I am normally a fan of Jason Whitlock's writing style, which is, "let's skip the bullshit and get down to what is really going on." But this time he is so far off base that I am going to put him in a pickle and tag him out!
We all know about the most recent indiscretion by University of Louisville Wildcats basketball coach Rick Pitino. He had a one night stand on the floor of a restaurant with a woman he had met only a few hours earlier. Good thing it wasn't a fast food establishment. Can you imagine all the grease on your bum from oil spraying off the grill like sprinklers watering your lawn?
Anyway, he paid the woman $3,000 to get an abortion. The woman did not have health insurance. Where was President Obama's health care plan when Rick needed it? That was not enough. She went after him for $10 million. Rick said enough is enough and the authorities were brought in. As they say, the rest is history, the world knows just what a horny bastard that little fella is.
I am almost to the point where I let Whitlock have it! Pitino is a staunch Catholic. Although, so were the priests that were sexually molesting the alter boys way back when. And it seems the Louisville area is dominated by Catholicism. The fans and churchgoers are quite upset about the abortion issue.
They don't seem to have a problem with the fact that Rick has been married for 33 years to Joanne Minardi and that he has four kids. No, the abortion issue is really heavy on their minds. I say, "Listen, don't worry about it, I am 99 percent sure the woman did not have an abortion or get pregnant from the romp on the dirty floor of the restaurant. The $3,000 was probably spent on clothing or some form of entertainment."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Can't it be, like, both their faults?
2 - Barga
Why is this even news. The dude cheated on his wife and a chick extorted him, who the hell cares?
3 - Heather Hogan
Why is it news? Are you kidding me? Rick Pitino has been the head coach at the University of Louisville since 2001, has also coached at Boston University, Providence College, and the University of Kentucky. He made a leap into the NBA to coach the NY Knicks and the Boston Celtics. He is the only men's coach in NCAA history to lead three different teams to the final four. Rick Pitino has also been praised as an author and motivational speaker. If that isn't reason enough to make this news worthy I am not sure what kind of man that has sex on the floor of a restaraunt with a woman he knew from mere hours would need to make headlines to you! Lets not forget he has been married for thirty three years and has four children. People respected him and looked up to him. This is actually, HUGE news!
4 - Robert M. Barga
Would it be news if I did it? NO
so why should it be news now
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
Look up the words "prominence" and "conflict" in a Journalism 101 textbook.
6 - Robert M. Barga
I understand why it is news, that doesn't mean that it should be
7 - Ruvy
Robert,
I agree with you - BFD on the whole thing. But the lady (Heather) is entitled to her opinions. We've been over that ground before on other issues, you know.
8 - Ted
I'm sorry, but isn't it a bit much to insinuate that Pitino raped the woman? Or was that a generalization about all Pesky Penises?
And what's this about putting people in a pickle?
9 - saikat maity
hi i am very shorter 21 years old man my hight is 5ft ,now problem is my neighbour and my all of friends is very insulting to me please guide me how can i improve my hight... plz give me suggest me [Personal contact info deleted]
10 - Jason Whitlock
Heather
Your response is quite humorous. I enjoyed it.
Have a great day,
Jason Whitlock
[Personal contact info deleted]
11 - zingzing
"Jason, don't blame women because you are not getting any PPs."
not sure that's phrased correctly. unless it is. but still, an article that puts the blame on women can't easily be countered with an article that puts the blame squarely on the man. both were idiots.
12 - Heather Hogan
Wow, some great comments! I have enjoyed reading them very much. Ted, I didn't insinuate that Pitino raped the woman, read it again. I insinuated that other celebrity types have raped women. Do you watch baseball Ted? If you do you should know what putting a person in a pickle means. Saikat, when I referred to Pitino "as the little fella" I was not referring to his height. Rick Pitino actually stands 6' tall. I was referring to his very little, moral and ethical behavior. Jason Whitlock, I still love your writing and will continue to read you daily. And zingzing, you are right both were idiots, both were wrong, and that is why I wrote the article. To make a point, that to blame the PP's solely is just as ridiculous as blaming Pussy Galore's solely! That was great fun, thanks guys!
13 - doug m
What a poorly written article. Why no link to Whitlock's article? Since when are floors in an entire fast-food restaurant covered in grease? How is the author 99 percent sure of what happened? why would a hot shower be taken rather than a cold one?
This whole PP issue/gag reveals an ignorance about men and the writer's own issues with them, but at least she gets to hawk her book.
14 - Tony
Yeah I'm sorry but this whole story is crap (not the writing style but the actual story). Athletes cheat on their wives constantly (read Ball 4). The ONLY reason this is news is because some whore tried to extort him, which is legally crime. Adultery is not.
If you want to lambaste his character for cheating fine. Don't watch professional sports if you don't want to see men who have cheated. Hell, don't watch Mad Men for that matter (great show, little plug).
If you want to take issue with Catholics being more pissed over an abortion than over adultery (a commandment) than, once again, fine.
But to rant on about how it is really the mans fault and questioning how such an upstanding guy do this, and blah blah blah. I means seriously....there's just no news and no content there.
Sure both people must participate in an extra-marital affair. The point is not that he cheated, the point is that he was extorted.
15 - Heather Hogan
Doug, it is amazing to me how angry you appear! The hate for me seems to be soothing out of your pores. I don't seem to be far off on my ignorance in regards to some men. Did you not realize this article, like most articles out there, have opinions? Please let me know what you think of my book when you read it!
Tony, there's no news or content here? I wonder why this story has been all over ESPN, Fox Sports and most sports writers have written about this very news worthy story. I am going to give you the link to Jason Whitlock's story. Please click on it and let me know if you still think this story is not news worthy!
16 - Tony
I could give you a Natalie Holloway link too. Doesn't mean it is news. My point was that there was no news or content in the cheating. The "news" if you can call it that, is it the extortion plot. Again, just because the general media fills their 24 hr news cycle morally judging people and masquerading it like news, it doesn't mean anyone needs to perpetuate it.
17 - Tony
The reason this particular piece isn't news is because you make comments like " I am going to throw Jason Whitlock right on the same slimy bus with the rest of the men involved in sports in one way or another whom have egos the size of the world and can never look within, but in order to save their precious self-esteem and their ego from dissipating they blame the woman!"
In case you missed it, the WOMAN dropped her panties, the WOMAN had CONSENSUAL sex with a married man, the WOMAN then tried to extort the guy she fucked. It was the WOMAN who tried to use sex as a tool to get money. She's worse that a prostitute and that's why she got blamed. Not because of some misogynistic, boys club mentality. Woman know athletes are easy targets with money and they realize a lot of these men don't say no. So who is worse, the guy who cheats on his wife or the woman who has sex with the married man (knowing who he is and that he is married) and then targets him in an extortion plot? Not too hard to answer that one.
18 - Heather Hogan
First of all Tony, Doug asked for the link to Jason Whitlock's article, so I produced it for him. I guess you don't read many articles or writer's columns; they are filled with opinions and blame! Tony, I did not miss the fact that the woman dropped her pants, and you say then "tried to extort the guy she f......" Yes, the slutty women, is just as much to blame as the slutty guy, you are right Tony, and I think I pointed that out earlier. I am going to say this once, obviously you are quite upset, this article was written to challenge Jason Whitlock and his opinion that the woman was entirely at fault. Even more so than that, I wrote it to challenge the fact that it does take two to committ a consensual sexual act. Reading all of your male opinions, or should I say outrageous accusations at me and who I am, the article did its job! Have a fabulous evening. I have to go write another article to enrage the male population and allow you to lash out at what you all think is my stupidity and biased opinions!
19 - Matthew T. Sussman
I am not understanding the sentiment that this Rick Pitino affair story is not news. If someone does not care about it, then that's one thing, but disqualifying the story as one that doesn't matter makes no sense.
Brett Favre signed with the Vikings. So what? It doesn't affect me. I guess that's not news either.
20 - Heather Hogan
Thank you Mr. Sussman! Whew, this has been quite a day!
21 - Tony
The sentiment is not that the story is not news. The sentiment is that the story is not the affair; it is the extortion attempt. Affairs happen daily. Brett Farve signing with the Vikings and Rick Pintino getting extorted do not.
Heather, I actually wasn't mad at all. I've gotten use to hearing about women trying to juice professional athletes. Its funny because while my point was that it was the extortion -- and not the morality of the affair -- that was news, stupid women like this extorting or falsely accusing athletes are becoming almost as common as infidelity. Look at Big Ben.
Explaining that the focus of a story is wrong does not disualify it as news. To quote myself "My point was that there was no news or content in the cheating. The "news" if you can call it that, is *in the extortion plot."
And this idea that both are at fault is absurd. Two people had consensual sex. One tried to turn it into a way to make money. One person did something illegal. You know nothing about how moral Pitino is nor are you anyone to judge. Maybe his wife has cheated on him 5 times and he did it to get her back. Does it make it more moral if the person "affected" is immoral also? Or what if they have an open relationship? Do you find those, in particular immoral also? Some people don't. You don't know or care about Mrs. Pitino's morality because, as you said, she doesn't coach basketball.
The problem is, when you look at it as some sort of morality story -- like two people had an affair and that's it -- maybe you can assign mutual blame as Heather did. It is only when you get into the meat of the story -- that one of those adults essentially blackmailed the other -- that the blame shifts to one obvious party. That shouldn't just be mentioned, it is the point of the whole story. Presidents have had affairs, actors have had affairs, athletes have had affairs; a lot fewer have been extorted as a result.
22 - Tony
I think you wrote an interesting and thought provoking article Heather. You obviously wanted debate and you got it so I hope that self-satisfaction is genuine because you did do you good job. I just don't agree.
23 - Matthew T. Sussman
Well, normally I'd agree with you, but the extortion charges were not the catalyst that set this tire fire off. We knew about the extortion back in April, and it hardly made a ripple on the news radar.
What really ignited the story was Pitino admitting there was an affair. Other possible cans of gasoline were forking over $3,000 for an abortion and sexin' on the floor of a restaurant. You can't make that stuff up.
Now, had this happened with a pro coach? Maybe it's not such a big deal. (Isiah Thomas excepting.) But college coaches seem to have a higher standard of conduct. Remember Mike Price. George O'Leary. Bob Knight. Larry Eustachy. Pokey Chatman. None of them really broke any laws except moral ones.
24 - Ted
"Even more so than that, I wrote it to challenge the fact that it does take two to committ a consensual sexual act."
So you don't believe it takes two to commit a consensual sexual act?
25 - Ted
Pesky Penis is my second favorite Bond villain.