Read Sports Geek’s argument that Louisville should keep Rick Pitino as head coach and Bleacher Fan’s argument that Louisville should tell Pitino to take a hike.
Ole Ricky boy. Have you finally smeared your perfect white suit?
Rick Pitino, one of the “golden boys” of college basketball of the last twenty years – due in large part to his tenure at the University of Kentucky – has gotten himself into quite a pickle with his alleged shenanigans. In case you are not up to date, here is the story.
All summer long, and in the backdrop of the national sports scene, an extortion case has been going on in Louisville, Kentucky. I loosely paid attention to it. My initial response was basically to just shrug it off. But, things changed last week when Pitino confirmed that he had consensual sex with Karen Cunagin Sypher. The details of the situation began leaking out… that it happened at a restaurant back in 2003, that Pitino paid $3,000 for health insurance or an abortion (depending on which side you believe), that the marriage to Pitino’s equipment manager, Tim Sypher, was possibly a part of a cover up scheme, etc. The list goes on and on.
The Sports Debates is not going to focus on the allegations as a whole. What we are most concerned with, however, is what this means to the University of Louisville, and more importantly, what this means to the Louisville Cardinals basketball team present and future.
Louisville president James Ramsey has attempted to put this situation in the past by publicly stating that the university is 100% behind Pitino in this situation. Though it was recently revealed that in order to help put this situation in the past, he asked Pitino to issue a public apology, which he did last week. An apology is all well and good, and society in this country is more than willing to give someone a second chance. But…
Should Louisville give Pitino a second chance, or should they cut ties with him and create distance from this scandal?
Sports Geek will argue that Louisville made the right decision to keep Pitino on board as coach of the basketball team. Bleacher Fan, on the other hand, will argue that Louisville should have taken a stand and dismissed Pitino. In case you missed it, both Bleacher Fan and Sports Geek were once again on Matt Mc’s Sports Fix yesterday to discuss this issue in depth. Here’s the link to that interview – it is classic TSD.
In the meantime, it is time for the arguments to be presented to his honor (er, me). The winner of this debate gets a replica brand new Rick Pitino white suit with cuff links and hair mousse.
Who would look better in a white suit…Loyal Homer, Sports Geek, or that handsome judge?