The Worst of Bleacher Report Comes Out with Rick Pitino Stories

Let me be the first one to say that Bleacher Report is an awesome Web site. It has allowed me to be adequately communicate my opinions, frustrations, and make some new contacts as well.

I do realize that the site is built for amateurs just looking to have a voice, and I applaud the creators for building such a wonderful site.

Yet, recently I've found two articles that have been written about Rick Pitino that absolutely have no merit or basis whatsoever. And while most of the comments on the two articles written call the article a joke, there will be people who actually read the article and may believe it is true.

The articles in question are one written by Alie Reynolds titled "Rick Pitino Extortion Attempt False, Truth Comes Out."

Her position on the case and the actual article is rather short with no credible sources used. Her first point was the fact that Karen Sypher, the soon to be ex-wife of equipment manager Tim Sypher, is not an extortionist.

Reynolds then claims to have spoken to a credible source about the situation and attorney Tom Clay.

She claims the reason Pitino is supposedly coming out now is because apparently he made a mistake five-and-a-half years ago and is now accused of sexually taking advantage of Ms. Sypher.

Her reasoning is that because Pitino has money, fame, and power so the media will automatically support his claim and not believe Karen's story.

When fellow Bleacher Report members began to question this story, the author, Reynolds, began to get flustered and ensued with comments about it being rape and that Pitino paid for an abortion.

The problem with this is according to most of the other recent Pitino articles written, such as the one titled "More Details Emerge in Pitino Extortion Case" by Eric Crawford from Apr. 18, Karen Syhper's attorney is quoted as saying, "there is a federal investigation going on, and there may be criminal charges placed against her as a result of what coach Pitino has brought to the attention of the FBI.

"There are no counter allegations, and as far as I am concerned this criminal investigation is going to proceed to a logical conclusion and I hope that we can put this matter behind us as quickly as possible.”

Crawford even mentioned that the FBI has interviewed Sypher, and that Clay wasn't willing to divulge any more details.

Also mentioned in the article was the reason why Pitino went public about the situation.

Pitino is quoted as saying “While I did not want to make this matter public, I recently learned that the individual behind this extortion attempt has already gone to the media with false, defamatory and outrageous allegations in an attempt to pressure me to cave in to this scheme.”

Louisville’s Athletic Director Tom Jurich and president Jim Ramsey are sticking to Pitino by offering their support.  “The University of Louisville supports Coach Pitino and his family,” Ramsey has said. “We stand by his decision to report this matter to the authorities and will now leave this criminal investigation in the hands of the FBI.”

Neither Ramsey nor Jurich made any other comments on the matter.

In every single section of the Crawford article, "More Details Emerge in Pitino Extortion Case", knocks out every single point made in the Reynolds article, "Rick Pitino Extortion, Truth Comes Out.”

Thankfully, the article written by Reynolds has been since deleted considering the fact that none of the information produced the article made any sense.

Then another article recently written titled "Rick Pitino Reportedly Abusing Power in Extortion Case" by Jonathan Lintner went on to state, "Sources with this story went on the record, then asked to return to anonymity. This article will return at an appropriate time with names and supporting quotes."

Which basically means, Lintner wrote an article that had bogus claims and since other members of the B/R community called him out on it, he edited the story to the point it is at now.

Now, Lintner has written another article titled, "The Unofficial Rick Pitino Extortion Rumors"

And let me tell you, some of them are beyond bizarre.

Additionally, on CBS.com’s article about the situation on Apr. 20, it stated that the supposed station that received the tape from Sypher would not air it because they were actually being responsible and could not verify what Sypher had said.

The only thing Sypher has said was this "all I want is for the truth to come out." That is all.

There's been no mention to anything at all about what the exact information of the situation is and the rumors swirling around Bleacher Report have become ridiculous.