The “No Curves Zone”: Rick Pitino, Come on Down!
I know I’ve been tardy with my posts. We had a great family vacation, and are in the final stages of a kitchen renovation that has disrupted our lives for much of the summer. I was working on another posting, but the events of the past 24 hours regarding basketball coach Rick Pitino adds another chapter to a previous post that generated a number of interesting comments.
For those of you who don’t know the particulars: back in April, Louisville University basketball coach Rick Pitino was accused of raping the wife of the basketball team equipment manager. Pitino responded by accusing the woman of extortion, saying she had demanded 10 million dollars to drop the rape charges. The mainstream sporting press, overwhelmingly white, male, and middle aged, came to Pitino’s defense and labeled the accuser as a vengeful, slightly unbalanced woman. That appeared to be the end of the story, although some internet sports blogs kept it alive.
In the last day, all kinds of stuff has hit the fan, most of it pretty seamy. Pitino now admits to having sex with his accuser, although he claims it was consensual. Pitino says he met this woman at a restaurant, left the restaurant and then came back a few hours later, and had sex with the woman on a table in the restaurant after it closed. Pitino’s story is corroborated by an assistant coach who as in the restaurant at the time, although he was not present when the sexual act took place. This assistant says from what he overheard, it seemed the sex was indeed consensual.
From here, it really gets weird. Pitino says three weeks later, he gets a call from the woman, who claimed to be pregnant. Pitino agreed to meet the woman at the home of his equipment manager. At the meeting, Pitino (the father of 5 children) told the woman he wanted a paternity test and suggested an abortion. Since the woman was unable to pay for an abortion, Pitino (did I mention he was Catholic?) gave her $3,000.00 to get one.
Another sideboard for this tale — the accuser ended up marrying the equipment manager, who she met for the first time when she and Pitino at his house to discuss the pregnancy. Did you get all that? After you wash you hands from reading this, there will be a quiz later!
A lot of comments to my last posting offered a number of reasons why men act like this. All of them were thoughtful, and acknowledged there were no easy answers. Maybe the circus currently taking place in Louisville doesn’t change anybody’s minds. Maybe it just pushes the debate a little further along. For myself, I know I will pause the next time the “Scorned Woman Torments Man” story pops up on my screen.
Tags: abortion, extortion, rape, scorned woman, Sports
At the risk of sounding stupid, I really don’t know (other than what you’ve written) who Rick Pitino is. And I’m guessing a lot (if not most) women are also in the dark. Of course, Gary isn’t into sports, so I don’t hear about sports related stories most of the time.
I’m one of those “wierdo’s” that reads the newspaper front to back every day. Not line for line, but I try to get the gist of every article. It’s something I’ve done since I was a kid, and the habit has stuck It really doesn’t take long and it’s a great way to keep up on current events. Rick Pitino is a basketball coach and has been involved in college level and the professional level for a long time. He is a pretty attractive guy, always dresses well, but then again, if you watch sports, when the camera focus’s on the coach, they usually dress well, except for Bobby Knight – he always wore that same sweater! I did not know he has five children, that is a lot by today’s standards – is he Catholic? If so, and the affair is legitimate,(which I’m sure it is) then once again, we have that ol’Catholic double standard. I was raised Catholic, Catholic schools right through High School – I had to go to a non-Catholic college – I couldn’t take it anymore! I don’t have anything against Catholics, but the religion has become a money maker with the granting of record breaking annulments and the code of ethics is a farce. Look at Mel Gibson – he even built his own church to worship in and he got a woman pregnant while still married!! Rick got caught – they usually do – how much do you want to bet he’ll still coach basketball??? America – the home of the brave and the land of the “what the hell were you thinking”???????
Judy,
Always nice to converse with a woman who reads the sports pages! The Pitino situation raises a whole bunch of stuff. A father of five, who is Catholic (and never misses a chance to work these two facts into his motivational speeches and books as part of reasons for his success). His lawyer says the $3,000 Pitino gave this woman was not for an abortion, but for health insurance — talk about splitting hairs! You’re right. Pitino isn’t going to lose his job, and the compliant sports media has already moved on. I still have to ask — what the hell was he thinking?
I just don’t care who he had sex with! If he was Joe Shmo we wouldn’t even be hearing about some basketball coach sleeping with someone other than his wife. And if he was Joe Shmo, she wouldn’t have accused him of raping her. I don’t know if he did or not (I tend to think not and that she was just after money as, unfortunately is often the case in these situations). And the fact that he is Catholic does not surprise me at all. Just as it wouldn’t have surprised me if he was Methodist, Baptist, or Jewish! Most people who claim to be holier-than-thou aren’t!
Terri,
You are absolutely right — if he were Joe Schmo, we wouldn’t have heard about it. But he’s not — he’s a highly paid, prominent man who in addition to coaching basketball (and bringing in a huge amount of money to the university he represents) makes a lot of money giving speeches and writing books about how his faith and family have made him the man he is today. He also denied ever knowing this woman until about six weeks ago.
But because he is not Joe Schmo, he will receive preferential treatment…