For those of you that don't know who Hugo Chavez is, please click this link and take a look...still waiting...thanks. Now that you are educated I can proceed with the following: Hugo Chavez limits, restricts, edits, revises and sometimes bans TV, radio, Internet and the written word in the country of Venezuela. He is Socialist and that's how he rolls.
Well, it seems we have a mini-Hugo Chavez right here in Louisville, Kentucky. Tom Jurich, in response no doubt to the PR nightmare that is Tony Woods and Rick Pitino, has decided in his infinite wisdom to not let Rick Pitino host his OWN COACHES SHOW ON WHAS.
And to further show his power and control over all things UofL, Jurich has fired Terry Meiners as the host of the Rick Pitino show and as a sideline reporter for Louisville games. I'm no Terry Meiners fan (I don't think he is funny) but Meiners is a Louisville staple and a HUGE Cards fan and Rick Pitino supporter. Why the firing? Because he covered the Sypher trial in an honest light and he has been critical of the Tony Woods move.
It's not like this hasn't happened with Jurich before. If you recall there was one local sports talk radio station in Louisville about 3 year ago called "The Ticket". It covered local and national sports and simulcast with ESPN Radio. It was great. I happened to be listening on the radio the last day it was on air and one of the DJ's, Johnny Renshaw, explained what happened. Some of the shows, his included, were criticizing the Louisville football program and coach Steve Kragthorpe. Jurich made an unannounced visit, told everyone there that no local media outlets should ever criticize the University of Louisville and then stormed out. He later went to Men's Warehouse to buy some new turtle necks to make himself feel better. The next day was the stations last day. Coincidence? I think not!
Renshaw must have been a UK fan, right? Wrong. He was from Maryland and was a Maryland fan. I heard him criticize UK more than UofL and admitted that he disliked UK more that UofL. Jurich is a control freak that didn't want his mistake, i.e. Kragthorpe, to be discussed in the public.
And then there is the infamous post-Sypher press conference he gave in which he declared he didn't watch the trial (I call BS) and that none of the Sypher activities happened on University of Louisville property. A member of the media then clarified to Jurich that there were meetings between Sypher and Pitino at the Yum! Center with their lawyers. Jurich gave an evil glare and the reporter has not been seen since.
This is what it comes down to: Jurich wants everybody to forget about Karen Sypher and forget that Tony Woods is a piece of crap. He believes everyone in this city should bow down to UofL and worship the ground he walks on. To not let the media have access to a coach is downright insane. His way of dealing with the Pitino problem is to ignore it and try to make every else do so by not giving access to Pitino.
Tom Jurich needs to realize something: he is the athletic director of the University of Louisville. Not the mayor of the city, the governor of the state, or the president of Venezula. Get over yourself.
Update: Rick Bozich of the CJ just tweeted that Pitino isn't doing the show because he wasn't happy with the Sypher coverage and he plans to take the year off. Where does the arrogaance of this man end?
In unrelated news... I got a phone call from someone at UL asking us to take down this website or we'd be "Syphered" (i.e. concrete boots)...
ReplyDeleteYou mean Rick Pitino decided not to do his own show....some nerve. So the athletic director is control freak...he has no reason to think that he should be in control of UofL athletics. The media will always have access to Coach Pitino. You can't take that away. Taking away the coaches show does not limit media access by any means. It's not like he was fielding questions from reporters in the audience.
ReplyDeleteRick Pitino decided with a little help from Jurich. He should be in control over athletics but he is limiting the media's access to the team and is firing people that are honest in their analysis of the team, i.e. Teryy Meiners.
ReplyDeleteHe had an entire radio station shut down for criticising Kragthorpe. What's next? Will fans have to give up their season tickets if they are caught booing at a game? The guy is out of control. He and Pitino need to take responsibility for the trainwreck that the basketball program has become instead of trying to ignore it and sweep it under the rug.
No one wants a boss that doesn't have their back. You don't want to be at work fighting by yourself...you want someone in your corner. Jurich has a responsiblity to stand by his guy until that's not his guy anymore. Though I disagree with Rick not doing the show, I support the decision that Rick(or Tom) made. On their end, college basketball is a business. People get fired. People get asked to leave. It happens...be it courtside reporters, coaches, or players. When Cal came to UK, some hardworking scholarship players lost their scholarships and some asst coaches lost their jobs. When Rick came to UofL, some hardworking scholarship players lost their scholarships and some asst coaches lost their jobs. It happens. It's the nature of the beast.
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