Go for the spine, Tony!Rick Pitino:
Head Basketball Coach at the University of Louisville
Former Head Coach of great basketball traditions like The University of Kentucky, The Boston Celtics and the New York Knickerbockers.
National Champion (1996)
National Runner-Up (1997)
Final Four appearances (1987, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2005),
National Coach of the Year (1987, 1996)
the list goes on and on...
Now that list is looking more like a rap sheet. Seriously Rick, where did all this go wrong? UofL's most recent commitment of a known criminal is in a word, criminal. It's hard to believe that my boy-hood idol has stooped so low as to take a player kicked off a basketball team for breaking his girlfriend's spine. Yes you read that correctly, he broke her (bleeping) spine.
Come on Rick, you're better than this, right?
The problem with Rick, and it's always been this way. is that he thinks"I'm bigger than the program ". That's the same reason he left "Camelot" to chase the Celtics job, the same reason he risked his job, marriage and reputation on a one night stand on an Italian restaurant floor and the same reason he has taken one of the best basketball programs in the country and ran it into the ground. Arrogance.
I for one find it hard to believe that the UofL boosters, athletic department and fans have put up with his constant B.S. for the last 10 years. It seems everything that comes out of the man's mouth is a blatant fabrication of the truth. Pitino feels like he is above the UofL fans, and athletic department and they should worship the ground in which he walks. Its the same arrogance that has got him in trouble multiple times in the past, and that arrogance is digging his own grave now.
The reason being, despite popular belief, UofL fans are not dumb and their passion for their sports team rivals only Kentucky's. How long can they put up with the "We'll never be out of the top 25 again" or "Marra is the best pure shooter coming out of high school I have ever seen" or "Placios is every bit as good as Jamal Mashburn". Like Rick's former accolades, his bullshit goes on and on and the Cards fan base has had to have enough, right. If Pitino produces another NIT year, followed by another lackluster recruiting class (here's looking at you Elisha Justice), when do the Card faithful say enough is enough. I can't imagine the red and black faithful sat down 1o years ago and thought that UofL would have missed the NCAA tourney 2 times in Pitino tenure, instead they expected to win 2 National Championships.
Not only has the product on the court suffered, but the quality of player has suffered as well. Pitino has had over 10 players transfer out of his program, lost 6 verbal recruits, had 3 players (this year alone) become academically ineligible, again the list goes on and on. This isn't even including three former leaders of his team arrested for multiple reasons such as fighting with off-duty police officers or beating a man over a hairbrush. But in their defense, how can you expect the kids on the UofL team to show constraint when the leader and face of the program can't show it himself?
So I ask you, Cards fans. How much is too much? Has the Pitino arrogance rubbed you the wrong way? Can you really say your program has integrity with a coach paying for abortions and a player who beats women on your roster? Do you want to be a constant punching bag to media and rival fans?
Come Cardinal faithful you deserve better than this. His arrogance has gone too far.
This guy is an absolute trainwreck. I don't get how the "best college AD in the land" is letting Pitino get away with all of this and then extending hsi contract with no more that a slap on the wrist.
ReplyDeleteThe Louisville faithful look pretty fed up on the discussion boards. They are tired of this guy making false promises and bringing continued shame to their once great program. Tom Jurich pretty much gave RP a get out of jail free card and he has now made it a :I can do what I want" card. Both of those guys are bogus.
One last thing: The Courier Journal has not put this story on the website or in print even though it is everywhere else on the internet. I guess Jurich threatened to shut the paper down if the CJ gives his little buddy bad press.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you guys on the Tony Woods addition. I think most UofL fans feel the same way. We don't want him. He should not be playing D1 basketball.
ReplyDeleteYou all attempt to paint an ugly picture for UofL basketball. The negative stories are being written about UK basketball and not UofL. The only negative things being written about UofL basketball is coming off UK blogs or from UK fans.
"They only write negatively about us because we are UK and they are jealous"...that argument should be laid to rest. KSR has worn it out. I'm sure it has nothing to do with Cal's past close calls or the fact that UK's history of paying players goes back 70 plus years...long before Chris Mills's package broke open. It's not above UK or Cal to cheat. The integrity that you say UofL has lacked over the years, is the same integrity UK has never had.
Those negative stories you talk about have all been proven to be false. If you don't think writing a story about UK gets hits on a website then you are naive beyond belief. The reason you don't read these negative stories about UofL, is because UofL doesn't matter nationally. Beat writers need hits, UK gets hits UofL gets nothing. Plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteYou can't start your post with Rick Pitino's resume and then say that UofL doesn't matter nationally. We both know that's not the case.
ReplyDeleteThe strange thing about UK's negative stories are, none of them have been proven false...maybe inconclusive, but definitely not false. Eric Bledsoe's grades were changed. It was determined to be for a "not credible" reason. Kanter was paid. If it was definitely false, a decision would be made on his elgiblity, and he'd be playing now. Orton did leave school without finishing the semester. The team did underperform as a whole in the classroom.
Beat writers write about UK because you all always give them something to write about. When you self proclaim yourself to be the best (even after years and years of confirmed cheating) you have to expect stories of people letting you know why you aren't.