Finally acknowledging the elephant in the room … my thoughts on Pitino

OK. Forgive me for finally entering the fray but there are just a few things to get off my chest. I really don’t get into legal matters (the Gillispie lawsuit) on this blog, leaving such things to other sites, but I have a few random thoughts on the whole Pitino situation to air and then we can get back to covering the Cats.

ABORTION OR INSURANCE?

Most early reports of this news breaking stated that Pitino gave Sypher the money for an abortion. Around mid-day today, the Pitino camp backed off of this wording, saying that Pitino gave her the money for “insurance” and claimed that Pitino did not give her money for an abortion. THE SMOKING GUN has posted the police report which details Pitino’s account of what he told the police initially. The reports says the Sypher told Pitino that she was pregnant and the child was his. Pitino said that if she chose to keep the child, he would require a blood test to determine if the child was his. Sypher responded by saying that she was going to have an abortion, and Pitino asked how much it would cost. She replied $3000 and Pitino paid it.

Pure and simple, it appears that Pitino knew that a possible child of his would be aborted and he paid for it to happen. Obviously Pitino has the money to make sure that this child would be well taken care of, and it appears that he would have done so if a blood test proved the child was his. Yet, it does not seem that he put up too much of a fight about a possible abortion.

The “insurance” debate is an interesting one but it really does not come across as anything other than a PR ploy and a case of semantics. The fact is that Pitino and his camp had six years to get their version of events out there and did not, until the story leaked out. Even after the extortion case broke, the media showed remarkable restraint in not releasing the details of the incident and you would have to think the Pitino camp had a false sense of security the story would never be released with all the sordid details.

Now I am a very liberal Catholic and even I balk at entering the “morality of abortion” debate. And I have to agree with Tru over at A SEA OF BLUE and not turn this into an abortion debate or to revisit ‘Roe vs Wade’. But Catholicism has long had a hard stance against abortion, and I remember during the 2004 campaign, some Catholics wanted John Kerry ex-communicated because of his stance on abortion. Regardless, the fact that Pitino paid for an abortion is not going to go over well with the large amount of Catholics that support Pitino and consider him one of their own.

THE PREPARED STATEMENT

A strangely smug Pitino made a brief statement this afternoon in which he curiously invoked 9/11 and offered an apology to his family and his extended family and the Cardinal fans. He apologized for the “indiscretion six years ago” and seemed contrite yet oddly defiant. It’s obvious that Pitino considers this a closed matter and he is a fighter and he will fight to keep his job at Louisville. But there was no mention of “insurance” or abortion”. I would think that if he wee truly innocent in that matter, he would have elaborated that he paid for “insurance”, but there was none of that. While it was nice that Pitino apologized, this is going to be a long running game of “he said/she said”. Now that the cat is out of the bag, Sypher will find plenty of chance to do interviews and giver her side of the story, which is going to be something that will bring embarrassment to Pitino and Louisville.

SHAME ON PAT FORDE

Can he even be called a “journalist” any more? Forde did a good job of keeping a lid on this story and somehow ESPN entrusted him to be the main voice on this, ignoring the fact that Forde had a vested interest in seeing the Pitino name remain squeaky clean. It is common knowledge that Forde has co-authored Pitino’s book and any responsible journalist would have recused himself from the story. Yet Forde was there, fanning the early flames that this was not a story and that everyone should move along and look elsewhere.

I find it hard to believe that Forde and Pitino did not have a sit down and chat “off the record” what was going on with this situation. All the hot buttons were prevalent for this to be a powder keg, but this was strangely muted by ESPN. Such discretion was not shown on the Kobe Bryant controversy a few years back or any other pro athlete that has run afoul of the law. Forde pretty much did a character assassination of John Calipari over the Memphis NCAA allegations, even though Calipari’s name was never even mentioned in the report, yet stays mum on this with his friend? Shame on Forde. Shame on ESPN.

RALPH WILLARD

His hire is still befuddling to me. On the surface it makes sense WHY he was hired. He would make a perfect interim coach in case Pitino resigned, or UL fired him. But from the blog-o-verse, I am hearing that there is a bitter fight among UL power brokers that Willard NOT be the man in case this goes really wrong and Pitino is not a Cardinal this year. When you look at the clause in Pitino’s contract, this could qualify as grounds for dismissal. Coaches have been fired for way less and that “morality clause” and “embarrassment clause” are ambiguous at best. It’s just interesting that UL has a replacement on the bench ready to take over in case this gets too much to handle. We all know how much Pitino pushed for Willard to take over the UK job after him so he has to be great for the Card’s right? I would LOVE to see Willard as the UL coach.

THE OTHER SHOE TO DROP?

Face it. The rumors about Pitino and his infidelity have been around for about 2o years. So is there going to be other people to come forward or will Sypher be the lone claimant? I can picture a scenario where other people may come forward and increase the embarrassment on Pitino and UL. Or those rumors will be simply rumors. We will have to see.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So much of the college game is about recruiting and that requires being able to walk into the home of a recruit, look the sometimes God fearing Mom and Dad in the eyes and tell them that “I will keep your children safe and will help them to grow. I will be the moral compass when you are not around”. And despite his considerable charm and charisma, this will be hard to overcome. There will be questions by parents and Pitino will have to relive this every recruiting trip. Plus this will be used by every coach that is recruiting against Pitino.

Not to mention the hostile away crowds that are going to use this as fodder for their chants. It’s going to test Pitino’s fortitude if he is to withstand the barrage of abuse he will get from opposing teams and arenas. Honestly, I don’t see Pitino surv
iving the next 365 days, but if anyone will prove me wrong, it would be Pitino.

Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans