Let's All Watch The Media Fumble Helplessly On The Pitino Story

So, obviously, this is the only story today. But is anyone else finding it odd how it's being covered? Go ahead, do a Google News search. "Pitino Paid For Woman's Abortion." Every headline is some variant of that.

But I would argue the abortion is the fourth most important piece of info here, behind, in some order: Pitino slept with Sypher, Sypher alleged she was raped and police decided there was no merit to her claims.

This was a tough one for the media. There have been so many rumors flying around that we felt like we knew all of this before it got confirmed last night. But nothing's actually been reported yet, because there haven't been any facts to go on.

We knew Pitino said he thought this all stemmed from an "encounter" in 2003. We knew Sypher filed a complaint with the sex crimes division. Heck, we knew that's Sypher's son up there, holding a sign asking "What's the price of an abortion?" We all put the pieces together. Problem is, you just can't report that until you have hard info.

So now that we do, why is it the abortion aspect of this story that's jumping out at people? It's the one part of this story that's a real surprise. We're accustomed to our athletes cheating on their wives. It's nothing new to see them accused of rape. And, almost as often, we see the cases against them fall apart.

But abortion's a new one. I can't remember a single story where it played a major role, and make no mistake, Kentucky's a part of the country where this is a BIG deal to many people. It's a novelty to sportswriters, and one they're not entirely prepared to deal with. So in the days and weeks ahead, expect to see that dominating the ledes even though, not coincidentally, it's the one part of this that Pitino least wanted to get out.