Mayo

The shameless pandering by the USC athletic department to the O.J. Mayo basketball circus is simply embarrassing. Clearly excited with the academic prospects at his next athletic inamorata, O.J. exclaims, "I get to wear shorts all the time." O.J.'s advisors are wise to shield him from the media. SKIP NEVELL Los Angeles

While revelers shuffle into every Mexican restaurant and bar in town to shoot Patron and shovel in enchiladas this Saturday, the following alternatives - all happening May 5 - promise to be just as festive and maybe even more feliz ! Beastie Boy Mike D's Transmission LA: AV exhibition and festival at MOCA's Geffen Contemporary has been getting tons of buzz both for its vibrant art and for its music offerings (opening night with Santigold, last week's DJ set by Thom Yorke)

In a long-awaited response to allegations that former basketball star O.J. Mayo received improper cash and gifts while in school, USC will penalize its team by forfeiting victories and money, forgoing postseason play and curtailing recruiting. "When we've done something wrong, we have an obligation to do something about it and that is exactly what we are doing here," Athletic Director Mike Garrett said in a statement on Sunday. The action comes as USCalso faces allegations that two prominent football players -- current tailback Joe McKnight and former tailback Reggie Bush -- accepted improper benefits.

O.J. Mayo had talked about being an NBA Hall of Famer going back to his days at USC, so his reaction was predictable last season when he was told he would be coming off the bench. Bench players and the Hall of Fame typically don't go together. "I was definitely mad at first," Mayo said Sunday before he and the Memphis Grizzlies played the Lakers at Staples Center. The shooting guard seemed headed in the wrong direction, going from runner-up to Derrick Rose in rookie-of-the-year voting and averaging 18 points during his first two NBA seasons to second-tier status.

A suit has been filed against Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo for breach of contract over nearly $150,000 in custom jewelry, according to a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. According to the complaint, Mayo, who played at USC during the 2007-08 season, met with representatives of the store on April 1, 2008, to request "specially manufactured" jewelry. The order included a diamond bangle, diamond ring, diamond necklace, watch and bracelet. Further orders, "as much as $150,000 a year," were to be expected, according to the complaint.

The events promoter at the center of the O.J. Mayo scandal ? and the resulting sanctions against USC ? has filed a $25-million lawsuit against the NCAA, which he alleges defamed him in an investigative report issued last spring. Rodney Guillory claims the association's Public Infractions Report mischaracterized his relationship with Mayo, which dated to when the former Trojans basketball star was in seventh grade. "The relationship that Rodney and O.J. had, it was akin to the relationship a student would have with an uncle or a close family friend," Edward Y. Lee, Guillory's attorney, said Friday.

The NBA Players Assn. announced Friday that its disciplinary committee had suspended agent Calvin Andrews for one year after discovering unspecified recruiting improprieties regarding former USC basketball star O.J. Mayo. The disciplinary committee also reserved the right to take further action against Andrews and other agents found to have engaged in any wrongdoing by other agencies investigating allegations that Andrews funneled money to Mayo through an intermediary before and during his one year at USC. The allegations have prompted probes by the NCAA, Pacific 10 Conference, FBI, Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Attorney's office.

When USC's opponent in the NCAA tournament was announced on the video board at the Galen Center on Sunday, O.J. Mayo smiled and reached for his cellphone. The Trojans' freshman guard had good news to share with an old friend. Mayo and Kansas State freshman Bill Walker, former high school teammates who have known each other since age 3, will be reunited Thursday when the sixth-seeded Trojans play the 11th-seeded Wildcats in a Midwest Region first-round game in Omaha. Mayo said he had predicted his team's opponent and destination after Kansas State lost to Texas A&M in a Big 12 Conference tournament quarterfinal.

The Mayo clinic has been open nights and weekends in the two weeks since O.J. Mayo turned in his worst college game. Since his four-point, 10-turnover clunker against UCLA on Feb. 17, the USC freshman has averaged 27.5 points on 50% shooting over the last four games while leading the Trojans to a dramatic comeback victory over Oregon and a rare road triumph over Arizona. "Just making some shots, that's all," Mayo said Tuesday when asked to explain his recent proficiency. "It's nothing special.

O.J. Mayo did not accept gifts or money while being recruited by or playing for USC, the player's agent said Wednesday. LaPoe Smith also said the NCAA, Pacific 10 Conference and officials from the school have not attempted to contact Mayo since August, when the former Trojans and current Memphis Grizzlies star became his client. USC on Sunday announced self-imposed sanctions on the Trojans men's basketball program, citing rules violations involving Mayo and Rodney Guillory, a former advisor to the player who the school referred to as a "booster."

Stock analysts are not known for being a rebellious sort. Their jobs generally involve writing up dry technical reports on public companies. But Mike Mayo is not your typical stock analyst. Since joining the industry nearly 25 years ago, Mayo has shaken up the financial world with his bold and forthright analysis of the banks he researches. In 1999, he told investors to sell all bank stocks. In 2007, he was ahead of the pack in downgrading Bear Stearns Cos. and Citigroup Inc. Perhaps predictably, this hasn't earned him a lot of love, given that he has worked at banks himself and that his employers wanted to do business with many of the banks he was analyzing.

The victories, and a national championship they produced, are vacated. The trophies — a copy of Reggie Bush's Heisman statuette and a crystal football for a Bowl Championship Series title — are now ghosts of Heritage Hall. The forfeiture of those wins and mementos is just a fraction of what USC lost in the wake of some of the harshest penalties in college sports history — delivered largely because the NCAA found numerous violations relating to Bush. The Trojans men's basketball program also was punished for violations related to former star player O.J. Mayo, and the school actually paid some of that in cash: a $5,000 fine and the return of $206,200 it received for participation in the 2008 NCAA tournament.

They complain of mysterious, creepy symptoms: bugs — or some form of infestation — crawling beneath their skin, sometimes burrowing to the surface, leaving odd specks and colored filaments in their wake. They have flocked to websites to share details of their malady, which they call Morgellons disease; they have charged the medical community with ignoring their plight and have strong-armed the government into studying it. They go from doctor to doctor, carrying specimens in Ziploc bags and on glass slides, desperate to find a physical cause.

There are plenty of histories of Cinco de Mayo and the 1862 battle that became a symbol of Mexican pride and heritage. Rarer is the history of a machine that churned out what has become one of the holiday's hallmark celebratory drinks: the margarita. The Smithsonian Institution , keeper of our national treasures, a few years back added to its esteemed collection a dowdy brown box that claims the auspicious title of the world's first margarita machine. Why? Given that the margarita blew past the martini as America's most popular cocktail in the 1970s, curator Rayna Green of the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., thought such a machine would be a fitting pop culture icon to bring to the museum as part of our Tex-Mex culture -- if she could verify the history.

SAN FRANCISCO Hecho en San Francisco: Not Your Usual Cinco de Mayo When, where : May 5, CUESA's kitchen, Ferry Building Highlights: Many of the city's best Mexican restaurants will showcase their food and drink during this inaugural event. Cost: $50 Info: http://www.hechoensanfrancisco.eventbrite.com JOSHUA TREE, CALIF. Joshua Tree Music Festival When, where: May 13-15, Joshua Tree Lake Campground Highlights: Free spirits converge for this world-music fest.

Da who? Da, er, the Bulls were such a surprise to everyone, including themselves, that they were still adjusting when the trade deadline arrived with its hard choices. At 38-17 with Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer limited to a handful of games together and two non-shooting shooting guards, they targeted Memphis' O.J. Mayo , who shoots, defends and could even back up Derrick Rose at the point. Unfortunately, they couldn't bring themselves to part with either Taj Gibson or Omer Asik and lost out. Within hours of the deadline passing, the Bulls came from 10 points behind to rock Miami's world ?

O.J. Mayo had talked about being an NBA Hall of Famer going back to his days at USC, so his reaction was predictable last season when he was told he would be coming off the bench. Bench players and the Hall of Fame typically don't go together. "I was definitely mad at first," Mayo said Sunday before he and the Memphis Grizzlies played the Lakers at Staples Center. The shooting guard seemed headed in the wrong direction, going from runner-up to Derrick Rose in rookie-of-the-year voting and averaging 18 points during his first two NBA seasons to second-tier status.

PUERILE provocation or Swiftian satire? Let critics debate the merits of "?Ask a Mexican!," Gustavo Arellano's witty, profane and occasionally edifying OC Weekly column. We're more interested in the Guatemalan-baiting, tamale-loving Mexican's thoughts on Cinco de Mayo. For those who still want answers, Arellano will be presenting the book based on his column at two appearances this weekend. Is Cinco de Mayo a real holiday or is it just a beer company holiday? Cinco de Mayo is an actual holiday that commemorates Mexico's victory over France in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo says he believes an "energy drink" he bought at a gas station contained the substance that led to his 10-game suspension for violating the NBA's drug policy. "I didn't know it had any bad substances in it, and it caused a 10-game suspension," Mayo said Saturday at the team's practice court. "It's not like I went to a GNC and got some Muscle Armor or ordered some supplement off the Internet or anything. It was just a local gas station that kind of got me hemmed up. " The NBA suspended Mayo on Thursday for testing positive for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)