Back in 1984, I got invited to participate in the school spelling bee, which was a pre-qualifying tournament for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  This wasn't normal for a 6th grader; generally only the junior high students got tabbed to be in the bee, so this was big for me.

I studied for weeks, practicing spelling words that I knew, even at that age, I would never use in normal conversation ever again.  Hours upon hours of deciphering the etymology of words, how languages affected the way they might be spelled...yeah, I know this sounds like the kind of life that an 11 year old should live.  But I was ready; this was my destiny, I was going to shock the world!

Well, I shocked the world alright.  First word?  Affiliate.  A-F-F-I-L-L-I-A-T-E?  Yeah, not so much.  First word, and I'm out.  But, at least I know I have a record that will never be broken.  To this day, I hate that word - I had to spell check it just to make sure what the right spelling was.

Why am I relating this story?  Well, ever since ESPN decided that the Bee was fantastic entertainment, and felt the need to plaster their network (and ABC) with a solid week of coverage, they've been having all their high profile talent associated (not affiliated) with the event.  And if my little 11 year old hormones had any inkling that getting to the finals might mean that I would be the kid on the right side of this picture:

I'd have probably studied a lot harder.  Who needs sleep when you're 11 anyways?

Maybe I've just been out of it and not paying attention over the past week (and if so I am going to get flamed in the comments section), but I don't know how this slipped by us all.  The Manhattan Mercury reported that, while Bob Huggins was coaching at Kansas State, he turned down the opportunity to sign O.J. Mayo.

According to Brad Underwood, who was the director of basketball operations under Huggins, "...Mayo was on the phone with Huggins, "begging to come here"...Huggins told him no, because he thought Mayo would get in trouble because of money funneled to him and a friend prior to enrolling in college."  Eventually, after much persistence from Mayo's side, Huggins told him "We're not going to take you.  You'll never pass."

If this is true (and K-State employees have absolutely no incentive to lie for Huggins), this certainly explains why USC head coach Tim Floyd was so stunned to get a call from Mayo telling him he was coming to play for him.  For one, clearly the Mayo M.O. is, don't call me, I'll call you.  For another, it shows that Mayo didn't really have a backup plan if the Kansas State thing didn't work out.

The question I have for Floyd, however, is that, if Huggins knew about the money funneled to Mayo, how did he not know about it?  Or did he know about it, and decided it was worth the gamble to take him on?  Or maybe he didn't think he had the cache to tell him "you're not coming"?

Give Huggins credit; he's taken in some questionable characters in the past, and gotten burned by quite a few.  But he knew this one wasn't worth the risk, and good on him for passing.

(thanks to The Dagger for digging this one up)