We’ve all made mistakes. Yes, it’s cliche, but it’s true.
Some mistakes are, obviously, more egregious than others. Count Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino in that group.
In the offseason, Pitino’s life fell apart around him.
Not only did his part-time protege, part-time rival John Calipari land the prestigious University of Kentucky position and threaten Pitino’s Bluegrass supremacy, but he also became embroiled in a personal scandal.
"Karen Sypher. Karen Sypher. Karen Sypher."
The name Mountaineer Maniacs not only encouraged the student section to chant at Saturday’s game via the Maniac Musings handout in order to "possibly lead to a technical" at some point in the game.
It was last August when news broke that Pitino had consensual sex with Sypher in a Louisville restaurant and then paid for her to have an abortion.
Pitino is already married with five children.
Sypher was ultimately charged with attempting to extort Pitino.
It was an ugly mistake – or rather, series of mistakes – which Pitino will be forced to live with the rest of his life. His legacy is all but tarnished.
On the same day the Mountaineer Maniacs handed out T-shirts imploring classy behavior from student fans, the organization cast the worst mistake of a man’s life back into Pitino’s face. Repeatedly. On national television.
Cassie Werner, director of the Mountaineer Maniacs, told The Daily Athenaeum the student section helped the team come back from a late deficit to win the game.
"We did that without the unnecessary language," she said. "Moments like that, when our team pulls out a victory with the crowd rallying behind them, really make you proud to be a Mountaineer."
Ultimately, were the effects of the "Karen Sypher" chants any different than crude language used in the past?
Both displays are juvenile, disrespectful and hypocritical to what it means to be a WVU student, especially following a week of pleas for better behavior from WVU administration and coaches.
Yet, the chants continued, 10 times by the end of the game, despite repeated hand gestures by head coach Bob Huggins to stop.
Pitino made his bed. He’ll sleep in it the rest of his life. While our ability to judge another’s actions is another debate entirely, few have the right to punish.
The actions displayed against Pitino Saturday went above and beyond any normal, rowdy treatment of an opposing player or coach.
It wasn’t just playful fun to get into an opponent’s head. It was meant to hurt and to punish, which goes beyond what anyone would consider reasonable.
Pitino is no patron saint.
He’s caused a lot of consternation among Mountaineer fans in the past. He’s undoubtedly hurt those closest to him.
But he still deserved better from us.
27 comments
MURDER HIS *clap clap* CHILDREN *clap clap*This should REALLY get under his skin and possibly lead to not one but TWO technical fouls.
Doing research and finding out Evan Turner's mom's name and chanting it while he is shooting clutch free throws is creative. It's more creative than chanting "miss it" or just standing in silence while he shoots.
The DA and the way this town is handling this is an absolute joke.
2) It isn't as if we are the first student section that realized the man is an adulterer and decided to make fun of him because of it.
3) It's embarrassing to the university that you clowns continue to whine about things like this. My high school whined about things like this. The best student sections in the country are encouraging this behavior while you're trying to stop it. Friends from other schools are laughing at you, the administration and community, for trying to stop our behavior.