04/25/24
August 01, 2010
Pitino Testifies About Sex with Extortionist: The sordid details of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino's restaurant-table tryst with a former model have come out in her extortion trial. Karen Sypher had sex with the married Pitino in July 2003, claims she got pregnant and he paid for her abortion (which he denies), married Pitino's assistant Tim Sypher and allegedly tried to extort $10 million from Pitino. All for a 15-second encounter that's not even a shot-clock violation. Sportswriter Jay Mariotti believes Pitino should resign: "[H]ow is Ricky Dicky supposed to be taken seriously when he couldn't control his sexual appetite at an actual table where people eat and drink in a well-regarded establishment?"
posted by rcade to basketball at 08:52 AM - 9 comments
As long as he wins ball games, I don't imagine anybody in Louisville will care who pulled his pants down 7 years ago for a 15-second tryst.
posted by roberts at 11:07 AM on August 01, 2010
If you're a parent helping your all-world recruit decide where to go, and you think your kid has some maturity issues, do you send him to Pitino? I think the other schools competing with Louisville will eat his lunch. This is humiliating nookie. Pitino even had to testify graphically about how he knows she didn't get pregnant. He's a laughingstock.
posted by rcade at 12:42 PM on August 01, 2010
Still, Jay Mariotti is a massive tool.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 12:59 PM on August 01, 2010
Why hasn't Lousiville simply fired him? I would think there would be some sort of "character" clause in his contract. This speaks volumes to me regards just how much so many schools will bastardize themselves in order to try to achieve successon on the court or on the field. What a wonderful role model he presents for his team and school. I don't know if he's a father or not, but what will his kids think about the stigma that's now attatched to him? It's a sorry situatiuon...
posted by wildbill1 at 07:29 PM on August 01, 2010
Why hasn't Louisville simply fired him?
The U of L. watched this story burst onto the scene and learned that the defendant boinked the coach, terminated a pregnancy of disputed origin, then married his equipment manager Tim Sypher, whom she now wants to divorce.
After all that, Sypher was named the director of the Yum! Center on the campus of the U of L.
(You read it right - the Yum! Center. Good thing KFC outbid the Pork Council for the naming rights to the place or it would be called The Other White Meat Center).
So it's clear that image, stature, and prestige aren't a critical priority at that institution of higher learning.
posted by beaverboard at 08:36 AM on August 02, 2010
15 Seconds? Don't show my wife this or she's going to want me to add 10 seconds to my regular performance time.
posted by Joey Michaels at 09:07 PM on August 02, 2010
Woman guilty of extortion in Pitino case Karen Cunagin Sypher, 50, of Louisville, was found guilty of three counts of extortion, two counts of lying to the FBI and one count of retaliating against a witness. As the jury's verdict was read, Sypher closed her eyes, then opened them and stared at the ceiling. One of her sons sitting in the front row with other family members wept openly.
posted by tommybiden at 06:24 PM on August 05, 2010
Andy Warhol predicted 15 minutes of fame for everyone. Rick Pitino got only 15 seconds.
posted by Howard_T at 03:40 PM on August 06, 2010
All for a 15-second encounter that's not even a shot-clock violation.
It might not have been be a shot-clock violation, but he did exceed the time limit to move the action across the mid-court line.