Thursday, June 22, 2017

When The Summer Doldrums of The Sports World Hit...

Hockey – over.  NBA – mercifully over.  Tigers…Going down faster than a 25 cent hooker on a Saturday night…

So, what’s a sports fan to do?  I read.  Everything.  Doesn’t matter if its not all about sports.  But when I find good stuff, I like to pass it along…

When Fact Is Stranger Than Fiction

EDSBS is doing backstories on the mascots of certain schools.  While I’m no mascot fan, I do find crap like this interesting.  This one caught my eye and I almost didn’t finish reading the entire piece…

But I’m really glad I did….

Favorite quote has to be, with some context:

Frank Eaton shot out the ceiling of an Oklahoma State classroom during a quick-draw instruction.  Oklahoma State, at least tacitly, considered the quick-draw a legitimate point of instruction (in 1950).  Frank Eaton, when asked why the gun was loaded, answered “I’d rather have a pocket full of rocks than an unloaded gun”

FRANK EATON DID THIS WHEN HE WAS 97 YEARS OLD

Read it all here:


Now This Should Make You Chuckle….

I’ll just let the articles title speak for itself.  But if you ever imagined Brent Musberger in your bedroom as you’re dimming the lights, putting on some music and getting ready to do the deed and he’s announcing in your head, “Coming to you LIVE!!!”, well, read this, too…

And If You’re Wondering What Bob Stoops Retirement is Like…

Hee-hee…Just silliness….


Louisville Continued…

Just can’t help it.  The more I think about what the NCAA did with Louisville the madder I get.  And when you watch Ricky’s presser…well, that’s just a slice of Pitino’s NON-existent humility and self-awareness side. If you haven’t seen the press conference, its below and takes about 3 minutes to watch. 


Who’s the victim here again?  Rick surely wants you to believe its Louisville and more importantly, Ricky himself.

Let’s not forget that Rick has had multiple moral and NCAA related issues throughout his coaching career:

1.    Pitino's time at Hawaii was marred by a 1977 NCAA report on sanctions against the program. According to the report, Pitino was implicated in 8 of the 64 infractions that led the university to be placed on probation. The violations involving Pitino included providing round-trip air fare for a player between New York and Honolulu, arranging for student-athletes to receive used cars for season tickets, and handing out coupons to players for free food at McDonald's. He was also cited, along with the head coach, Bruce O'Neil, for providing misinformation to the NCAA and University of Hawaii officials. Also in 1977, the NCAA infractions committee recommended that Pitino and O'Neil be disassociated from Hawaii athletics. In 1989, Pitino would dismiss the report, saying "I didn't make any mistakes, I don't care what anybody says.”
2.    On April 18, 2009, Pitino announced that he was a target of an extortion attempt.  On April 24, Karen Cunagin Sypher, the wife of Louisville equipment manager Tim Sypher, was arraigned and charged in US District Court with extortion and lying to federal agents.  On August 11, Pitino admitted to having engaged in sexual relations with Cunagin on August 1, 2003 in Porcini, a Louisville restaurant. Several weeks later, Cunagin told Pitino that she was pregnant and wanted to have an abortion, but she did not have health insurance. Pitino paid her $3,000 for an abortion.  During the trial, Pitino downplayed the pair's sexual escapade. The complete act took, the coach testified, "No more than 15 seconds." In addition, Cunagin, who was convicted for extortion and lying to federal agents, claimed that her estranged husband, Tim Sypher, was paid to marry her.
3.    At a press conference on August 12, 2009, Pitino made a statement, in which he apologized for his indiscretion and stated that he would remain as coach.  While Pitino's contract allows for his firing for "acts of moral depravity or misconduct that damages the university's reputation," University of Louisville president James Ramsey announced on August 13 that Pitino would be retained in his position.  On August 26, Pitino demanded in a press conference that the media stop "reporting these lies." The conference was called even though University of Louisville officials advised that he was not obligated to respond.

Normally, the sex on the table with the equipment manager’s wife and getting her subsequently knocked up (allegedly – never proven to the MMPG’s knowledge) would have more or less “fractured” the morals clause in his contract. Even if she wasn’t yet married to the manager.  They were wed about a year later, in 2004.
Regardless, for anyone to believe that Pitino had “no clue” about what was going on at the recruiting parties is not only naïve, but its borderline irresponsible.  The fact that these parties occurred as regularly as they did for as long as they did tells me two things:

1.    Pitino wasn’t paying close enough attention to what the hell was going on with his recruits
2.    Louisville suffers from a very apparent, “Lack of Institutional Control.”

I’m still appalled with the ruling from the NCAA, shocked they couldn’t read between the lines, and have truly lost any and all faith that they will ever be able to be counted on to do the right thing when the time comes.

Ole Miss and North Carolina have to be loving this…


I know I would be if I was a fan.  

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