O.J. Mayo technical foul video

Yes, you don't touch a ref, and yes if you get a T, you back away. I don't care if Mayo is coddled or not, those two techincals was bullshit and the ref did everything he could to bait him. Secondly, I didn't see Mayo touch the ref before the second T when Mayo walked up. He went by him without using a fingernail. That was a bullshit chicken-fucking act by a ref, looking for attention.

First of all, he did not deserve that first one. That's bullshit and look at it closely. All he did was look at the opposing team's bench, didn't make any gestures, and he got T-ed up for that? That is petty. If he did the "throat-slash" gesture, then T him. He didn't do anything but look at their bench as he was heading back down the court and the ref (Lazo) rung him up, either on purpose or by overreaction (which I doubt he did). After the first T, Lazo kept walking backwards, eyeing Mayo as the kid was heading back to the bench.

The second T was out of spite and with no reason. He did it to see if he Mayo would react violently or go apeshit.

This is a sad state of affairs when a ref decides to put himself in the limelight, rather than doing his job. Look, I'm a stickler to the rules of the game as much as everyone else, but that was over-the-line.

 

No touching of the ref. No questioning the call. Respect the call and play the game. More than anything, this highlights the problem with second guessing everything. You don't like the ref? Where were you when he was applying to be a ref? He was appointed with discretion to make the calls he felt were appropriate and he did so. Players need to respect the referees first and foremost, not ask for clarification, that's the coach's duty.

This coddling of athletes is sickening. They are given the pass to make mistakes, yet when a referee makes a call, there's the call for perfection. Ridiculous.

The "dive" by the ref? Maybe he was accidentally tripped by Mr. Mayo. Whatever happened is irrelevant to the main point, he got two technicals and he should have left the court. Two technicals were given. There is no appeal of technical fouls. End of story.

The only reason this is even discussed is because its "OJ Mayo". If it was Fred Smith at Lincoln High in Decatur, NH, no outrage.

 

No, he deserved the first one. He carried the basketball with him all the way to the foul line after the dunk.

 

That's a great argument in a perfect world, but this isn't a perfect world. Sometimes refs have bad nights when they miss calls. Some refs are just plain bad. Some refs think everyone in the stands paid for a ticket to come watch them officiate. Some are downright corrupt.
I'm not saying this official is any of those, because I don't know. But I do know the one took a dive and I didn't see anything to warrent Mayo's second technical.
It certainly appears, from that video, that it's more likely that someone was out to make an example of Mr. Bigshot Mayo rather than a few officials simply doing their job and two extremely bizarre coincidences (a warranted second tech that nobody can see how it was warranted followed by an official being showed down by a basketball player's incredible telepathy that, again, nobody can see) taking place back-to-back.

 

He held it for what, two seconds, then dropped it? That's the first time I've seen anyone in high school get called for a T for "delay of game" for holding the ball for a second or two?

 

I believe the first instance is supposed to be a warning, not a technical.

 

He didn't drop it until he got called for the T. I don't think it was as much a delay of game issue as a taunting issue. What reason would he have for walking back up court with the ball staring down his opponent? The second T was definitely a little more iffy. I swear it looked like he said something ("F--- you") when he was walking back into the fray at center court and is facing the camera talking to a player right before he looks away and then gets T'ed but I'm not lip reader so maybe I was just looking for something. From what I've heard about this kid, he's not doing himself any favors either way walking back into the mix like that and certainly not walking after the ref. There definitely seemed to be contact (I saw a better angle of it on tv the other day) but certainly not enough to knock the ref over. I have no idea what Mayo's intentions were (unlike many hereI'm not a mind-reader) but like many have said, don't even put yourself in that position. Also when the ref is on the ground: probably another good time to walk away rather than stand over him and push away a teammate or two that try to get you away from him. At least his posse showed up at the end to walk him back to the locker room.

Bottom line: the ref looked like an idiot with the flop and Mayo could have prevented this situation from blowing up the way it did about four different times. It seems like trouble just follows this kid, will be interesting to see what happens with him in college.

 

Read on the Herald-Dispatch site that the WV state athletics board is not going to look into the ref at all for his part in this. Apparently the stupidity rains down from the top there.

 

This was no less than a premeditated act by the ref against Mayo. I've never seen a more intentional flop. There's reason to suspect it was done in conspiracy with someone else. The ref didn't just come up with the two techs and the flop out of the blue. Something's going on here.

 

"Warnings" are bullshit. Players know they're not supposed to grab the ball after their own made baskets. Call the technical. That's the best way to "warn" somebody, so they'll remember it.

 

This will one day be known as the thread where SportsJournalists.com jumped the shark.

 

OJ Mayo really ready for the NBA now:

(AP) — HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Huntington High School basketball star O.J. Mayo was among four males cited on misdemeanor marijuana possession charges late Friday night, police said.

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