Topic: Lee Jenkins on O.J. Mayo's "recruiting"

[Cousin Jeffrey]

Great story that will probably lead to some follow-ups around the country. After reading this, do ya think the NCAA might have a few questions (not that they haven't asked some already) about Mayo?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/sports/ncaabasketball/21usc.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

EDIT: Just saw this linked on the Mayo thread on Sports and News. Though I was more interested in hearing what people thought of the story itself, and where it will go journalistically. Not to mention Jenkins banging out another top-notch college hoops story.

[Rusty Shackleford]

That does sound shady. I'm a Huntington native and I've been following Mayo for a couple of years. I always had wondered how he ended up at USC, but I guess if he wants to market himself, that's a great place to start. And I'm sure he's hoping the Lakers (or to a lesser extent, the Clippers) suck ass next season so they can grab him at the top of the '08 draft. Of course, the reason his man said he wants USC is their lack of tradition compared to UCLA, so maybe he prefers if the Clippers suck compared to the Lakers.

This raises a journalistic question for me, though -- what are your thoughts, if you're the Huntington newspaper, that a very interesting story on your town's biggest athlete ran in another newspaper, albeit not one you're in competition with. Do you feel like you got beat here? Do you run your own version of this story, perhaps by talking to Mayo to get his side of it?

[Cousin Jeffrey]

This story was all L.A., so Huntington would have a helluva time getting the same quotes and color Jenkins got. Plus, as we know now, you can't call O.J., he has to call you. And what does that say about Floyd that he'd take that shit from a recruit? There's a lot of coaches that would probably say Fuck this guy. On the flip side, Greg Oden supposedly would call Matta at the office and identify himself as "Greg Oden from Indianapolis." I'm sure Mayo went incommunicado because he got sick of constant text messages from Kelvin Sampson and his ilk, but to not give your coach your number...He's basically saying he wants to play at USC because he saw how Leinart and Bush maximized their fame there, he'll get paid by this promoter guy and he realizes that Floyd's a pushover already and he'll run his own shit.

I can't see the O.J. Mayo era ending well.

[Elliotte Friedman]

Congrats to Jenkins.

That was a terrific story.

[HoopsMcCann]

not to step in the lovefest, here, but, here's where my journalistic questions come up

jenkins, who is really good, just skims over who the heck ronald (better known as rodney) guillory is. and you better believe people at usc know who he is, since he got jeff trepingier suspended for half a season back in 2000-01. among shady high school basketball and college basketball circles, he's known as one of the most shady

i know he isn't as beloved around here as lee jenkins or anyone at the new york times, but check out gregg doyel's piece on something like this from october: http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/story/9735022

no offense to lee, who i think is really, really good, but this story lacks many of the further questions that need to be asked

[Cousin Jeffrey]

Agreed, Hoops. That was my main question and why I think he's got some follow-ups lined up already. It definitely should've been mentioned, or pursued.

[jgmacg]

This is going to sound stupid to some of you, but there's a glaring error in this story:

"He had no business going after Mayo, the No. 1 player in the country, especially being from a football college that was 3,000 miles away."

Huntington, WVa is 2280 miles from Los Angeles. Information available in about ten seconds online.

Jenkins, and the NYT copy desk, are wrong by nearly 25% here. Which, to me, is too significant a number to be laughed off as a rounding error, or written off as literary license.

Do boilerplate failures like this one undermine the credibility of the rest of the story? Or do they simply no longer matter?

[SuperflySnuka]

This will be a groundbreaking story when all is said and done...we're talking watergate-type shit here, in the sporting world. The guillory stuff is uncomprehensible to me, and Doyel probes it further than Jenkins. However, Jenkins is the better writer.

This feels like one of those situations where Mayo asked to read the story first just to check it.

Hmm, something's amiss.....

[Elliotte Friedman]

Thanks for the link, hoops.

After reading Doyel's column -- which was excellent -- I wonder why Floyd would agree to talk to Jenkins. Clearly, USC knew it was being watched closely re: Mayo, and Floyd revealed details that won't make Garrett happy.

[Cousin Jeffrey]

I truly, truly, truly doubt Jenkins would let anyone read his story first, especially Mayo. It's more of a case of Jenkins letting readers connect the dots and setting up future stories.

[long_snapper]

O.J. sounds like he'll be a breeze to coach.

Don't call me for practice, coach. I'll call you.

[SuperflySnuka]

" truly, truly, truly doubt Jenkins would let anyone read his story first, especially Mayo"

Cousin Jeffrey - I wish I could find the sarcasm font when I wrote that. I would certainly hope that he wouldn't. But doesn't it seem that key facts were sort of glossed over, giving the story a "all is good in LaLa Land" feel?

[shockey]

this story will get uglier by the day.

[Armchair_QB]

" truly, truly, truly doubt Jenkins would let anyone read his story first, especially Mayo"

Cousin Jeffrey - I wish I could find the sarcasm font when I wrote that. I would certainly hope that he wouldn't. But doesn't it seem that key facts were sort of glossed over, giving the story a "all is good in LaLa Land" feel?

I didn't get a "all is good in LaLa Land" feel when I read that. I got the feeling Floyd made a deal with the devil. Mayo will be a problem but he'll only be a problem for one year.

[fishwrapper]

This will be a groundbreaking story when all is said and done...we're talking watergate-type shit here, in the sporting world. ...

Easy. A little hyperbole? I hope?

If you want to put it on par with the unconditional surrender of the Germans on May 4, 1945, fine. But, that's as far as I'm willing to take it.

[Mmac]

Plus, as we know now, you can't call O.J., he has to call you. And what does that say about Floyd that he'd take that shit from a recruit? There's a lot of coaches that would probably say Fuck this guy.  he'll get paid by this promoter guy and he realizes that Floyd's a pushover already and he'll run his own shit.

  Can you imagine someone like Bob Knight's reaction to a recruit (and his "promoter") dictating terms like that?  Sounds like Floyd's already surrendered any pretense to having any discplinary control over Mayo, the kid's gonna do whatever and play however he wants at SC.

[SuperflySnuka]

Definitely hyperbole. I ONLY speak in hyperbole.

But I think it will be a huge story in terms of repercussions. Imagine you're the top player of the class of 2011. You see Mayo doing this and think, "Hmm. This kid put himself in position to be a global icon if he pans out. I need to do the same."

Soon, kids start recruiting locations, not schools. Future earnings, not coaches.

The power structure is turned upside down, not that it hasn't always been, but I think it's out in public for the first time.

[Cousin Jeffrey]

Another good take on the Mayo situation in West Virginny...
http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-sp-mayo28feb28,1,7971590,full.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

[Mmac]

But I think it will be a huge story in terms of repercussions. Imagine you're the top player of the class of 2011. You see Mayo doing this and think, "Hmm. This kid put himself in position to be a global icon if he pans out. I need to do the same."

Soon, kids start recruiting locations, not schools. Future earnings, not coaches.

The power structure is turned upside down, not that it hasn't always been, but I think it's out in public for the first time.

  You mean more 1-year wonders choosing non-traditional hoops schools just cuz they're in the New York/LA media markets?  Hey, I knew Fordham's fortunes would turn one day.

[SoCalDude]

Thanks for the link, hoops.

After reading Doyel's column -- which was excellent -- I wonder why Floyd would agree to talk to Jenkins. Clearly, USC knew it was being watched closely re: Mayo, and Floyd revealed details that won't make Garrett happy.

   If Floyd refused to talk to Jenkins, it sends up a flare that there is something to hide.
  
   If I covered a team that suddenly decided not to allow the media in the locker room or other media access, I'd tell the coach that by doing that, you're telling me you have something to hide and I'm gonna find out what it is.

[daemon]

Rodney Guillory, a former Reebok representative based in Los Angeles; Lloyd McGuffin, Mayo's high school coach; and Mike Woelfel, an attorney who is a Huntington assistant coach this season.

Once listed by Mayo in a biography as "the most impressive person I have ever met," Guillory is credited by some basketball insiders with influencing the player's college choice of USC. He is said to be the person who jumped the gun by scheduling a news conference last fall where Mayo was supposed to announce his commitment to the Trojans. (Reporters arrived at an L.A.-area hotel, but Mayo, who was in the area visiting the USC campus, never did. His choice wasn't made public for several more weeks.)

Guillory is a regular at the Galen Center and in the USC players' lounge after games.

Sounds a little different than a "stranger" who happened to wonder into the USC basketball offices.

Not to mention the fact that his name is Ronald in the NYT story and Rodney in the LAT story.

Maybe I'm just jaded, but the LAT story sounds like it might be a little more representative of reality.

[Mmac]

Rodney Guillory, a former Reebok representative based in Los Angeles; Lloyd McGuffin, Mayo's high school coach; and Mike Woelfel, an attorney who is a Huntington assistant coach this season.

Once listed by Mayo in a biography as "the most impressive person I have ever met," Guillory is credited by some basketball insiders with influencing the player's college choice of USC. He is said to be the person who jumped the gun by scheduling a news conference last fall where Mayo was supposed to announce his commitment to the Trojans. (Reporters arrived at an L.A.-area hotel, but Mayo, who was in the area visiting the USC campus, never did. His choice wasn't made public for several more weeks.)

Guillory is a regular at the Galen Center and in the USC players' lounge after games.

Sounds a little different than a "stranger" who happened to wonder into the USC basketball offices.

Not to mention the fact that his name is Ronald in the NYT story and Rodney in the LAT story.

Maybe I'm just jaded, but the LAT story sounds like it might be a little more representative of reality.

  Just googled the name "Rodney Guillory" and the very first entry had a paragraph describing how a Fresno State player had once lost elgibility for receiving cash from "longtime friend" Rodney Guillory, who was found to be a runner for a sports agency, he also got a former USC hoopster, Jeff Trepagnier, suspended for similar stuff, a references to him being a "regular" at the USC players lounge (how the hell can USC allow a guy who previously got one of its players suspended to hang out at the players lounge?).  I didn't read on, but there appears to be even more out there about this guy's shady dealings.  Jenkins' fluff piece does not even come close to touching the real story here. 

[jgmacg]

They don't undermine the credibility -- the points that Hoops made do.

But they do matter, absolutely. That's a huge difference.

22 is not 30, Eddie.

Nor is a Rodney a Ronald.

We've now posted three stories on the same subject on this thread. Two refer to the man in question as "Rodney" Guillory, and one - the NYT story with the knuckleheaded geography botch - refers to him as "Ronald." Which is it?

Is this an AKA that the man in question uses to confuse reporters and authorities? An evil twin? Or is this a case in which the NYT reporter got a name wrong? Or did the other two reporters?

I await word from somone's corrections desk.

I then return to my original point.

Do glaring errors of fact undermine the substantive credibility of a story? I think they do. If I can't count on a reporter to deliver the boilerplate - names, places, numbers - why should I credit the content of the piece?



 

[buckweaver]

I then return to my original point.

Do glaring errors of fact undermine the substantive credibility of a story? I think they do. If I can't count on a reporter to deliver the boilerplate - names, places, numbers - why should I credit the content of the piece?

We're not disagreeing here. I just think the most substantial undermining comes not from the (seemingly) incorrect name or the incorrect mileage -- mistakes can't be excused, but they happen -- but from not asking more questions about Guillory's history or revealing more information about his relationship with Mayo.

The factual errors chip away at the credibility. But those lapses in legwork deliver a sledgehammer blow.

[SoCalDude]

   Having the name wrong is a huge mistake.
   The mileage difference is nitpicking. I know it can be considered a cliche, but it's generally considered to be 3,000 miles coast to coast. Jenkins was just generalizing that, not a major gaffe. Him having worked on both coasts, he knows about mileage.