Karen Sypher has been found guilty by a jury of her peers in Louisville, Kentucky today on all 6 counts she was charged with by the Federal Government. The problem with that verdict is that she is not the only one guilty here. Yes, Karen Sypher broke the law, and she should be punished for it, and she will, as the judge sees fit to do so. Hopefully, somewhere along the way, she gets the help that she really needs, to deal with a multitude of issues that I am not even going to try to analyze in this article. What concerns me is that the testimony that was brought out in the trial has placed a multitude of issues under  a microscope involving all of the parties to this fiasco, and their behavior as well.

Just to be honest here, Rick Pitino comes out of this trial looking a lot worse than I honestly expected him to, and most of it is of his own doing. In Rick's attempt to "tell the truth" as he swore to do, his "explanations" of his behavior, soundbites aside, were indicative of behaviors that, to be honest, are morally reprehensible. Of course, he is not alone in this, from Tim Sypher's behavior towards, and courtship of Karen Sypher, this thing plays out like a bad episode of Law & Order SVU. The only thing we didn't see played out over the course of this trial is what really happened that night, because both sides tell a very different story, and my guess is that the truth lies somewhere in-between. There are more issues concerning University of Louisville employees and how he manipulated them in this, all the way up to and including the man's own son, who was sent to Florida to remove him from the clutches of the media in Louisville, but this has become a national issue, so that was as much of a failure as the plans laid out by Pitino and Co. to deal with the Sypher situation.

While not completely surprised by all that I learned, I had my own "memories" of Rick Pitino disturbed by images in my head of what went down that night, and by the actions that followed. Karen Sypher is going to jail for her actions, and that is not only just, but fair for her part in this. What is not, is that for the most part, everyone else walks away free and clear, short of the damage to their reputations and marriages. I hope that those involved have learned what this type of behavior leads to. After all, these people are supposed to be teaching and instructing college students, not acting like them.