Like Joey said, hard to find anything to argue with here.

The athletes deserve whatever they can get. They risk their future so that the schools can exploit them. I love USC and USC sports, but I don’t blame Mayo at all.

Geez, we are supposed to be a university of leaders. Our AD is disgraceful. He is so incapable that they don’t even allow him to do interviews. We are a tarnished laughingstock largely due to Mike Garrett’s incompetence. It is so painful to watch that I find myself laughing to avoid crying.

On a positive note, I must say that I am impressed with Todd Dickey. Can’t imagine where we might be without him.

Pac-10 Commisioner Larry Scott’s words say it all: “USC’s decision to self-impose aggressive penalties on itself is clear recognition of how seriously the university takes this matter.” This was all coordinated with and sanctioned by the Pac-10 and NCAA. It was possible to affix the label of “booster” on Guillory because of his involvement in recruiting Mayo, however, the same connection can’t be made between Reggie Bush and Lake/Michaels. That said, today’s acitons send a clear message that Bush should settle his case as soon as possible or he will lose his USC records just like Mayo did. He’ll go down in history as a cheat and as one of the biggest busts in NFL draft history.

FIRE MIKE GARRETT!!!!!!!

While the MSM ready, fires, aims, I find myself asking:

• What were the violations? USC spent all of their time talking about sanctions, but only briefly mentioned in passing “violations related to OJ MAyo” and that “per the NCAA rules, Guillory is deemed a booster”. But, WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE VIOLATIONS ARE YET. Will it be made publicly available by the NCAA when they issue their report of infractions?

• How is Guillory a booster? He has no affiliation with USC. He is a runner for a sports agency. If he is a booster of USC, then he must be deemed a booster at every other school that has a kid playing who has a relationship with Guillory. Follow Guillory’s trail, and you may find 30 other schools in violation. But, the sanctions are worse because Guillory is deemed a booster with a USC affiliation. I believe the sanctions would be more modest if Guillory was qualified as someone with no affiliation to USC, like a regular sports agent. Still not sure why he is a booster and not an agent.

• This was an instituational control issue in the AD’s office. Timmy had no prior relationship with Guillory. Timmy was a new coach to SoCal. Trepagnier left in 2001, and Timmy arrived in 2005. It is a coaches job to coach and recruit, not necessarily to conduct investigations and background checks. Mayo was cleared by the NCAA. Mayo was cleared by AD Garrett and USC Compliance. This was the failure on SC’s part, I think, although we still don’t know what the exact violations are. But, the institution providing oversight to the program allowed an ineligible player to play. And, worst of all, he was funneled to the program by Guillory, who had a bad history with prior SC hoops players. So, why on earth did the AD’s office and compliance allow Timmy to offer a scholie to a player delivered by Guillory. There should have been a rule enforced by compliance to ban Guillory from the program. If we ask Tim Floyd today if the AD’s office ever mentioned or warned him about Rodney Guillory, I bet you he would say no. The AD/Compliance staff failed us here. That is a lack of institutional control, albeit not a severe one.

At this point, I still have more questions than answers.

. . . . that believe it or not. . . . I can’t tell whether I agree with him needing to do some more explaining on this matter or that he’d do just fine staying in the cave he’s hiding out in?

I mean, the fact that he’s come to “conclude” things in the Mayo-situation is incredible news in and of itself! Now, he’s actually gonna hold something and someone accountable for it? Whew! What happened to the guy? Did he eat some Wheaties or something? He’s got ‘verve’, panache’, and ‘elan all of the sudden? He’s ACTUALLY GOT BALLS?

Okay! So he’s finally made someone pay the price for HIS shenanigans. . . . .after he railroaded the ex-Coach (beloved, as he was) and FLITTERED away countless hours of research, money, expense, and desire to LAND THE BEST BASKETBALL RECRUITING CLASS OF ANY SCHOOL IN THIS NEW MILLENIA. . . . .? . . . . . .???

Come to think of it? Maybe it’s better he just shut the fuck up. I mean, can this guy put his foot up his arse any further? . . . . . Dude! I don’t wanna find out. I’m tellin’ ya!

(my dad has this saying, and he would scare the crap outta us as kids when he said it. he only said it no more than 3 times. . . .oh, but when he said it. . . .? . . . .we FREAKED out BECAUSE HE WAS DEAD SERIOUS- you know??? “that angry-dad-voice”, where the kids in the family just finally put ‘Dad’ over the top and his nerves were bulging at the surface:

“THERE MUST BE SILENCE!!!. . . .and IF YOU SPEAK? . . . .you better tell me something that sounds better than silence!” (there wouldn’t be feather to hit the ground in my family of 7 for like. . . . .an hour!)