Who is really dying? Lamar Odom or Rick Pitino?
By Glenn Mollette
Lamar Odom’s drug overdose and weekend frolic in a Las Vegas house of prostitution made national headlines. News reports indicate that he is better and that his divorce to Khloe Kardashian has been called off. They are going to give it a second chance. If I were a betting man I would wager there is some sort of weird new reality show in the mix for both persons that will rake in several million dollars. Huh? How is that even possible? In the crazy mixed up world of Hollywood and reality television it seems that there are no scruples when it comes to sanity. Is there really a chance that Lamar Odom will live happily ever after? If an average person went through Odom’s near death scenario with a national media frenzy attached to it he would probably have rather just died than face all of the public scrutiny. It’s a different world though in Hollywood. The Kardashians have no shame and will cash in on anything even if it means releasing a sex tape in order to jumpstart a career. In reality Odom can once again fly high.
I don’t see this happening for Rick Pitino of the University of Louisville Cardinal basketball team. Andre McGee, a graduate assistant basketball coach for Louisville, who has moved on to another team, is accused of arranging prostitutes for incoming basketball recruits. Crazy stuff has been written about McGee by one of the prostitutes whose name I will not mention in a book I will not mention. The prostitute alleges that she did stripper parties arranged by McGee for incoming freshman player recruits and that she and her daughters were allegedly paid money by McGee to engage in sexual acts with some of the players. I’ve seen Pitino on television and he does not look good. Pitino and most of the people associated with the Cardinal team swear they know nothing of the allegations. Pitino has demanded that McGee come forward, come clean and set the record straight. He is the only one who knows the real story according to Pitino.
Sports commentators and radio DJs have been calling for Pitino’s resignation. Personally I don’t see how a coach can know everything that is going on with all of his staff and players. I certainly do not believe that Pitino had anything to do with the arrangement of such shenanigans nor did he know anything about them. The prostitute has stated that she never saw Pitino at any of the events.
Things are different in Louisville than they are in Las Vegas or Hollywood. If coach Pitino is beheaded because of Andre McGee’s horrendously bad judgment then this will probably be the end of his hall of fame basketball career. And while Odom allegedly blew $75,000 in a hotel brothel he will probably come back with several million. McGee allegedly spent $10,000 on the Louisville prostitutes. It could put U of L on probation, cost Pitino his multi-million basketball contract and sour the entire season for the Louisville cardinal basketball team or even several seasons.
I hope Odom truly recovers and that maybe his life will start a positive upward direction. I can only hope that Louisville’s nightmare will eventually end and that Pitino and the basketball program can once again regain normalcy.
However when looking at these two different basketball personalities it’s uncertain today who is dying.
Glenn Mollette is an American Syndicated Columnist and Author. He is the author of eleven books and read in all fifty states.
(This column does not necessarily reflect the view of any organization, institution or this paper or media source.)
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