Floyd Response
USC coach Tim Floyd talked about the ticket situation after practice today. Floyd blamed himself for the Mayo controversy because he said he told Mayo it was OK to go to the game.
I want to give him a complete response, so click after the jump:
Here’s Floyd’s response Tuesday to the tickets: ``I don't ask him. I know I didn't give them to him nor did anybody around here give them to him.’’
Here’s Wednesday’s response: ``O.J. asked me if he could go to the game. He asked me where he was getting the ticket and he said Carmelo. I said how long have you known him?
``He said since 7th grade. I said sure. He's a friend. My feeling is if there's a mistake made, it was made by me. If they want to suspend me for a game suspend me but not the kid. He did the right thing.
``I'm trying to understand the logic behind the rule and I don't really get the logic. Would it be available to another student? I would assume if another student at ’SC has a friend in the NBA who they went to high school with and that guy offered him a ticket that that guy could go
to the game.
``I would assume if a normal student at ’SC was given an iPod by the grandfather and iPod by the mother and father and he had two he could give one to his good friend, so I didn't understand it.
``When I was in the NBA, I saw a lot of college guys who had played with the pro guys who had come to our games and had been given tickets by the pro guys because they were friends. It's secondary violation it's one of ignorance on my part if it was a mistake. I'll take the responsibility because I told the kid he could go to the game. I assumed he could go to the game. He did the right thing and I did the wrong thing.’’
On any indication if any punishment is coming? ``No, not at all. I don't have any idea. I don't think there's going to be a problem. I mean if he has to pay restitution or pay money to a charity or whatever then so be it for the cost of the ticket. It's really not as big as you guys would like to make it.’’
I don't know who is more reckless. Floyd for the GPA performance? Remember the GPA previously was boosted by the Rhodes Scholar on the team. Lots of prep players on the team now.
Carroll's team GPA is just as bad.
Shame on USC for lowering such standards.
Garrett needs to hold the teams accountable for reasonable academic peformance. I believe the average GPA for a student at USC is around 2.9...
2.3 is poor, poor, poor.
Some of these NCAA rules are so petty, but they are in the books and thus must be obeyed.
As far as GPAs go, I find it amazing these athletes can keep up with their school work on top of all the hours they must put in for their sport. The hardest time I ever had was going to school and working. Tough.
The media spin is ridiculous! I can't imagine that people are stupid enough to take it seriously. This headling scrolling across the screen all night on ESPN! An NBA friend gave the freshman a free ticket to the game. Big deal! What a non-story this is! I hope that people are not stupid enough to buy into the media's hype of this drivel that they feed us. What's next? The LA Times reports that OJ's Christmas presents from Santa exceed the NCAA's maximum threshold?!?
I'm glad Floyd is taking the heat for Mayo. However, he should be a little more reserved in his comments. Journalists like to parse words, and make a big deal out of it. Look what Simers did to Carroll last year with the Dolphins job.