Talkin' Mayo II

Yesterday I spoke with ESPN's "Outside the Lines," which broke the O.J. Mayo story on Sunday.

[Ed note: Due to technical difficulties the clip was not appearing in this post, but now that has been cleared up, so enjoy]

Comments

[Sugar]

Your performance on ESPN were pathetic. The "LA LA Land" reference about the trust fund babies was simply ignorant and insulting. You are a poor representative of this University.

[Sugar]

Your performance on ESPN was pathetic. The "LA LA Land" reference about the trust fund babies was simply ignorant and insulting. You are a poor representative of this University.

Wow, you sure provided a lot of information on this post. Good thing you're not paid by the letter. How about a link, at least to the video.

[Mike]

100% accurate regarding the trust fund post. SC has always been the school richey rich goes to because he can't make it into Cal Stanford or another top University.

[GaryM]

Mike - you're an idiot

[greenbum]

Mike - that old stereotype was only half true 20 years ago. USC has always had very strong professional schools that attracted top students, but now USC competes with (and gets) students that can get in to the top schools you mentioned. In fact if you did your homework, you would see that the SAT's of incoming SC freshman are higher than Cal's. As far as trust fund babies, over 60% of the students at USC receive financial aid. Many more earn scholarships to pay the tuition.

It's a bit ridiculous that people like you feel compelled to perpetuate this old and INACCURATE stereotype.

[earl]

Anyone who has any idea of what USC is about would not make such ignorant comments. It's amazing with all the diversity, large percentage of students that volunteer in the community (SC was named Time magazine college of the year in 2000 due to its extensive community involvement), highle competitive admissions, and breadth of academic opportunites that these statements are still being made. Clearly, they know nothing about USC, yet feel comfortable posting comments like this

[Adam Rose]

Just to be clear on my own "La-La-Land" and "trust fund baby" comments ...

The references I've made are simply in a "call it as I see it" sense of walking down the streets on and around campus. O.J. Mayo's was not the only Porsche I saw last week at USC -- and probably not in the top 10 cars I saw on LA area highways. So used Impalas and new t-shirts? Not the first thing people notice.

It's absolutely true that USC does a phenomenal job with financial aid and diversity. There's also little doubt that USC has gone further, faster, in terms of academic standing than any other school in the nation. Before I get any flak, that's NOT a discredit to any other institution.

Remember that life isn't a zero-sum game. Sports might demand winners and champions, but every year there's a new trophy to be won. In life, USC can have both trust fund babies and remarkable diversity. In many fields (sports, academics, whatever), both USC and UCLA can be -- and ARE -- good. Ultimately, both benefit because it pushes the other one that much harder.

[Ben]

The point is those comments "la la land and trust fund babies" are derogatory and insulting. You can believe that USC has an unusually higher percentage of rich kids based on specious reasoning, but your comments seem to be more spiteful than observational. Your zero sum comment is spot on, but your colorful comments only feed the folks that are desperately intent on keeping the tired old adages about USC alive and well.