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Rick Pitino went to bed last evening unsure whether or not he would accept the Loserville coaching position. By noon today, after an 11:30 a.m. conversation with Kentucky Governor, Paul Patton, Pitino had decided to take a stake and drive it through the heart of his legacy at the University of Kentucky.
For weeks leading up to the decision, Pitino had stated that he was concerned that UK fans would hold him in disregard (or worse) if he decided to coach the arch rival of his former employer. In the end, Pitino would never realize the ramifications his decision would have on his career as a head coach, nor his stature within the Commonwealth.
When introducing Pitino at the press conference, Loserville AD Tommy Jurich did not hesitate to take a parting shot at his nemisis -- former Louisville coach Denny Crum. Calling the past year "the year from hell" and stating that Pitino was inheriting "a very difficult situation", Jurich did not attempt to veil in any niceties the fact that Crum had single-handedly destroyed the Loserville program with his inept recruiting and style of play. One might have expected that the coronation of "Benedict Rick" at Loserville might have given at least some morsel of credit to the departing Coach Crum -- who only spent 30 years in Loserville -- but instead, the event was billed as the master architect Pitino entering the scene to rebuild the ruins of his predecessor. One has to wonder if Boston Celtics fans who may have been watching the press conference were able to contain their laughter. Like UK fans, Celtic supporters are fluent in
Pitinoese, though Loserville fans have yet to learn this esoteric language.
When Pitino finally took the microphone, he shamelessly invoked his work within the Commonwealth for charitable causes such as poverty, cancer, and AIDS, as if the people he has betrayed should look beyond his treachery, to the causes at which he has thrown a relatively small percentage of his millions, to find forgiveness. Oddly it was Pitino himself who recently stated that basketball shouldn't be taken so seriously, and that it is "just entertainment". Yet, when convenient, Pitino found no harm in invoking serious social issues to justify his decision. Rest assured, most Kentuckians speak fluent Pitinoese, and will not allow Pitino to hide his treachery behind his past and passing acts of charity.
Once Slick Rick was able to move beyond his personal ego-stroking, he then reverted to the delusional thinking that had landed him on the Loserville podium in the first place. When asked if he had concerns about the sentiments of UK fans, Benedict again cited bogus internet and television survey results to bolster his claim that only a small percentage of UK fans would be unhappy with his decision, even as UK fans are actively planning a boycott of his business interests in the Commonwealth and a boycott of any of his future endorsements. Sadly, Slick also invoked the names of former UK basketball players who may have supported his decision. Hopefully these individuals who remain under Rick's spell will soon realize that they have fallen victim to a bad game of reverse psychology.
Ultimately, Benedict Pitino took a fatalistic approach to those who would begrudge his decision to betray the UK Basketball Empire. Stating that those who have hard feelings were never his friends in the first place, Pitino seemed resolved to watch the bridges in a basketball kingdom burn from Loserville. Pitino seriously believes that it was he who built the UK Dynasty, and that UK fans owe him an eternal debt of gratitude and worship for his accomplishments at UK. What Pitino fails to acknowledge is that UK fans have, and always would have, shown him just that sort of gratitude -- all that was asked from Rick in return for all of the adoration was that he preserve a sense of loyalty and respect for the UK program and its fans. But for Benedict Rick, like his namesake, principles of loyalty and friendship flow in one direction only -- from the giver to Slick's HUGE ego. There is no reciprocity. And wish as hard as he might, Pitino will learn that charitable contributions to worthy causes cannot mask the fact that he is a traitor in every sense of the word. He will find that he has seriously misjudged the lines of loyalty and the depth of the support of UK within the Commonwealth.
Perhaps the best comic relief during the press conference (as if the whole scene were not a tragic comedy in and of itself) came when after lavishing the state of Kentucky in praise and stating how much he and his darling wife loved living here, Pitino described Loserville as "a city with potential". This begs the question…"potential" for what? Potential to pick up some of the garbage on the streets? Potential to lower the crime rates? Potential to have something other than a losing basketball team with whore-mongering fans? Those who speak Pitinoese can translate this comment to "Your city sucks. I wish this place were Brooklyn."
Even though Kentucky fans retained hope through the bitter end of the Pitino legacy that he would change his mind, Benedict Rick would ultimately never see the Loserville situation as the "lose-lose" situation that it will be for him. If he succeeds in Louisville, and that is certainly no guarantee, even those duped UK fans who have unthinkably extended their forgiveness, will recoil in horror if his success is at the expense of UK. Slick has probably reasoned that if he wins in Loserville, there would be a "conversion" of the UK fan base in Loserville's favor and a groundswell of acceptance of his decision. On the contrary, this would be tantamount to spraying a wasp's nest with a water hose. However, if Pitino fails in Loserville, as he recently failed in Boston, then he becomes a laughingstock amongst UK faithful, and a failure in the eyes of the 20,000 or so Loserville fans within the state. In either scenario, Benedict Rick will lose. Rick's namesake, Benedict Arnold, had the luxury (or perhaps luck) to escape the wrath of those he betrayed by fleeing this country. Unlike Arnold, Benedict Pitino represents but a rebel barony within the Kingdom of Basketball -- trapped amongst his former subjects who would like nothing more than to see the former Emperor beheaded (figuratively speaking, of course).
However, UK fans may take solace in certain facts. Though Rick may believe differently, he did not create the UK basketball dynasty. His accomplishment in Lexington was to maximize the potential of the UK program in a manner it had not been since the days of Adolph Rupp who reared the Giant. Unlike Loserville, the UK program has been proven to be self-sustaining regardless of the name of the head coach. The words of the late Al McGuire seem appropriate for Slick Rick now. When commenting on UK's tradition of winning, McGuire stated, "they had it before you, they had it during you, and they will have it when you're gone." At the moment, Rick Pitino may be laughing at UK fans whom he recently has labeled as "small-minded". The last laugh, however, will be had by UK fans at Rick's expense and the first joke will be told at the Loserville v. UK game next December in Rupp Arena. (3/21/01)
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