Blowhard vitale: "People make mistakes."

[9fold]

For some reason, I turned on the auburn-kentucky game on espn. vitale is one of the announcers. They started talking about rumors of impropriety over the years with calipari and kentucky (e.g., derrick rose and sat scores) but that nothing had been founded. Then vitale brought up bruce pearl's transgressions at tennessee. vitale mentioned how pearl admitted his mistakes. Then vitale said, "Isn't this what our country is about -- second chances? People make mistakes." I fully expected him to apologize for boeheim, but I think the game got in the way.

Nauseating. vitale trashed Paterno, who was a bastion of integrity for six decades, and, in a difficult situation, followed the law and then stated, "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more." calipari is fine. pearl and boeheim deserve second chances and are excused for making mistakes. Joe gets fried for following the law.

vitale sucks.

 

[psu00]

I heard that too. Especially liked when he said 2 of Caliperi's 5 final four appearances (at different schools) were vacated but yet it wasn't Caliperi's fault because the ncaa never proved he was directly involved. I'm thinking- how many coaches have 2 of their 5 final four appearances vacated for severe ncaa violations and yet the coach is squeaky clean? He's depending on the same ncaa who didn't see anything wrong at Carolina.....until the Raleigh newspaper kept finding all the violations that went on for decades...and still the ncaa hasn't acted. Vitale's a hypocrit.

 

[9fold]

Originally posted by psu00:
I heard that too. Especially liked when he said 2 of Caliperi's 5 final four appearances (at different schools) were vacated but yet it wasn't Caliperi's fault because the ncaa never proved he was directly involved. I'm thinking- how many coaches have 2 of their 5 final four appearances vacated for severe ncaa violations and yet the coach is squeaky clean? He's depending on the same ncaa who didn't see anything wrong at Carolina.....until the Raleigh newspaper kept finding all the violations that went on for decades...and still the ncaa hasn't acted. Vitale's a hypocrit.

Good point about calipari and the Final Fours. Guys like calipari, pearl, and boeheim represent what is all wrong about college athletics, but vitale apologizes for them. This after he trashed Joe.

vitale is a joke.

 

[psu00]

Yep. The bottom line with espn personalities is that if a coach buddies up to them and buys them dinner (most famously being Raftery and Thompson at Georgetown years ago)- then the coaches are "good guys" and can do no wrong. Literally.

IIRC Pearl had a show cause at Tennessee- but he's a good guy.

Boeheim and Syracuse had all those violations but Vitale actually defended him not on the merits of the case but because he was 'a good guy who raises a lot of money for cancer research'. That's what he said the other night. Doesn't matter what Boeheim did because he raises money for cancer. Then he defended Boeheim by saying none of the violations were his fault since "he trusted other people to do their jobs" and he didn't personally change Syracuse players grades. He basically outlined a lack of institutional control while defending Boeheim.

Then, talking about a player with sexual assault charges pending against him, he said 'we have to wait for the legal process to play out' before commenting on it. This is all just in the last 1-2 weeks. His hypocrisy is unreal.

This post was edited on 3/14 1:48 PM by psu00

 

[Stargellfan]

Like a lot of people, Dick Vitale made a mistake in taking the Freeh Report as gospel when it was first released. Vitale actually took a lot of heat for defending Joe leading up to the Freeh Report's release. I also think he has walked back most of his criticism as the flaws of the Freeh Report have been brought to light. I think that Vitale has gone overboard in his defense of Jim Boheim, but given his friendship with the man it is hardly surprising. I don't think Vitale is a bad guy. I think for a brief time he bought into the narrative that Joe helped cover up Sandusky's crimes. I think he now realizes the the Freeh Report badly mischaracterized Joe's culpability.

This post was edited on 3/14 3:24 PM by Stargellfan

 

[9fold]

Originally posted by Stargellfan:
Like a lot of people, Dick Vitale made a mistake in taking the Freeh Report as gospel when it was first released. Vitale actually took a lot of heat for defending Joe leading up to the Freeh Report's release. I also think he has walked back most of his criticism as the flaws of the Freeh Report have been brought to light. I think that Vitale has gone overboard in his defense of Jim Boheim, but given his friendship with the man it is hardly surprising. I don't think Vitale is a bad guy. I think for a brief time he bought into the narrative that Joe helped cover up Sandusky's crimes. I think he now realizes the the Freeh Report badly mischaracterized Joe's culpability.

This post was edited on 3/14 3:24 PM by Stargellfan

It's disappointing when a guy like vitale, who has been around the block a few times, can do no better than blindly follow the mob. What about Joe's reputation leading up to the sandusky news in 2011 and 2012? What about freeh's reputation leading up to sandusky? None of that matters?

 

[LionwiththeDevil]

Vitale strokes those that feed him

He strokes all college BBall coaches. They are a close fraternity that take care of each other. Joe wasn't a BBall coach and he's not alive - easy target.

 

[Victor E. Bell]

Not only that...

But Joe wasn't a ballwasher for these people. He wasn't stroking their egos and kissing their ass. This has to be factored in when you consider some of what's been written about him. Joe pissed off a lotta people. Doesn't make what's been said right, or fair, but it's part of the whole picture.

 

[Stargellfan]

The point is that he didn't blindly follow the mob. Most of the world was ripping Joe from the time the scandal hit. Dick Vitale was very outspoken in his support of Joe until the Freeh Report came out, and he took a lot of heat for it. Let's face the fact that when the Freeh Report was released, 99% of people who were not associated with Penn State thought the Freeh Report definitively proved that Joe played an active role in covering for Sandusky. You can count on one hand the number of people who stood behind Joe the whole time. Ivan Maisel come to mind, but there are very few others. The only people I hold a grudge against are idiots like Dan Bernstein, Keith Olbermann, and Stephen A. Smith who refuse to amend their thinking, in spite of all the evidence that the Freeh Report is a joke.

 

[AJP]

Stargelfan You are 100% on the Mark I know DV personally and I am in his ear about Joe P all the time. About a 10 month after the Freeh BS report I had one of are former coaches over to Dicks house to talk to him about Joe and the real truth about the Freeh report. I believe that he is on the side of what's right and that he has a high regard for Joe and what he did for PSU. I can tell you that he has become a fan CJF

 

[belizediver]

Originally posted by Stargellfan:
The point is that he didn't blindly follow the mob. Most of the world was ripping Joe from the time the scandal hit. Dick Vitale was very outspoken in his support of Joe until the Freeh Report came out, and he took a lot of heat for it. Let's face the fact that when the Freeh Report was released, 99% of people who were not associated with Penn State thought the Freeh Report definitively proved that Joe played an active role in covering for Sandusky. You can count on one hand the number of people who stood behind Joe the whole time. Ivan Maisel come to mind, but there are very few others. The only people I hold a grudge against are idiots like Dan Bernstein, Keith Olbermann, and Stephen A. Smith who refuse to amend their thinking, in spite of all the evidence that the Freeh Report is a joke.

You can add Desmond Howard to your list after Smith

 

[9fold]

Re: Not only that...

Originally posted by Victor E. Bell:
But Joe wasn't a ballwasher for these people. He wasn't stroking their egos and kissing their ass. This has to be factored in when you consider some of what's been written about him. Joe pissed off a lotta people. Doesn't make what's been said right, or fair, but it's part of the whole picture.

True about Joe, but I never pictured boeheim as a "ballwasher". He probably has been better with the media than Joe was in his later years, but boeheim always seems to be all about boeheim. Of course, I don't know what these guys are like off-camera.

Regardless, it's still amazing to me that people ignored that freeh's name was on the report.

 

[CATTY]

Vitale should know, he failed as a coach not once but twice and the real losers are the ESPN fans that want to watch a game but are exposed to his self serving garbage. I turn the sound off.
This post was edited on 3/14 4:56 PM by CATTY

 

[Victor E. Bell]

True, but...

It's Syracuse, the ESPN class reunion. If he coached somewhere else you'd probably see a whole different vibe around him.

This post was edited on 3/14 4:59 PM by Victor E. Bell

 

[ChiTownLion]

Looking at his tweets, it seems Vitale was initially outraged by the graphic nature described in the GJP and allowed his emotions to agree with the firing of JVP.

Then, Vitale got some perspective and placed the blame on Sandusky. This position was further reinforced when Coach K came out in defense of Joe Paterno.

Alas, the Freeh Report came out, and that's when it seems Dickie V was gone for good.

RT @DickieV: Getting ready 4 halftime with Bruce Pearl @karlravechespn #Champweekselfie @espnmbb

@DickieV and "Paterno"

 

[bohucon]

Boeheim and Vitale are good buddies and go back a long way...

 

[pap17754]

Calling Vitale a hypocrite is an upgrade.

When he is at the game, I have to turn it off , I cannot stand his hyping players who probably should not be in college. ESPN needs to have some standards in their employment practices.

 

[Stargellfan]

I can't believe I forgot about Desmond Howard. I would also add Joey Galloway as well.

 

[butchnitt]

Dickie V is only person in HOF with less than 100 (college) wins and about .300 in NBA coaching.

Got in HOF because of his "mouth". Can you say "Give Me The Rock" and other catchy phrases?