Saturday Quickies: Frat party brawl details emerge

The last 48 hours have been a mess for the Kentucky Wildcats football team. News broke on Thursday that six Kentucky football players had been charged with burglary and one player was charged with wanton endangerment. The details weren’t very forthcoming; all we knew is that the six players allegedly entered a frat house by force and that one of them had a gun.

Then on Friday at about 5:00 P.M. Eric Crawford from WDRB released an article that painted an extremely ugly, and scary, picture in terms of what may have happened at the frat party back in March.

Three members of the frat spoke to Crawford under the condition anonymity and told their side of the story. You can read the entire article for all of the details but the key points are this: the football players broke into the party uninvited and started indiscriminately beating people up, including multiple female party goers. They also allege that Vito Tisdale had a gun in the waistband of his basketball shorts and he pointed it at people as he was leaving the house in a car.

It’s important to understand that this is just one side of the story. The Kentucky football players have not had the opportunity to counter any of the allegations but some of them may have their day in court to do that.

At the very least this is another PR headache for Mark Stoops that has included an offseason with not one but two coaches facing legal issues off the field. Javon Bouknight struck a plea deal and Daniel Berezowitz had his charges dropped. Bouknight was reinstated to his position after being initially suspended without pay but Berezowitz still remains suspended.

Mark Stoops will speak with the media today after practice. He will be asked about all of this but he will be able to say that he cannot comment based on the legal proceedings, which is correct, but he should be able to clarify if the players are still practicing with the team. This is the last thing Stoops wants to be discussing as his team prepares to start the season two weeks from today.

I don’t think this incident and the ensuing back and forth will have much impact on the field this season. But the long-term effects on the program are yet to be seen. It’s the ugly truth that situations like these are more commonplace in college athletics, particularly football, than we like to admit. But it’s never easy when it’s your team that has to deal with it.

I was texting with a former football player yesterday afternoon and he told me that he and some of his teammates indeed had issues with the frat culture at UK and that he was involved in a fight at a frat house that did include a racial slur used against him. The frat brothers in this incident have denied that any racial slurs were used.

This is an ugly, ugly mess and I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon.

Remember when we were all talking about how Will Levis eats a banana? That was nice.

Tweet of the Day

That’s how you celebrate your commitment to UK!

Quickies

Dates set for Big Blue Madness and the Blue-White game | Cats Pause- The annual kickoff to Kentucky basketball will be on October 15th at 7:00 PM at Rupp Arena. It will be followed by the Blue-White scrimmage on October 22nd at the same time and place.

First Down Friday Scores | WDRB- High School football kicked off last night. College is right around the corner.

J.J. Weaver ahead of schedule | KSR- Weaver is a key component to the UK linebackers core and looks good as his recovery from a knee injury is ahead of schedule.

Predicting Mississippi State’s win/loss total | SDS- Why is MSU’s schedule predictions important? because they’re being picked to lose to Kentucky at home in Starkville, that’s why.

Big Ten, ACC, PAC 12 alliance to be announced in the coming week | CBS- They had to do something to counter Greg Sankey’s hostile takeover.

Reds beat Marlins 5-3 | Red Reporter- The Reds are still in the hunt for that final Wildcard spot.

Oregon and Oregon State to require vaccine proof | ESPN- They’re the first power five teams to require vaccination proof or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of attending a game. I wonder how many will follow?

10 biggest games of the NBA season | Sporting News- Plenty to look forward to here but doesn’t it feel like the season just ended?

Ja’Marr Chase continues to struggle with holding on to the ball | USA Today- Chase, the Bengals first round draft pick, struggled in his preseason game with three dropped passes.