ESPN report is true). He was polite to interviewers and mostly complimentary to his opponents.

I can only imagine how Mayo lost touch with reality when he enrolled at Southern Cal and was part of the glitzy celebrity scene in Los Angeles.

It seemed inevitable that the seamy side of his stardom would eventually come to light. That’s the way it works in our culture.

So now we play the blame game.

O.J. is no innocent. He’s a smart guy. If he accepted money, clothes and other stuff, he knew it was wrong.

But it’s the adults who are most culpable. The agents who schemed to get their hooks in him when he was a kid, hoping for a milllion-dollar payoff. The schools that turned a blind eye to what was going on while their athletic departments raked in the cash from SRO crowds and TV rights. The fans who idolized him and gave him a feeling of entitlement.

The media were at fault, too.

We fed the hype machine, and thus helped create the O.J. persona. We helped turn a prodigy into a professional long before he had the maturity to handle what was thrown at him.

It’s a sorry mess, and a lot of people have a reason to say they’re sorry.