To Tell The Truth...

They say that a good lie is 80% truth. I don't know who "they" are and I don't know where "they" came up with that percentage. But it seems plausible to me. So let's go with that.

Six years ago Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino had sex with Karen Cunigan Sypher. Sometime after the sex, the married Sypher had an abortion. She wasn't the only one having an affair, Pitino was married at the time as well. Pitino and Sypher, like so many others, hid their affair from their families. I am sure that over the course of the six years, they each told lies to their spouses regarding where they were that day. I'm sure there were truths sprinkled in to make the lie believable. Now, some six years later, Sypher is charged with extorting more money from Pitino. She will be going on trial shortly for her alleged crime. Pitino? He'll be coaching the men's basketball team at Louisville again next season. She claims he raped her. He says the sex was consensual. She's going on trial. He'll be earning millions to coach 18-22 year old boys play basketball. The police said they didn't have enough to charge Pitino with rape, despite the alleged victim's statements. Why do we believe him and not her?

Pitino paid this woman $3,000 after having sex with her. According to her it was for an abortion. According to his lawyer, it was to pay for her to get insurance so she could have an abortion. To-may-to, to-mah-to. Either way, he paid $3,000 and all or part of that money went to her abortion. Her accusation was on tape at the local precinct recounting her side of what happened the night that had sex. Why isn't that enough to take to a grand jury?

Yesterday, Pitino blasted the media for playing this tape to the public. And I don't entirely blame him. If he's innocent, this tape sure paints him in a bad light. And if he's guilty, well then, he has a whole other reason for being angry this tape was leaked. But do we believe him? He lied to his own University (his employer) for 6 months after this woman allegedly tried to extort him. Then, when he realized his back was against the wall, he came clean. Isn't that how all criminals and liars behave? Lie, deflect, answer vaguely....right up until you absolutely have to tell the truth and appear contrite. Even yesterday, while blasting the media, he used a very common trick of liars - deflecting the attention off himself and his story onto another ongoing big media event. During his rant, he said, " Everything that's been printed, everything that's been reported, everything that's been breaking in the news on the day Ted Kennedy died is 100 percent a lie, a lie. All of this has been a lie, a total fabrication of the truth." Why bring up Kennedy's death here? How is it at all relevant to what was going on in Louisville, Kentucky?

And more importantly, how does Rick Pitino still have a job? He lied to his employer for over six months and managed to keep his job. He has a morals clause in his contract. I'm pretty sure having an extra-marital affair and paying for the woman's abortion- even if the sex was consensual - probably breaks that morals clause. You know, unless you just took your team to the Elite 8. I guess in the NCAA, winning trumps morality. But hey, at least Pitino's telling the truth.....well 80% of it anyway.