The official Rick Pitino Abortion-gate thread (Sacramento: transfer, university, restaurant) - Louisville area - Kentucky (KY) -Jefferson County - City-Data Forum

censusdata · 08-13-2009, 05:32 PM

Someone had to start this thread. The biggest sports story in America the past two days has been revelations on Tuesday night that Pitino had an affair in a back room at a crowded restaurant and later paid that woman to get an abortion - all this occurring in 2003. Today Yahoo! Sports broke a story that Pitino tried vigorously to leave U of L in April and get an NBA job but couldn't find any suitors.

This story is bizarre and has as much drama as an episode of The Sopranos. The real question now seems to be rather U of L should keep or dismiss him.

What thinkest thou?

Cattknap · 08-13-2009, 05:35 PM

I think he is not worthy to be called a teacher of anything - the guy is without any personal integrity.

The Dissenter · 08-13-2009, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by censusdata

Someone had to start this thread. The biggest sports story in America the past two days has been revelations on Tuesday night that Pitino had an affair in a back room at a crowded restaurant and later paid that woman to get an abortion - all this occurring in 2003. Today Yahoo! Sports broke a story that Pitino tried vigorously to leave U of L in April and get an NBA job but couldn't find any suitors.

This story is bizarre and has as much drama as an episode of The Sopranos. The real question now seems to be rather U of L should keep or dismiss him.

What thinkest thou?

Today on Jim Rome is Burning (ESPN), Rome called Pitino out for invoking 9/11 into talking about his situation. Here's the transcript.

http://www.jimrome.com/home/articles/article.html (broken link)

While i'm stanuchly against abortion, this happened six years ago and is not really uncommon.

gobucks86 · 08-13-2009, 11:34 PM

My 2 cents:

First off, the media in todays world sucks. Take it from me, a Cleveland area native. LeBron James mentions one single thing about NY and all of a sudden the media creates stories to make it more dramatic then it is. All of a sudden LeBron eats something manufactured in NY means he's going to the Knicks and must hate Cleveland!!!

The point is, take it with a grain of salt.

Back on track:

Who really knows what to believe. Did he give the money to the girl for an abortion? Who knows. She could be trying to create a situation where she can embarass the guy and get money from him in a settlement to shut up. He claims she needed money for health reasons, nothing about an abortion. He says he was trying to do something nice for her. Without more evidence, it's hard to believe anything right now.

I personally don't believe Yahoo sports for anything(see the first paragraph I wrote as to why). He seems to like U of L a lot. Plus, why is this coming out now if true? It adds more drama to the situation, that's why. I don't really find it true for that reason. Nobody mentioned anything about him trying to go pro again until now when his life is all over the news. He's not some unknown coach, he's one of the most well known and respect coaches out there today(whether you like him or not, it's true). If it were true that he tried to get back into the NBA, why would the media ignore it back in April? Doesn't make sense.

The whole 9/11 thing, from what I know, may be getting blown out of proportion. But, I haven't really heard much about it, so I could be wrong. The only thing I heard about 9/11 was nothing about him doing such a stupid thing because of it. I heard him say he loves the U of L because they helped him through the tough time of 9/11, but I haven't heard about him blaming his stupidity with infdelity. If he did bring 9/11 into it by saying it caused him to make a dumb decision, than that is lame, but if he just mentioned it as one of the reason why he loves the U of L and how they helped him through the tough time, then I don't see a problem with it. I mean, his best friend/family member did die during it, so having respect for an employer for helping someone though the tough time isn't wrong in my book.

Should he be dismissed? No, I don't think so, not at least right now. I mean, he admitted he cheated on his wife. It was wrong of him to do, but he did come clean and admit and apologize to it. Did he give the woman money for an abortion? I have no clue, but I can't see U of L firing him for that. Now, unless more crap comes out about it and recruits start uncomitting and other recruits take U of L off their radar because of this drama, then it'd be something to think about. But as of right now given what we know, no, I don't think he should be fired.

Miss Blue · 08-14-2009, 02:40 AM

What always amazes me about these types of stories is that none of the men shed tears, apologize to the their wives, families, God and everyone else, and give their lame excuses until..........they are found out.

Bye-bye Pitino..

missymomof3 · 08-14-2009, 05:49 AM

It makes me sick. He is supposed to be an example to the kids he mentors and now this. Bless his wife's and children's hearts for being drug through the mud like this. As far as that woman, she's a skank as far as I am concerned and is trying to milk as many people as she can for as much money as she can and I feel sorry for her children too. Keep this in mind fellas and ladies too, impropriety tends to bite ya in the butt

missymomof3 · 08-14-2009, 05:51 AM

Oh, I will say that by the message he left her that was released, he didn't force her to do anything. There was a receipt for a clinic in Cinci that was shown on the news so yes, she aborted but whether he paid for it or not, who knows. A baby died so they could cover up.... nothing.

Off Topic · 08-14-2009, 08:34 AM

I think a lot of how you feel about this situation depends in large part on how you feel about abortion. It's safe to say that those who oppose abortion are understandably more upset about this than those who are not. (It also seems like women are much more upset about this than are men, but I'm not willing to state that as my opinion at this point.) In any case, we should not lose track of the fact that nothing he did is illegal.

In any case, we have to be careful not to mix apples and oranges here. I don't think anyone thinks what he did is OK and that nothing should be done. On the other hand, if we're going to say that infidelity is grounds to be fired, we're setting a pretty high bar for humanity. I'm not ready to say that everyone in America who commits adultery should lose their job and be publicly humiliated.

I do think the University is a little too long on support for Rick and a little too short on reprimands. At a minimum, he has embarrassed the University and deserves a public reprimand. That's a bare minimum, imo.

But I have to say I'm somewhat stunned at the almost violent reaction from some people. And the only way I can I can explain that is the abortion angle. Once again, like it or not, it's legal. And I'm not prepared to say that everyone in America who has had an abortion or paid for one should lose their job.

(I also have to say I'm somewhat surprised that everyone seems to be ignoring that he is almost certainly the victim of an extortion attempt. Now, he put himself in that position, without question. But still, the only crime that has been perpetrated here was one against Pitino, not one by Pitino.)

Now, if we take the abortion angle out of this, what are we left with? Marital infidelity. Let me be clear. Infidelity is wrong and he needs to get straight with his wife and family. He needs to be reprimanded by the University for embarrassing it. But again, I'm not ready to professionally crush every single person who makes this mistake.

censusdata · 08-14-2009, 09:34 AM

Pitino needs to get the axe

1. This is not just a typical affair - it involves your coach banging a mistress in a bathroom at a crowded restaurant, an abortion he paid for, the likelihood he had to be treated for an STD he got from her, and even allegations he paid one of his employees to marry his mistress to cover the thing up.

2. He wanted to dump U of L before the story broke and take an NBA job - any NBA job. He is only still here because no one was dumb enough to hire him. Imagine this story breaking w/ him at Sacramento and leaving U of L with mass transfers and and old has been interim coach - that was his intention!!

censusdata · 08-14-2009, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Off Topic

I do think the University is a little too long on support for Rick and a little too short on reprimands. At a minimum, he has embarrassed the University and deserves a public reprimand. That's a bare minimum, imo.

I wonder if Ramsey would have given Pitino a vote of confidence (albeit a lukewarm one) had he known Yahoo Sports would break a story the next hour that Pitino desperately was trying to get out of town for any NBA job. Clearly Pitino brought in Ralph Willard not because he thought he might resign from UL due to the story breaking, he knew he was leaving town on the next plane - it just didn't work out for him