EZ The Blog

When a washed-up sports radio host has only one outlet left.

Just hours after Rick Pitino told the local media that all underclassmen players were returning to the Louisville basketball team for the 2010 season (and their brand new KFC Yum! Center), Samardo Samuels may be doing otherwise, but I doubt it.

Over the last three hours, the big scuttlebutt has been exactly whether or not Samuels has declared for the NBA Draft.  The Jamaican Basketball Association issued a release saying just that (click here to read it).  Disclaimer: please TAKE IT FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH.  There are misspellings and misinformation in the release (I’m pretty sure Louisville didn’t make the Final Four).

According to many mock drafts, Samuels may not even get drafted.  Samuels doesn’t show up in DraftExpress.com’s latest mock draft.

My guess is that he’s just testing the waters–declaring for the draft this year, coming back, then going for sure next year.  But who really knows?  The press release, based on grammar alone, is not nearly enough for me to make a really good guess.  But, it’s a guess nonetheless.

But the bigger story is the perception that was created of some lack of communication between Pitino and, arguably, his best returning player.  Only five hours transpired between Pitino saying all players were coming back, and Samuels declaring for the NBA Draft.  Even if Samuels was only testing the waters, I’m pretty sure Pitino would’ve said something about it at his press conference earlier today.

A very bizarre afternoon in Louisville.

(h/t Adam Zagoria at ZagsBlog.com)

To me, it’s funny and not all that brutal, but my goodness–Rick Pitino was mad last night, and Ralph Willard may have got the brunt of it.  Steve Masiello, literally, was taken aback by it.  Make your own observations.

The spincycle got a nice little run at the Yum Center Wednesday during Louisville head men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino’s standard day-before-the-game press conference.

Pitino said that his team’s goal is to make it to 10 conference victories (video of the presser, thanks to the Courier-Journal, is below).

I got news for Pitino.  Ten wins ain’t gonna cut it.  But that’s probably not news to Pitino.  He’s HAS to know that’s not enough, right?

The table to the right is Ken Pomeroy’s (KenPom.com) projection for Louisville the rest of the way which also predicts an eight-loss Big East slate.  The projections also show one win over ANYONE IN THE TOP 40 CURRENTLY–a home win over Georgetown (white suit optional).

This is NOT a NCAA Tournament-worthy resume.

Now, it probably won’t go like this.  No Rick Pitino-coached team ever does the predictable.

But take a look again at that remaining schedule–slice it however you want–and tell me how the Cardinals get into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large with just 10 Big East victories (and an 18-12 regular season mark).  They’d have to get to the championship game of the conference tournament to have a shot.

Watch Pitino here:

I just don’t know if it’s my place to start making rash judgments about Rick Pitino or anyone else regarding this big extortion case (starring allegations or rape and abortion). But, it’s time for me to start trying to make a little sense of this.

Should I? Nah.

Well… okay.

So let me get this all straight.

Rick Pitino had sex with someone other than his wife, allegedly knocks her up. Okay, I’ve got that.

Then, just three weeks later, Karen Cunagin says she’s pregnant with Pitino’s child? Now, I’m no expert in the world of pregnancy, but that’s awful fast, isn’t it? Okay, whatever.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard nothing about Pitino ordering a paternity test, have you? And wouldn’t you have that done? I mean, I’m sure Rick doesn’t want to start a paper trail of his “indiscretion,” but if the baby isn’t his, doesn’t this become something a little smaller than police reports and extortion allegations?

Moving on.

So Cunagin alleges rape in this encounter, then out of the kindness of her heart, contacts her alleged rapist to let him know that she’s pregnant. That’s awful sweet.

Okay, okay. To save me from confusing you and, frankly, myself any further, I’m going to work under the assumption that there was no rape involved.

Moving on.

Then Pitino has Cunagin meet him at the equipment manager’s condo? Tim Sypher is this guy’s name.

At this condo, Pitino tells Cunagin “here’s three g’s” for health insurance or something else.

Everyone following along?

So Tim Sypher becomes some sort of middle man in all this. Cunagin gets an abortion. Cunagin and Sypher fall madly in love and get married.

Sorry, but this brings up more confusion for me.

So, if I’m accurate (disclaimer: I’m probably not), Pitino keeps the mistress tied to his basketball program with the presence of Tim Sypher.

Why? Wouldn’t you want to cut off all ties to your “indiscretion” as much as possible?

Pardon me if all the dots aren’t quite connecting.

And I guess they shouldn’t. It’s not my business anyway.

Just wonder how it will go with fans over the next few months or so.

p.s. if Porcini restaurant was a stock, I would’ve bought it the second this came out. That’s got to be good pub for them, right?

Turns out I can run what’s called an “Analytics Report” on my blog. I don’t really know what all that means. All I know is that I am now privy to what the most clicked-on stories are on EZTheBlog.com.

Here are the top three as of Wednesday, May 27th:

(1) The local media and Pitino – April 24th, 2009
(2) Jodie Meeks to stay in NBA Draft? – May 26, 2009
(3) U of L allegedly screwing with a Derby party – May 22, 2009

Good news: more clicks recently.

Another tidbit: controversy equals clicks.

Now, someone go find me another good controversy.

Well, let’s just say it’s been a tough year for the University of Louisville when it comes to publicity.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the athletic department threw head basketball coach Rick Pitino a personal party for taking the attention away from Kragthorpe’s second bowl-less season in a row Athletic Director Tom Jurich’s public riff with radio host Adam Neft Jurich’s feud with 93.9 The Ticket the tough year that the department has been through. I really feel for everyone involved, including Jurich, who obviously knows what he’s doing and is looking out for what’s best for his program. It’s just been a bad year. We all have those, don’t we?

Of course, the Pitino extortion case doesn’t help much in the publicity department either.

And while this may not have as much to do with the Athletic Department, the university is in hot water with a sports-related event (when it rains, it pours–I guess).

According to TheVilleVoice.com, the popular Mint Jubilee Derby Eve Gala organizers, mainly Jubilee trademark owner Chris Thieneman, are filing a lawsuit against the University of Louisville for trademark infringement, among many other things.
Here’s what Rick Redding writes:

Thieneman wants next year’s event to benefit a charity operated by Norton Healthcare, which has a strained relationship with U of L thanks to a dispute over brain surgeons. But it also treats a lot of cancer patients, and it’s important to the Mint Jubilee co-founders (Chris, his brother Tom Thieneman and Hollywood producer Matt Battaglia) that the gala make money for cancer treatment.

Now U of L is refusing to sign the agreement and, according to Thieneman, refusing to answer calls about the issue after it got a letter from a California legal entity retained by Battaglia specializing in trademark law. The law firm’s letter asked U of L to respond by today, May 22.

There’s much more to this story. Click here to check out the rest of TheVilleVoice.com post.