What they say vs. what they're thinking

Rick Pitino, at left, above, on his facing up to his little “indiscretion”:

“(Like I tell my players) When you have a problem, if you tell the truth, the problem becomes part of your past. If you lie it becomes part of your future.”

Don’t think about what I did — think about how brave and wonderful I am for telling the truth at the point where I have absolutely no choice in the matter.

“When 9/11 hit, you needed a community to get you over it. In New York City, it was easy because everybody knew the devastation of that and they got each other over it. In Louisville, the impact wasn't felt like New York City, but I needed this community to help me get over it.”

Raising the specter of 9/11 might not be the classiest thing I can do but hey, it worked for the Bush administration for years …

Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, third from left, above: “Coach Pitino has been truthful with us about this matter all along and we stand by him and his family during this process.”

More to the point, we stand behind Pitino’s 553 collegiate wins, his national championship and his five Final Four appearances.

Louisville president Dr. James Ramsey, second from left, above: “Regardless of the truth or falsehood of specific actions that have been attributed to the coach, he's clearly made errors in judgment that have come under intense public scrutiny. We can't ignore these errors in judgment …”

But we will, just the same.

Talk about a reality check

Recommended reading: An Associated Press story about swimmer Dara Torres realizing that she and her daughter flew with the pilot – and probably on the same helicopter — that collided with a small plane and crashed into the Husdon River, killing nine people.

Torres’ ride came just two days before the fatal flight.

“I was a little freaked out (by the realization,)” Torres told The Associated Press. “You realize how precious life is.”

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/swimming/news/story?id=4389713

Friday column: A few words on Pitino’s 'indiscretion'

Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino’s little “indiscretion” — his restaurant dalliance with a stranger and his giving her abortion money — and this week’s responses to it all do a remarkable job of illustrating where we are in 2009.

These are the elements that stand out:

Worship of celebrity. Pitino was 50 when Karen Cunagin — now Karen Sypher — saw him in a Louisville restaurant in 2003. Pitino is not a bad-looking man, but I doubt a stranger would have made a play for him — and then had sex with him on the eatery floor — if he hadn’t been Rick Pitino, state of Kentucky basketball god.

Sense of entitlement. The flip side of that worship is a sense of entitlement, a feeling by some people that rules don’t apply to them. Are there rules against a married father of five doing what Pitino did? Well, yes, there are.

Callous disregard for life. As far as we know, Pitino, who proclaims himself a devout Catholic, took no responsibility for the life he created with Sypher; nor at Wednesday’s news conference, I did I hear a single word of regret for the ending of that life.

Overemphasis on winning. Pitino made more than one reference to how successful a basketball coach he’s been, a blatant plea to the Louisville faithful to overlook his off-court behavior and focus instead on his winning percentage.

Use of duplicity. Pitino’s lawyer quibbled with a report that said the coach had given Sypher money for an abortion. No, no, he said, the coach had given her money for health insurance — which she then used to have an abortion. Are we really expected to believe that Pitino would have forked over three grand if Sypher hadn’t been pregnant? Please.

Hypocrisy. University president Dr. James Ramsay praised Pitino as a role model for youth, but Ramsay knows Pitino no longer has any moral authority — none — to wield as he tries to guide his young players.

Enabling behavior. Athletic director Tom Jurich said he was “a million percent” behind Pitino.

Love of money. Pitino has made millions of dollars for the university, and don’t think that isn’t playing a role in the university’s decision to, in Jurich’s words, “stand by him and his family … ”

Uncaring use of others. From what we know about Sypher, including her alleged attempt to extort money from Pitino and her apparently invented rape allegations against him, she is a very troubled woman. That does not mitigate the seriousness of what Pitino did; it makes it worse.

Indifference. Peyton Siva, an incoming recruit, made it clear that Pitino’s actions didn’t affect him at all. “I ain’t leaving,” Siva said on his Twitter account. “Rick personal life is his life. He’s here to coach me and is the best teach of hoop to me! So like the fans say, ‘Go Cards.’ ”

“Go Cards,” indeed. After all, how can you fire a “best teach of hoop” over a simple indiscretion? You can’t, not in America in 2009.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Personal responsibility? It’s slip-sliding away

In a Little League game, a 12-year-old boy gets a base hit, tries to stretch it into a double, slides and injures his knee.

What’s the first thing a parent does?

Right — call a lawyer.

Jean Gonzales sued the New Springville Little League in Staten Island, N.Y., and two of the league's coaches, claiming her son Martin was not properly taught how to slide.

Obviously.

I mean, people who are properly taught to slide never hurt themselves sliding, do they?

When the lawsuit was filed in 2007, area lawyers didn’t think it had much chance of success but, hey, this is America.

This month the Little League agreed to pay Gonzales $125,000.

Is this a great country or what?

Reach out and bean someone

You may remember seeing the video:

In the midst of a brawl, a minor league pitcher takes aim, hurls a ball at the dugout of the opposition — and hits a fan right in the noggin, giving the fan a concussion and a nine-day headache.

Julio Castillo, then of the Peoria Chiefs, a farm team of the Chicago Cubs, was charged with two counts of felonious assault. Tuesday, he was convicted on one of them.

Castillo’s lawyer claimed the pitcher was actually trying to warn the opposition to stay away from his teammates and, as he doesn’t speak English, a 90 mph fastball was his only means of communication. Therefore, he said, he couldn’t be found guilty.

Nice try, councilor.

Still, Castillo got off easy — a 30-day sentence which, yes, he is appealing.

His future with the Cubs is uncertain.

Yes, Hank, you're right, but ...

Henry Aaron is old school. No, I mean OLD school. He’s quaint, in fact.

Aaron, who hit 755 home runs without benefit of steroids, has a message for youngsters:

"I tell them you may not be able to hit 700 home runs, but you need to do the right things," Aaron said. "There's no shortcuts in life. Everything is going to catch up."

Tell that to the players who used ’roids to pad their stats, earn fat contracts — and haven’t yet been outed as cheaters. There are still 100 names on the 2003 list of banned-substance users that haven’t come out.

Friday column: So ... so much to celebrate

So.

You’re Michael Vick.

You’ve gone away to prison for 19 months. You’ve lost tens of millions of dollars in income and fines and are tens of millions in debt. You recently were voted the most disliked man in sports.

You’re a pariah not only for your conviction on dogfighting charges but for your personal, hands-on role in the savage torturing and killing of innocent animals.

Your “conditional” reinstatement to the NFL is dependent upon your behavior, your true repentance and evidence that you finally “get it,” that you — you alone — ultimately are responsible for the unmitigated disaster that is your life.

So you …

… decide it’s time for Michael Vick Community Celebration day!

Yes, the good folks in Vick’s hometown of Newport News, Va., are cooking up a day to honor the life of one Michael Dwayne Vick — with Vick’s blessing.

Actually, it’s with more than his blessing.

“It was his idea,” John Eley, one of the organizers, told The Associated Press. “Vick wanted to give back to the community, like he always does.”

Vick wants to “give back to the community” by staging a celebration for himself?

Uh yeah, he definitely “gets it,” all right.

* * *

So.

You’re Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

Your team went ahead with Manny Ramirez bobblehead night even though your left fielder had been suspended for 50 games for having taken a banned drug.

OK, you’re a business, and 50,000 dolls already had been ordered. I understand.

Then it’s revealed that your left fielder apparently was a steroid user back way back in 2003, thus bringing more embarrassment to your team.

So you …

... order up another 50,000 dolls for a second Manny bobblehead night!

Why not another night for you, Frank. You’re the real bobblehead.

* * *

So.

You’re Boston’s David Ortiz.

When news comes out that your name was on the list of players who tested positive for banned substances in 2003, you say, “You know me — I will not hide and I will not make excuses.”

So ...

... you hide and refuse to answer questions for more than a week!

Now you say you’re going to address the issue Saturday, so we’ll find out then about the not-making-excuses part. If you stonewall, may I suggest a bobblehead night for you? Or perhaps even a “David Ortiz Community Celebration”?

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.