Right from the jump I am going to admit that it is going be difficult for me to remain unbiased during this story but I am going to do my best. As I have been following the Sypher trial on television, through the Courier-Journal and through the updates and views right here at Sportsthat, I have been trying to get straight exactly what is going on and how this is going to effect not only Rick Pitino, but also the Louisville basketball program as a whole.
With words like "rape", "murder", "abortion", "extortion", and "affair" being used on a daily basis one can't help but think, in the simplest of terms, this ain't good. Today Rick Pitino is going to have to take the stand and do something that he has pretty much refused to do; answer questions. As Monster Mash has already pointed out, there is no ducking and dodging anymore, and while Pitino may not be directly on trial he is on trial in the court of public opinion.
Extra-marital affairs happen all the time, I'm not downplaying it, but it's a fact. Abortions are legal and they happen on a daily basis as well. I think what is going to harm Pitino the most, and what he really has to answer for, is the cover up that ensued to keep Sypher's mouth shut. Pitino had already been paying her off in the form of having an arranged marriage and financial agreement between her and his former equipment manager, Tim Sypher. Tim went from a job where he was making about $28,000 a year to a job paying him close to six figures and this coincided with the marriage with Karen.
Pitino has been dishonest with this from the start and did his best to cover it up. The only reason that he came forth and admitted his wrong doing was because he realized that Karen Sypher was not going away, ever. No matter how much money he gave her, she would always be back with more demands. He had painted himself into a corner and there was no way out. He had already extorted himself.
If Rick Pitino would have come clean from the start, then this would not have been as big of a deal. Yes there would have been angry fans and non-fans, but this is a forgive and forget society and people would have forgotten about it in a year. Now Pitino has the stigma of cover up and the word rape attached to his name, even if a rape did not occur the word is still there.
In a business where selling a program to kids and their parents, this does not bode well. When a mother and her son are looking at choices of where to go to school and they come across Louisville, you can't tell me that these events, no matter how they play out, will be recognized and noticed. That is why this 7 year extension baffles me. This is not going to go away any time soon. Pitino is going to have to live with this the rest of his life and the University of Louisville is going to have to deal with it as long as he is the head coach there.
Even if Pitino is cleared of rape (no chargers of rape have been filed) and Sypher goes to jail, there will always be that cover up. There will always remain the fact that Pitino paid someone to marry his lover to keep her quiet. There where always remain the fact that he was dishonest from the start. There is a lot left to come out of this trial. This is only the beginning and I am surprised that this wasn't the end for Pitino at Louisville.
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