If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to receive instant updates.

ESPN’s Outside The Lines ran a report on USC’s O.J. Mayo receiving illegal benefits from his first year in highschool all the way up until last year. In the last 4-5 years Mayo has received up to $30,000 in cash and gifts in exchange for a verbal agreement to sign with BDA management when he made it to the NBA.

There are two things in this story that crack me up.

1. BDA management actually paid out $200,000 for O.J. Mayo, but most of that money was taken and spent by the middleman, Rodney Guillory.

2. You HAVE to see the look on O.J.’s face when ESPN puts him on the spot questioning these allegations. It reminds me of Miguel Tejada’s interview with E:60 a few weeks ago. Check it out in the vid below….

The following video is O.J. Mayo’s carefully thought out response to the above report.

If you’re scanning a sports website or TV channel this week, you’ll see tons of news on the NBA playoffs, or Tiger Woods hurting his poor knee. What you WON’T see is much of any celebration on Ken Griffey Jr. approaching the 600th home run milestone. I believe this is so unfair and hypocritical because Ken Griffey may be the first player in the last 35 years to reach 600 without cheating. He’s being forced to quietly make history in the shadows.

As much negative press ESPN gave Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa for their alleged steroid use, you’d think they would take the initiative and celebrate a man who did things the right way. Griffey isn’t receiving special “home run countdowns” from the worldwide leader in sports. ESPN doesn’t cut into other programs with live at-bats of Ken stepping to the plate.

As much as I watch ESPN, I believe they have to be held accountable for their actions. It makes me absolutely sick to see their analysts gang up, pile on, and turn up their noses at Barry Bonds yet not publicize something positive. They aren’t in the business of promoting or protecting the sanctity of sports, they’re in the business of sensationalizing everything for ratings.

The saddest part of all of this is I’ll be watching Pardon The Interruption tomorrow afternoon like nothing happened. I make myself sick.

I thought the world of sports were done with this annoying bastard after he pulled out Janet Jackson’s tittyball at the Super Bowl? Apparently not. Could they not find ANYONE in the world of sports to act as emcee for the night? How funny would it be to listen to Shaq read a teleprompter for 2 hours?

“I’m very excited to be hosting the 16th edition of the ESPYs. I can’t wait for the day of the show as I’m truly a sports junkie,” Timberlake said. “Since the last ESPYs, there have been amazing moments in sports and I’m looking forward to recapping all of them with ESPN’s diehard fans.”

I don’t exactly look forward to the ESPY’s every year, but I usually watch at least half of the show. The Arthur Ashe recipients usually have great inspirational stories to watch so in a sense the ceremony is worthy for that moment alone. The rest of the show however…. not so entertaining. Athletes are notoriously bad behind the microphone, and they all say the SAME DAMNED THING when they go accept their trophy.

“This isn’t an individual sport, it’s a team game……I wanna thank coach for teaching me…I wanna thank my team…. uhhh..bless god…. thank the fans…. bye”.

*Snore*

I personally advocate the use of HGH because Sylvester Stallone used it in order to get in shape to make Rambo. The fact that Rambo is the single greatest movie to come out this year makes it okay with me, but it turns out that smart people agree with me (for different reasons).

A new study by Hau Liu of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, Calif suggests that athletes who take human growth hormone (HGH) don’t see a significant increase in performance, and some may even hinder their progress. The study involved 447 athletic male participants (27 of which were given HGH) and the results were released Monday.

There was no difference found in strength or exercise stamina between the two groups, but there were only two strength studies and eight that measured exercise. Those who got the hormone had more side effects, including swelling and fatigue.

But the new research has some limitations and sheds no light on long-term use of HGH. The scientists note their analysis included few studies that measured performance. The tests also probably don’t reflect the dose and frequency practiced by athletes illegally using the hormone.

“It doesn’t look like it helps, and there’s a hint of evidence it may worsen athletic performance,” said Hau Liu.

In slightly related news, Mike Golic of ESPN’s Mike & Mike In The Morning appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman and the topic of steroids were brought up. When asked about the possible benefits of HGH and steroids, Golic says he believed that when used properly under the watchful eye of medical professionals, HGH and steroids could be beneficial.

You can skip to 3:30 in the video to see Golic discuss performance enhancing drugs below

[thanks to Awful Announcing for the vid]

2009 will be the 30th anniversary of ESPN on the air, and to celebrate their success they’ve hired 30 different filmmakers to make documentaries to talk about how great they are. One of those filmmakers just so happens to be Spike Lee.

Lee and 29 other A-list directors, including Richard Linklater and Davis Guggenheim, have each been recruited by the network to make an hour-long documentary about a sports topic close to his or her heart. Lee, a die-hard New York Knicks fan, has yet to announce the nature of his project.

The documentaries under the newly-launched ESPN Films will begin airing Tuesday nights on ESPN in Sept. 2009 and be televised through 2010.

Spike may be tight lipped about the nature of his project, but I know EXACTLY how it’s going to play out. Spike Lee films all contain specific elements and trademarks unique to him. Here’s what we can expect in his work for ESPN.

1. A Steamy Sex Scene Between Dana Jacobson and Chris Berman - All Spike Lee movies have graphic animalistic sex somewhere within the film. A drunk Dana Jacobson stumbles into the office late night, looking for extra bottles of Grey Goose. She’s unable to find one, but she does find Chris Berman, and a couple of Deux Deux’s, straight from Canada baby.

2. RACISM! Stuart Scott Is Harassed In The Workplace - It’s just not a Spike Lee movie unless whitey is hating on somebody.. so unfair. Little Stuart Scott is preparing his notes before a SportsCenter broadcast when he’s approached by a producer and asked to “blacken it up” a little.

What? You thought he says “BOO-YOW!!!” every five seconds because he wants to. No sir. They force ya boy to get his Bojangles on.

3. Heavy Drug Use and A Violent Death - Ahh the grand finale, the movie would just be boring if someone didn’t get loaded and killed. You thought Michael Irvin simply left the network didn’t you? Ahahaha silly rabbit. MICHAEL IRVIN IS DEAD. His crack cocaine habit got out of hand, and one day Stephen A. Smith caught him stealing quarters out of his car’s ash tray.

“You are absolutely pathetic Michael!”, a visibly angry Stephen A. Smith said. “Quite frankly, as a black man I’m shocked and appalled at your terrible behavior. It’s time to die. You’re ruining the negro gene pool”

Stephen A. then pulls out a pistol and kills Irvin in the parking lot.