Character Reinstated

[UKBOO]

If you can't beat them, reinstate them!!

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071217/SPORTS02/71217019/1002/SPORTS


Sad.. RP used to have something special.

[crazzedcats22]

wasn't he suspended indefinitely like 15 minutes ago?

[UKBOO]

Shorter than that. One loss ago.

[Doug Hardin]

Sometimes I think Greg Doyel is the worst kind of sportswriter there is: The kind of writer who rips coaches and athletes for no reason and is excessively negative and virulent in every column.

Then I read this one he wrote about Pitino's handling of Caracter and thoroughly enjoyed it.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/story/10532738

[uk_student06]

Sometimes I think Greg Doyel is the worst kind of sportswriter there is: The kind of writer who rips coaches and athletes for no reason and is excessively negative and virulent in every column.

Then I read this one he wrote about Pitino's handling of Caracter and thoroughly enjoyed it.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/columns/story/10532738


I'll have to give a golf clap for this article. Although, I still hate doyell.

[lighthouse]

This is unbelievable, and a horrible message to send to young people.

[uk_student06]

This is unbelievable, and a horrible message to send to young people.

I say better them that us. I think it just makes it that much better that it's happening down I-64.

On the other hand we have BCG that doesn't deal with any bologna or prima donna's.

But I do agree, horrible message.

[KY Native in IN]

can anybody actually say they're shocked at this?

rick just got beat by dayton AND purdue...he's gotta do something to stop the bleeding....even if it means re-instating a n'er do well like character

was it just me, or did Rick say when he got that job they'd never be out of the top 20 or something like that?

[UKBOO]

^^
Of the two, I'll take how Coach has handled it. It will pay off in the long run.
Selling out will do nothing but hurt in the long run.

Character knows he has RP by the..... numbers.

[wildcat74]

Just win baby. It would not surprise me to see Pitino pull a Petrino this or next year, he has lost his 'team control' touch, amongst others. I had to do a double take when I read he had essentially amounted to asking the team for permission to suspend the character.

[crazzedcats22]

Great article, I think it's the first time I have agreed with him!

[KY Native in IN]

Just win baby. It would not surprise me to see Pitino pull a Petrino this or next year, he has lost his 'team control' touch, amongst others. I had to do a double take when I read he had essentially amounted to asking the team for permission to suspend the character.

you have to wonder how long he's gonna stay at L-ville....he's not one to stay anywhere too long....

[bleedblue22]

Why did Pitino even suspend him, if he's already back? Oh yeah they got beat again Saturday!

[BlueBalls]

Its amazzing how quick a kid can turn his life around after a couple of losses.......

[lilproUK98]

Good! I hope he isn't suspended for the UK/UL game. That way Patrick can stick 3 fouls on him in 40 seconds and totally dominate the dough boy, or DC or whatever his name is lol. If you can't tell, I'm going to thoroughly enjoy watching #54 take Caracter to school and show him what a real man is. :)

...Hopefully our guys will pass Patrick the ball lol.

[jkeller]

Its amazzing how quick a kid can turn his life around after a couple of losses.......

Like Paris Hilton being "born again" after one day in prison, living through the hardships of being denied her moisturizing body lotion....

[jkeller]

can anybody actually say they're shocked at this?

rick just got beat by dayton AND purdue...he's gotta do something to stop the bleeding....even if it means re-instating a n'er do well like character

was it just me, or did Rick say when he got that job they'd never be out of the top 20 or something like that?

Their basketball season is starting to mirror their football season: pre-season title contender.......and fading fast:icon_twisted:

[TrueblueCATfan]

Anybody that can't set an alarm clock to get himself up needs to be sent home to mommy..let her get him a application for Burger King......cut your ties with this kid slicky Ricky..he is turning out to be nothing but trouble

[UKBOO]

I just realize what bothers me the most about this.
RP could have taken care of this internally. He could have suspended the kid indefinitely, and made the game day choice. He could have told the media it was a coaches choice in a post game interview. He could have said the kid violated a term of his contract and it would be game to game until he made amends. He could have ended the conversation there. Airing this out in public only adds to a poor public opinion of the kid. A great way to lose a kid is to keep telling them how bad they are. I'm not one of those softy libs. I believe in firm control. But you tell a kid what they did is bad. You don't tell them THEY are bad. And to do it at a news conference called just for the occasion?
Now, Pitino is going back on the commitment he made to the kid. NO ONE is buying his load. One thing is for sure. Character won't be dipping into his pockets to buy some.

Why is he going to such great lengths to try to make himself look like something he is not?

[catdmd]

So glad he is not our problem. He is a huge problem and distraction. We've certainly had our share of "distraction" players. Players that are more concerned about themselves than they are the team or the program.

[Buck_Naked]

Absolutely no surprise at all.....he wants that 500th win, period.

[poodoo]

"I was not going to play him in the Dayton game," Pitino said. "I was 100 percent sure not to play him. It was going to be a while before he stepped on the basketball court."
So this is what Rick Pitino -- that leader, that molder of men -- did. He went to his team and asked for their permission to suspend Caracter.
They said no. QUOTE by Doyel
************

So he played after signing the contract Pitino presented to him before the Dayton game on that Saturday, which included the rule that he would not miss curfew. As Doyel goes on to say, Caracter promptly missed curfew that very night AND when caught, slipped out again omly a few hours later. Now that sounds like a real MAN (and perhaps to laugh in Pitino's face that way is just that in a rather warped way).

As I had posted last Tuesday when I had originally read about Caracter's indefinite suspension in the CJ, on just the Monday before that Tuesday article, almost unbelievably, the CJ had published another article quoting the coach of a 2009 top-five recruit named Stephenson.

As I posted, that coach was quoted as wanting the young man to commit to Pitino and Louisville right now BECAUSE he so admires how Pitino handles his program, specifically, how he has handled Caracter and developed him INTO A MAN. Yeah, right. :icon_mrgreen: I cannot help but wonder if Doyel has also read that coach's comments about Pitino.

As I posted after reading the Tuesday CJ article, I had told my husband that Pitino was looking very foolish, besiides seemingly abandoning his true discipline for the purpose of WINNING.

Doyel is totally on target here. I STILL cannot get over the ridiculous sequence of circumstances here. Caracter basically laughed in Pitino's face and defied his authority as he KNEW, based on his having gotten to play against Dayton after having violated team rules, that he could violate his contract signed that very day TWICE in that twenty-four-hour period and STILL play (after missing a game, that is). As sardiscat posted in that thread, Pitino disallowed him from living in the dorm with the other guys, which made sardidcat say there's perhaps no more caught curfew violations for the young man. :icon_mrgreen:

I'm honestly disappointed in Pitino here--and honestly surprised, by the way. To a writer's credit and also surprisingly to me, CJ columnist Rich Bozich even wrote that Caracter should be "gone." Instead, Caracter sat out a game. He must be a MAN on the court. GO CATS! GO COACH G!