Below is a lightly edited version of our conversation regarding the Texas baseball team's past, present, and future, with footnotes below. This was written ahead of Texas' midweek double-header against Alabama A&M (RPI #292). We're assuming Texas will improve to 27-7 against "bad" teams*, but this weekend the Horns play a "good" team in the biggest series of the year. Your thoughts?

Jeff:  We are 4-12 this season against "good" teams and 25-7 against "okay to not good teams". That, my friend, is the mark of either:

a) a mediocre squad or

b) an inexperienced squad.

I'm doing graduation stuff this weekend, can you take preview/wrap up of the aggy series? Thanks... WOOO!**

Abram: I'll try, and I should be able to churn something out, but I have orientation, sr staff prep time, Dream Street  prep, trip planning, cabin inspections...lots of "May" stuff. So a review on Monday shouldn't be an issue, and I can probably write a preview based on the interesting (disheartening?) stat you just quoted me.

By the way I'm writing this from my phone in the hemorrhoid*** doctor's office waiting room. Ain't technology great?

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In the wake of the OJ Mayo fiasco, we turn our attention tonight to scandals. I'm running way behind at the moment - we start in 10 minutes - so you'll have to tune in for answers to this week's Four Questions:

1. What was the worst scandal your school ever had? 

2. What’s the worst scandal in college football RIGHT NOW? 

3. What’s the worst scandal you personally have been involved with? 

4. What’s your favorite scandal?

Tune in via the online radio player in the left sidebar or, if you please, we'd love seeing you in the live chat board for the show. Just head to the NowLive show page at 8:00 for this week's show.

As was mentioned yesterday, EDSBS is hosting a charity contest to raise money for victims of the tornadoes in Georgia and Oklahoma, and the cyclone in Burma. Yesterday, an earthquake rocked China, as well, so the need to assist relief agencies is as strong as ever.

And if the soft spot in your heart isn't moved to action, maybe the burnt orange spot in your heart will be: The current charity standings show the Oklahoma Sooners ahead of the Texas Longhorns. Today is the last day of EDSBS' donation drive.

Even if your budget has room only for a $10 donation, make it happen. I just gave to the American Red Cross, but you can give to any of the three agencies the drive is aiming to support. Details on how to donate are here.

[Note by billyzane, 05/13/08 5:24 PM EDT ] As of late this afternoon, Texas has skyrocketed to 4th place, but we're still a long ways out of third.  Keep the donations coming.

[Note by PB @ BON, 05/13/08 6:25 PM EDT ] Billyzane beat me to it, but it's worth mention again: We've got the big Mo! Give-give-give-give! You can write it off your taxes and help people! And shame the rest of the Big 12 with our generawesomeness. You have no excuse. Even a $10 donation is appreciated by these organizations.

In a just world, USC basketball would have something in common with SMU football in the near future.

The death penalty.

Pat Forde, ESPN.com, "USC, Tim Floyd Have No Excuse for Turning a Blind Eye"

Though there's much more in the column, the lead says it all. But is Pat Forde right?

Unsurprisingly, how you answer that question depends greatly on which section of the bleachers you occupy. From my perch, four points strike me worth raising:

1. Half the story is no story at all. At least facially, Pat Forde's argument stands on firm ground: "Repeat NCAA offenders get the death penalty. USC is a repeat offender. QED: USC deserves the death penalty."

But such an argument contains what I think to be a problematic assumed premise: that the universe within which this situation resides is orderly and systematic. Put another way, transgressions are defined not merely by that which the system prohibits, but also the extent to which the system enforces the rules.

And here, there's a case to be made that in the aggregate, factoring in all the elements of big money collegiate sports, the universe of NCAA amateurism oftentimes more approximates a Hobbesian state of nature than an ordered society governed by enforced rules. Whatever USC's sins in carelessness and stupidity, the more fundamental underlying issue - boosting amateurs - is one the NCAA has proven itself incapable of regulating with meaningful consistency. Thus, to the extent that the very concept of amateurism in the big money NCAA systems of football and basketball are a farce, eruptions of self-congratulatory finger-wagging at one particular transgressor - notable mostly for being so stupid as to be caught in the flimsiest of nets - seem a fine case of squaring the circle.

In that sense, mounting the pulpit to lecture exclusively about dropping the hammer on USC seems a bit like a team of doctors employing a tourniquet on a gushing artery without any discussion of, or plan to, operate thereafter. There is an important conversation to be had about the amateur athlete situation in big money sports, but it may be as much institutional (NCAA) as institutional (USC).

2. Yeah, but we won't. A real conversation about amateur athletes in money-making sports may well be in order, but don't hold your breath. Because such a conversation necessarily would include truthful, fair, and realistic discussion about race, class, and the entrenched interests the system already favors.

And though I'm not masochist enough to dive into that conversation in this space myself, I can guarantee that even the mere mention of the topic heats the blood of some folks straight to a boil.

Whether or not an in-depth conversation about such difficult topics is possible, for now it suffices to say that perhaps no entity contributes more to, or profits more from, the exploitation of amateur athletes than ESPN - a point I mention not to judge capriciously the merits and demerits of their business, but to suggest that this story is only partly about OJ Mayo, his shady handler, and USC. In a more robust dialogue about this complex issue, a thorough list of actors to subpoena would include the professional sports agencies who game the system, the NCAA who (through its inaction) lets them, and the broadcasting giants who derive profit from the very stardom/professionalism that they in large part create but which the rules purport to prohibit.

3. A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Garrett? Philosophical caveats acknowledged and filed in the record, this Mayo scandal is pretty damn entertaining. Whatever you think about sports amateurism and the regulation thereof, this particular episode of candid camera is irresistibly comical.

Imagine for a moment that you're USC's athletic director, Mike Garrett. To secure such a job undoubtedly means you have a better-than-average understanding of the collegiate athletics landscape in general, and the big money sports in particular. It would be impossible, then, to be unaware of all the leeches and opportunists crowded 'round the periphery of NCAA competition, eager, willing, and able to capitalize on the valuable commodity that is the future professional athlete.

Now imagine that OJ Mayo is headed to play basketball for your school. Yes, that OJ Mayo, whose NBA jersey your eight year old nephew included on his Christmas list assuming (not unreasonably) Mayo was already a pro.

After you finished trying to explain to your nephew that ESPN's coverage of an athlete was not, in fact, determinative of an athlete's professional status, you'd probably turn your attention to the question of OJ Mayo's impending year as a USC Trojan. You think you might spend some time putting together a plan to ensure this superstar's one year at USC wasn't a problematic one for the university?

Let's bypass answering that rhetorical question and put it to Mr. Michael Garrett himself: "Hey, Mike. Recent polls have shown that while 98 percent of Americans were able to predict that OJ Mayo would need some managing to keep separated from opportunists working for agents, only a fifth of Americans can find California on a map. What the hell happened here?"

Mike Garrett explains the OJ Mayo mess. Not enough maps, I'd say.

4. Stoning the enemy is always fun, even from a glass house. Across town from the unfolding South Central nightmare, the princes of Westwood are enjoying every salacious detail that emerges from this story. Understandably so. If asked to choose my five favorite days in BON history, I'd undoubtedly include among them the day Mr. Bomar pulled a Bomar. Indeed, there are few satisfactions as fulfilling as schadenfreudian satisfaction.

While I unequivocally enjoy a spring get-together amongst friends to stone the enemy during his weakest hour, it is rather amusing to watch such a stoning party break loose in a glass house (title-holder: Rick Neuheisel).

Though Bruins fans understandably have found their own way to make peace with Slick Rick's sketchy past, at least to this outsider, this point pretty well makes the case argued above: The haughtiness, be it from Pat Forde or a Bruins fan or anyone else, rings a bit hollow when the OJ Mayo case is viewed as a single wave in the stormy sea of NCAA regulatory dysfunction.

I'm pretty sure there's more to this painting than that dot you're yelling about.

Those enjoying USC in crisis will have to forgive me for thinking the truly exceptional aspect of this case was the degree of arrogance and stupidity by which USC seems to have been operating.

As an example of the general dysfunction in the world of amateur athletes in big money sports, it appears to me a great deal closer to par for the course.

Not that we're likely to really talk about it.

Addendum: As bassale comments below: USC's screw up is "a pretty damn big dot," a point I don't disagree with. Two concluding follow-up notes, then:

First, the piece as a whole was an attempt to present the bigger context which remains (as yet) unspoken in the giddy-up to hang the Trojans.

And second, none of the above is to suggest USC shouldn't receive or won't deserve NCAA sanctions for this scandal.

Rap Sheet Update. There's been plenty of Cedric Benson discussion over in the FanPosts, with Benson (and those with him on the boat) claiming he was unlawfully arrested by overzealous LCRA patrolmen. Yesterday, Chicago Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo weighed in on the situation, calling the incident a "lapse of judgement" on Benson's part, while iterating that the team had no plans to cut the former Texas tailback loose.

''The thing that I am most disappointed in is the fact that he put himself in a position to be the victim,'' Angelo said at the opening of the Bears' black-tie charity ball Saturday at Soldier Field. ''He's done a real fine job in the offseason. Obviously, this makes big story lines. That's not good for business.''

Elsewhere, former cornerback Tarell Brown, now with the San Francisco 49ers, officially signed a plea deal for a misdemeanor weapons charge dating back to 2006. If Brown meets the terms of the deal (community service, no further trouble, etc.), the misdemeanor charge will be dropped. Brown was suspended for the Longhorns' 2006 home game against Ohio State for the incident.

Texas-Michigan State series to Houston. The Statesman is reporting that the second game of a four-game series between the Texas and Michigan State basketball teams will continue this winter in Houston at the Toyota Center. The two teams met this past December at The Palace in Detroit. Games three and four of the series will be played on each team's home court.

Baseball hits home stretch this week. The Longhorns baseball team will conclude its 10 day break for finals when it resumes action this Wednesday in a doubleheader against A&M. That would be Alabama A&M. The Big 12 season concludes for the 'Horns this weekend with a three game set against Texas A&M. As 40AS reminded us last week, the series matters.

Of course, of far greater importance than the Lone Star Showdown are the Big 12 standings, where Texas languishes at a mediocre 12-12. The 'Horns 29-19 overall record has them in decent enough shape to earn an NCAA berth, but this is easily the worst position Texas has been in at this point in the season in recent memory.

Even the quickest of glances at the season stat box reveals two of the biggest culprits: the team is slugging a paltry .452 (down from .499 a year ago), while the pitchers have a lousy 352:164 K:BB ratio (448:170 a season ago).

Having Joe Jamail on your team is a good thing. The legendary Texas benefactor is at again, though his latest donation isn't sports related. Texas officials announce Jamail has created $15 million worth of endowments with the university for law, nursing and undergraduate studies.

Admittedly, I mention this primarily for a good excuse to post this video of Jamail  taking a deposition. (Sort of.)

You wanna take this outside?

It's a time honored tradition: claiming ESPN is biased against your favorite team.  Members of this community indulge in this on a regular basis.  For instance, there's the "ESPN is biased against Texas" sentiment, frequently accompanied by the more severe "ESPN hates Texas" accusation, occasionally complimented backhandedly with the "I'm surprised at how unbiased ESPN is being" comment, all supplemented by the rare but endlessly amusing, batshit insane charge, such as "the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll is biased simply by virtue of being associated with ESPN even though no one from ESPN has any vote whatsoever."  That one's my favorite.

But not only is it absurd to claim bias against Texas of all schools, it's just not true to claim any bias whatsoever for or against any team.  ESPN is not biased against your favorite team.  This isn't to absolve ESPN of its sins, which are myriad; it is just to say that ESPN cares about nothing but its bottom line.  This focus on the business aspect of its sports empire sometimes seeps into the entertainment and news aspects of the ESPN operation, which is not a good thing, but claims of bias are ridiculous, as today's endless hyping of the OJ Mayo/USC violations demonstrates pretty clearly.

The thrust of the "ESPN is biased against Texas" sentiment stems from the lead-up to the Rose Bowl between USC and Texas during which ESPN held its infamous "Is USC the greatest team of all time?" online poll/fodder for talking heads shows.  Undoubtedly, this was a terrible idea to which Texas fans rightfully took offense and from which the team gained strength.  But it also lead to a lot of dumb "ESPN is biased in favor of USC" comments as well.  These persist to this day, and they're just as dumb today as they were then.

But if that was true, would the network and accompanying website be hammering this "OJ Mayo took benefits while at USC" story nearly as much as it has, including Pat Forde's incendiary column?  Hell, the ESPN show "Outside the Lines" is the group that did all the investigatory work to unearth this story.  They're the ones that broke it.  And that feeds into my point.  ESPN is hyping this story to no end precisely because they're the ones behind it.  They have no over-arching reverence for USC, just as they have no bias against Texas.  If they did have some editorial bias in favor of USC, they would be burying the story to minimize its impact.  They wouldn't have even investigated the story in the first place.  But their only bias is in favor of ratings.  And what gets ratings?  Big names, sensational stories, and exclusive content, particularly if those things occur in large media markets.

ESPN focuses a lot of attention on USC because they're hugely successful, have a lot of stars, and are located in the second largest TV market in the country.  ESPN focused a lot of attention on Rutgers in their undefeated run 2 years ago not because they have an East Coast bias, but because it was a rags to riches story of a terrible program going on a magical run, combined with the fact that nearby NYC is a largely untapped market for college football and the fact that Rutgers played a lot of games on ESPN that year.  Talking a lot about Rutgers and hyping it as a good story had nothing to do with an East Coast bias.  It had everything to do with increasing ratings for their broadcasts and hits on ESPN.com.  This is the same reason they hype Red Sox/Yankees so much, often to the exclusion of attention to other teams.  And lest we forget that when Kevin Durant was here, the Texas basketball team got much more positive attention than such a mediocre team deserved simply by virtue of having a star player with a great story.

Ideally, ESPN would keep its News, Entertainment and Business operations separate, primarily so that the latter two would not affect the editorial decisions made by the News division.  That they don't do this adequately enough is the sin of ESPN, not that they have a bias against your favorite team.  Can we please place a moratorium on these absurd claims?  Talking about how sports is covered is sometimes just as much fun and interesting as talking about the sports themselves, but let's try to do it intelligently.  Let's talk about why a story is being reported one way rather than wildly accusing people and organizations of bias every time they disagree with you.  Deal?

Kinne to Tulsa. As has been mentioned several times around here, redshirt freshman QB GJ Kinne is transferring to Tulsa. While I certainly don't blame him for transferring, the decision to leave does beg the question as to why he decided on Texas in the first place. Kinne, son of a successful high school coach, was committed to Baylor before defecting to the Longhorns late in the recruiting process. Given McCoy's presence and the inevitable arrival of either Gilbert or Shepard in '09, one wonders whether he might have saved himself some hassle with a better decision from the get-go. Regardless, best wishes to him headed forward.

A fascinating game of musical chairs. The Longhorns' football website notes that Chris Hall has been named to the 2008 Rimington Trophy watch list; the award honors the nation's top center. First of all, kudos to Chris Hall, who was a god-send on the line last season by playing all five positions along the line. A year ago at this time, we were wondering whether he was going to take the step forward in his development to be someone Texas could count on.

However pleased I may be to see him getting some recognition, this provides a nice excuse to mention what is a fascinating situation for Texas this fall. The spring game starters on the offensive line from left to right were Ulatoski-Tanner-Hall-Dockery-Hix. If that's a plausible first team on the offensive line, make note of the names not included: Tray Allen, Michael Huey, Aundre McGaskey, and Buck Burnette.

We'll do more O-Line depth charting this summer and fall, but suffice it to say for now that the spring game starting group is likely not Texas' best group. I suspect the depth is going to be one of those problems the team is happy to have to work through. I know I am.

How much is too much? ESPN.com's Bruce Feldman weighs in on the Ryan Perrilloux dismissal ($), concluding that though LSU may suffer a setback in 2008, the team will be better off for it in the long-term. Feldman also poses an interesting question about superstars with discipline problems: how much rope do you give a player with enormous talent and importance to your team? On the one hand, Miles' decision to give RP every chance possible is understandable. But as Feldman notes, there are hidden costs that accompany special treatment. It's easy to referee these things from the bleachers, but that's one aspect of the head coaching job I wouldn't want any part of.

I'm typing this glancing over my shoulder as I sit in knee-knocking fear of John Bianco's reprisal, but I just thought I'd point out to you all that whoever runs MB-TF.com has forgotten what it's like to have only one Playboy Preseason All-American.  From the front page:

Seniors DE Brian Orakpo has been selected as a member of the 52nd Annual Playboy Preseason All-America Football team.

First of all, kudos to Brian, and although I can't possibly imagine what he could get himself into (ahem...) out there that he hasn't already in Austin, I'm sure he'll have a great time with all of the other seniors from famous programs.  Second of all, does Bill (I don't care who wrote it, everything on that site is Bill Little's fault) even draft a new announcement for these, or did we catch him inserting names into last year's announcement?  Well, why don't you go  and  see  for yourself?  I quit linking after the last one because there's actually a single-sentence quote from Roy Williams in it, although the remainder is straight from the cookie cutter.  I looked to see if this was a standard press release that Playboy sent out when they notified the players, but the other announcements I found on official sites were all different... you know, like, unique.

Is this that big of a deal?  Not by any means.  Is it kind of amusing to poke at the castle guard from across the moat, especially given recent events?  Hell yes.

And besides, if you guys have anything more interesting to read about Texas football, please send me an email about it.  I'm drowning here.

[Update by Horn Brain, 05/09/08 4:30 AM CDT ]  They fixed it! Bwahahaha!  Sigh...  Offseason.  At least I can speculate as to how thick the file they're going to start keeping on me is.  No way I get an interview with even a towel boy as long as these guys know that I breathe.  I'm going to have to live off the grid.