Chicagoist: Rumble in Rosemont

Jeremy

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:44:15 -0600

I hold whistleblowers in the highest regard. But, Pearl was not a whistleblower. He was exacting revenge for not getting a heavily recruited player.

Joel

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:39:57 -0600

I don't think Bruce Pearl is a "victim" but they don't give out two year probations for "minor violations" either. Getting indignant about the one who blew the whistle doesn't really change the fact that there were violations.

mike

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:34:24 -0600

Somewhere, an AP Stylebook is looking at that shirt and getting the fantods.

Jeremy

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:05:53 -0600

Hmm. That's not exactly how the deal went down. The NCAA never sanctioned Illinois for anything regarding Deon Thomas. During the investigation of the Thomas affair (which could never be proven), they found other minor violations, and slapped them with "Lack of Institutional Control". In the process, the reputations of two coaches at Illinois were destroyed. Bruce Pearl is not the victim. If some man kept calling you in the middle of the night, bitter that you didn't sign with him, wouldn't you tell him anything he wanted to hear just to leave you alone? Who would actually think that he was illegally recording your conversations? And go find the transcripts. Thomas never says he got the money. Pearl asks him questions, and Thomas says things like, "Yeah, whatever."

e_five

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:55:53 -0600

I am a Loyola fan, and UWM is in our conference. You will be surprised how many UWM fans show up and their intensity level.