The First Championship Banner LOWERING Ceremony?

Tweet

Today the NCAA lowered the boom on the University of Louisville's men's basketball program. U of L has been embroiled in a scandal over the past couple of years after a woman wrote a book called Breaking Cardinal Rules, in which she detailed (explicitly) how she supplied strippers and women who provided sexual favors for recruits. Now, before I go any further, I need to explain what basketball is in Kentucky. It's not right to call it a religion. That's too tame. I've often joked that the local media would cover the end of the world by saying, "We begin with Rick Pitino's reaction to the end of the world and how it'll affect the upcoming U of L basketball season." If you think I'm exaggerating, let me point out that today Louisville's former mayor, Dave Armstrong, died. Guess what the lead story has been on all four local channels' news coverage? Sorry for your luck, dying on the wrong day, Mr. Mayor. I heard on the news that a number of Congressional representatives (mainly Republicans) have been getting death threats since the shooting yesterday. The woman who wrote Breaking Cardinal Rules has been getting death threats from U of L fans since before the book was even published. There are people dancing for joy (University of Kentucky fans) while the U of L fans are on suicide watch. Seriously. Part of the penalties announced today is that U of L is that all games in which "ineligible" players (that is, anyone who got the sexual favors, which is considered a "benefit," is not eligible to play because that voids their "amateur" status) participated. That's going to total 115 victories that will be wiped off of U of L's record (and Rick Pitino's). Additionally -- and this is what has the fans on suicide watch -- U of L also faces vacating 15 NCAA tournament victories. That includes the six victories in 2013, when they won the national title. Naturally, everyone is saying the punishment is "way too harsh." I certainly understand that punishing the players who had nothing to do with it is awful. And the guilty waltz off scot free. (I remember when U of L's biggest rival, the Kentucky Wildcats, were caught cheating in the late 80s and nearly given the "death penalty." While the team suffered under a new head coach [coincidentally, it was Rick Pitino], the coach who'd overseen the violations, Eddie Sutton, was fired...and quickly went to another university, got a job, and went to NCAA tournaments.) However, there's a reason these penalties are so stiff. Actually, there are two. The first reason is that, like the penalties, the crime is unprecedented. This is a case of "we're a big-name school and we can do whatever we please." We aren't talking Weber State or Southwestern North Dakota State Junior College here. There are certain universities whose programs are almost synonymous with a sport: think of college football, think of Alabama ("they call Alabama the Crimson Tide," Steely Dan sang in "Deacon Blues") or Notre Dame. Think of college basketball, and there's the best-of-the-best teams like Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, and -- even though they haven't been that successful lately -- UCLA. Louisville is in that category: a program that people want to come to, led by a Hall of Fame coach. Play for Louisville, you're going to get noticed by professional scouts. You can't expect some mid-major or division II school to get away with an assistant hiring hookers to appease the recruits thinking about coming to thath college, so why would the NCAA let one of the biggest names in the sport get away with it? As we hear about politicians and celebrities currently under criminal scrutiny, NO ONE is above the law. This makes that clear. More significantly, though, is the fact that this wasn't merely a bunch of college boys having a frat party that someone else paid for. Some of these recruits who participated in the sex were sixteen years old. If we get outraged when a teacher has sex with one of her students, no matter how consensual it is, then we simply cannot let a big-name university get away with it because the guys are going to play basketball and let us win a title, bay-bee!!! (In best Dick Vitale voice). In a press conference today the leadership of U of L was defiant, saying they were going to appeal everything. (This, after admitting guilt last year by self-imposing a ban from postseason play.) If they lose the appeal they most likely will have to remove their 2013 National Championship banner from the rafters at the KFC Yum! Arena. I truly am sorry for the players who had no part of this. However, the integrity of college sports has to be upheld. We have to get this "win at any cost" mentality out of sports -- especially college sports, because it's definitely sending the wrong message for life after college.