I know we will have a wide range of opinions on Dick Vitale on this board. Not too much new to say or argue about that hasn't been said since probably the AOL fan board days. Personally, I think his love of basketball is admirable. It's tough not to like him on some level. Not crazy about him but don't really care one way or another.
Anyways, I thought his sequence of tweets tonight was particularly ... ridiculous.
Literally every single tweet can be construed (very easily) as doing whatever it takes to defend Rick Pitino. I'm not even implying anything about the extent to which Pitino was or wasn't aware of. He appears willing (more than just today) to throw the entire university under the bus ... just not Pitino. Even his defense of the "innocent" players (who presumably are innocent in this case) can be construed as part of Pitino's preferred talking points, because he was supposedly unaware of the self-imposed ban and is obviously negatively affected by it.
It is pretty absurd that someone like Vitale is using the enormous platform that he has as a well-known and, yes, well-liked public figure to so blatantly and shamelessly try to steer the public's understanding of this unfolding story before anybody knows much of anything beyond the basics. Obviously Vitale and Pitino are friends and I wouldn't expect Vitale to be on the front lines criticizing him. But he is really sticking his neck out there to make a hard early P.R. push on Pitino's behalf, to absolve him of any responsibility here.
Vitale's first tweet above is absurd. It doesn't even really make sense, to be honest. Read strictly, the "fact" is only that a "source" told him that. That's either sloppy or a convenient 'out' in case the information turns out to be false. There's also nothing regarding what the supposed polygraph actually asked, and the way he just flippantly talks about a Power Five head coach and Hall of Famer taking a polygraph test as though it's perfectly normal -- well, it's strange. He's going strong at 11:30 p.m. with a tweet about Pitino, sex parties and polygraphs. That is a man who is personally invested in shaping public opinion, and that is flat-out wrong.
I'm sure Vitale can justify this in his own mind because he probably believes Pitino and believes he knows him well. To say nothing of the fact that Pitino has lied (multiple times) before, without question, Vitale shouldn't abuse his public platform like this. This is a real scandal and nobody knows the extent of it. The NCAA investigation is going to go on for a very long time and there is no telling what will be uncovered. Maybe not much more than is already known; maybe a lot more and a lot more on top of that.
It's a major national story and Pitino is a part of it. That he's even supposedly taking polygraph tests and is at a presser announcing a self-ban that he wasn't all in on -- and most of all the fact that he is the face of the very program under scrutiny -- it is very disappointing to see Vitale behaving this way. I don't think it's dishonest because I think he's very genuinely passionate about Pitino, and he's angry that he believes Pitino is being tarred in this way. He has allowed himself to get too close to somebody he is supposed to cover as objectively as possible. No shock, but this time it's not just Dickie V annoying UNC and UK fans with his praise Coach K. This time it's really an effort to undermine what should be an open, thorough, search-everything investigation. He can't protect Pitino from this and he's making himself look bad trying to.
This could be an investigation that lasts years. Who knows where it leads? How can anybody possibly take the man at the center of the program and rule out the possibility of his knowledge/involvement/negligence/responsibility? Whether Vitale has or hasn't explicitly touched on any of those things, he's made it clear that he does not want Pitino affected.
Anyways, I thought his sequence of tweets tonight was particularly ... ridiculous.
Literally every single tweet can be construed (very easily) as doing whatever it takes to defend Rick Pitino. I'm not even implying anything about the extent to which Pitino was or wasn't aware of. He appears willing (more than just today) to throw the entire university under the bus ... just not Pitino. Even his defense of the "innocent" players (who presumably are innocent in this case) can be construed as part of Pitino's preferred talking points, because he was supposedly unaware of the self-imposed ban and is obviously negatively affected by it.
It is pretty absurd that someone like Vitale is using the enormous platform that he has as a well-known and, yes, well-liked public figure to so blatantly and shamelessly try to steer the public's understanding of this unfolding story before anybody knows much of anything beyond the basics. Obviously Vitale and Pitino are friends and I wouldn't expect Vitale to be on the front lines criticizing him. But he is really sticking his neck out there to make a hard early P.R. push on Pitino's behalf, to absolve him of any responsibility here.
Vitale's first tweet above is absurd. It doesn't even really make sense, to be honest. Read strictly, the "fact" is only that a "source" told him that. That's either sloppy or a convenient 'out' in case the information turns out to be false. There's also nothing regarding what the supposed polygraph actually asked, and the way he just flippantly talks about a Power Five head coach and Hall of Famer taking a polygraph test as though it's perfectly normal -- well, it's strange. He's going strong at 11:30 p.m. with a tweet about Pitino, sex parties and polygraphs. That is a man who is personally invested in shaping public opinion, and that is flat-out wrong.
I'm sure Vitale can justify this in his own mind because he probably believes Pitino and believes he knows him well. To say nothing of the fact that Pitino has lied (multiple times) before, without question, Vitale shouldn't abuse his public platform like this. This is a real scandal and nobody knows the extent of it. The NCAA investigation is going to go on for a very long time and there is no telling what will be uncovered. Maybe not much more than is already known; maybe a lot more and a lot more on top of that.
It's a major national story and Pitino is a part of it. That he's even supposedly taking polygraph tests and is at a presser announcing a self-ban that he wasn't all in on -- and most of all the fact that he is the face of the very program under scrutiny -- it is very disappointing to see Vitale behaving this way. I don't think it's dishonest because I think he's very genuinely passionate about Pitino, and he's angry that he believes Pitino is being tarred in this way. He has allowed himself to get too close to somebody he is supposed to cover as objectively as possible. No shock, but this time it's not just Dickie V annoying UNC and UK fans with his praise Coach K. This time it's really an effort to undermine what should be an open, thorough, search-everything investigation. He can't protect Pitino from this and he's making himself look bad trying to.
This could be an investigation that lasts years. Who knows where it leads? How can anybody possibly take the man at the center of the program and rule out the possibility of his knowledge/involvement/negligence/responsibility? Whether Vitale has or hasn't explicitly touched on any of those things, he's made it clear that he does not want Pitino affected.
