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O.J. Mayo Refuses to Pass Despite Sucking, Gets Booed

By Mike Rutherford

The annual two hours of high-flying creepiness that is the McDonald's All-American game came to Freedom Hall last night, and the big story was O.J. Mayo, but not for any of the reasons you'd expect like an amazing dunk, an obscene gesture or a stabbing. No, the big story was that Mayo sucked, and because he refused to pass despite sucking, he got booed.

The former Rose Hill Christian sensation and the biggest name in the '07 class scored just 12 points on 4-of-17, including 1-of-9 from three, and dished out one extremely lonely assist. Late in the game when he continued to jack up threes despite it being apparent to each of the 11,632 folks in attendance that it wasn't his night, the crowd began to boo him and chant "overrated."

Oh yeah, he also missed a wide-open three at the buzzer that would have won the game.

Mayo, who declared early in his high school career that he "wanted to be a Cardinal," but said more recently that "I don't like Rick Pitino and Rick Pitino doesn't like me," wasn't heckled because of his ties to the city or the state, but because he refused to accept that the game wasn't about him. The kid had better get used to this type of reception because it sure seems like he's going to be hearing a steady dose of cat calls from just about everyone when he's outside Los Angeles (I also have a feeling that it's even hard for some Trojan fans to be on team Mayo at this point).

With Mayo giving a less than stellar performance, the spotlight shifted to rivals.com's top-rated prospect, Michael Beasley. The 6-foot-10, 240-pound Kansas State signee garnered MVP honors by pouring in 23 points and snatching 12 rebounds in 20 minutes. He had four rim rattling dunks, but showed his versatility by stepping outside and impressively stroking a pair of threes. He finished the game 10-of-13 from the field.

I don't really have any other thoughts I'd like to give on the game since I consider the whole thing to be pretty ridiculous, but I would like to say kudos to Cards fans for cheering Nolan Smith, which was especially impressive considering the other two Duke-bound All-Americans were booed.

The most hilarious account  from last night came from Matt Jones and had nothing to do with basketball.

Speaking of stars, the halftime entertainment of Timbaland did not receive the star treatment he thought he would. After coming out to mild applause, Timbaland looked at the crowd and said, "Wheres the love?" The crowd looked back and said nothing, in part because they had no idea who this man was that was shouting at them. Timbaland began to "sing" his songs and literally NO ONE paid him any mind.....the McDonalds people got nervous and sent the only people who knew him in the building (the Womens All Star teams) onto the court......Timbaland then got into the girls team huddle and just rapped to them, ignoring the crowd......who then proceeded to act as if he wasnt there. What was left was a surreal scene where the players were dancing, Timba was rapping and the crowd was less moved than if Rob Bromley were giving a dissertation on economic theory. Timba finished his "act" walked off the court and said "thanks to my girls on the team and to you guys.....forget you." It was great.....so I went up to get an interview and Timba's people said "Timbaland dont do interviews" (my new catchphrase) so I asked Timba for a picture.....and he pointed a finger in the air and said, "take that Louisville."

I was always a Magoo guy anyway.

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