The second week of the trial of Karen Sypher, accused of extorting money and other things of value from Rick Pitino kicked off with some “kiss and tell” testimony.

An ex-husband and two ex-lovers, one of whom was Sypher’s attorney prior to her indictment in April 2009, gave testimony that could seriously derail her defense, according to Louisville’s courier-journal.com and the Lexington Herald Leader.

Sypher and Pitino had one night of sex in 2003, out of which came Sypher’s allegations of rape and subsequent alleged attempts at extortion for her silence about the University of Louisville men’s basketball coach.

Rick Pitino on the stand: sex with Sypher was brief and unfortunate

The saddest testimony came from her former lawyer, Dana R. Kolter who took his client’s word about the rape allegations and sought to work out a settlement with Pitino in order to avoid filing a civil lawsuit against him.

Kolter who crossed ethical boundaries by having sex with a client while representing her, said the suit he threatened to bring might not have been allowed by a court.

“I don’t know if I would have won that argument,” said Kolter on the stand Monday. He also testified that he tried to get her psychological counseling, because he thought, “…her eggs were scrambled.”

Tim Sypher calls ex-wife’s rape allegations, “craziness”

Another lover took the stand on Monday and told the jury that within days of her being charged with extortion, he met with Karen Sypher to ask about the situation.

Tyree Fields, a former basketball talent scout met Sypher in 2008 at which time they began an affair. She was still marreid to her latest ex-husband, Tim Sypher in 2008.

By the spring of 2009 they were merely friends and Fields’ testimony on Monday indicated Sypher knew what she had done. “Her response to me was that it was stupid, I shouldn’t have done it,” said Fields on the stand.

Rick Wise, a two-time ex-husband of Sypher’s (they divorced in 1984, remarried in 1986 and divorced again in 2002) testified on Monday. According to Wise, he declined to meet with her to discuss her money demands from Pitino prior to her arrest.

He told the court that once Karen was arrested, he suggested she take a plea deal to which she told him, ““If I am going down, I am going to take Pitino with me.’”

Testimony resumes on Tuesday.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Robert Guerrero’s nickname is the Ghost and yet it was his opponent that was hard to find in the ring.

Guerrero 27-1-1 18KOs, won a ten round unanimous decision against Joel Casamayor 37-5-1 22KOs, on the under card of the Marquez vs. Diaz II bout in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Casamayor looked at this fight as perhaps his last chance to demonstrate he could still hold his own against a fighter with a future as a champion. He did nothing to advance that intention.

At 39 years old with his best days behind him, he took on a good friend in Guerrero, 27 who he had mentored some years ago.

Two judges scored the fight 98-89 with the third seeing a 97-90 contest. From the lopsided scores you would have assumed it was a dominating performance by Guerrero, but you would be wrong.

Landing only an average of 5 punches per round, Casamayor looked like he was waiting for Guererro to make him have to work. Guerrero barely obliged him.

After the tenth and final round, during which Casamayor actually knocked down Guerrero on what appeared to be nothing more than a hard jab, the referee congratulated him for engaging his opponent for once in the fight.

Guerrero landed more punches but as a percentage of his total thrown he didn’t fare much better than Casamayor at 18%. The vast majority were jabs without much behind them.

There were two explanations given for his lackluster showing, by the TV announcers on the HBO PPV telecast. One was that Casamayor is known to be a head butter and Guerrero stayed away in fear of that.

The second explanation put forth by Emanuel Steward was less flattering to Guerrero. He looked at the fight and saw Casamayor as ripe for the picking, if only Guerrero would have stepped in and thrown a few punches in combination once he landed jabs that he kept throwing and landing.

Based on his jabs landing, Guerrero won the fight. This was nothing more than a victory rather than what he hoped would be a demonstration of his readiness to take on a more top level boxing opponent.

When Guerrero was knocked down late in the tenth and final round, he looked stunned after having been so kind to Casamayor throughout. His corner had bragged that their fighter had never been knocked down in the ring or out of it in training.

Welcome to the canvas young man. Try and explain why you fought at the pace of your aging and almost skill-less opponent and got tagged as the fight was winding down.

Guerrero was the sentimental favorite on the night since he had taken time away from the ring to care for his wife who contracted cancer. He helped care for the couple’s two young children and assisted his wife fight her own fight. Her cancer is now in remission.

For Golden Boy this couldn’t have been a pleasant sight. They were touting this under card for the Marquez-Diaz rematch as if it was a gift from God.

Jorge Linares dominates Rocky Juarez in unanimous decision

In the earlier fight between Jorge Linares and Rocky Juarez, the crowd was listless and started booing due to the lack of action in the ring.

They had to endure the same pace and lack of hard punching in Guerrero’s win against Casamayor.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

What’s missing from the daily news cycle as the NFL training camps open? The yearly angst about whether Brett Favre will retire or return for another season.

Instead we have been treated to our daily dose of LeBron James ever since he played his final game in the 2010 NBA playoffs.

The King has been the featured daily news hog as a result of his “Decision”, the fallout from it and the ESPN.com article that chronicled his night out in Vegas.

LeBron’s Vegas chronicle pulled by top brass

Brett Favre has been reduced to the size he should have been for the last three years. It’s a story that titillates only once and maybe twice.

For some, the third time is the charm but for news of Brett Favre’s Decision, it is strike three, you’re out. Thank you to all that is holy.

Two years ago we suffered through his retirement, his ugly divorce from Green Bay, a flirtation with their rivals the Minnesota Vikings and his ultimate arrival on the door step of the New York Jets.

Packers finally tell Favre to stay home

Last summer it was the will-he-or-won’t-he sign with the Vikings after a less than triumphant end of season in New York. The daily reports of flights to and from Hattiesburg were spellbinding for some, while others tried to suppress their gag reflexes.

Vikings fans sick of the Favre indecision

The current news on Favre is none. Just the same old photos of him throwing a football to high school students near his home in Mississippi, without it pointing one way or another to his return to the NFL.

He had the necessary surgery he said he wouldn’t undergo if he didn’t intend to return. We’ve been treated to the obligatory orations about him trying to recover enough to help a team again.

Kurt Warner shows Brett Favre how to retire with dignity

What’s new this time, other than the absence of interest in the story, is that his head coach has been honest about it all.

Brad Childress, Vikings head coach said that once Brett leaves home, he’d only need two to three weeks to ready himself to start a new NFL season.

That arrival would have him missing all of training camp and after the pre-season games were already in full swing. Hey, let poor Tavaris Jackson play the meaningless contests, right.

There you have it. Someone who finally gets the drama out of the way and speaks the obvious. The guy doesn’t want to attend training camp. Period.

No one thinks he won’t play again. That is why the silence about his third annual summer drama has been deafening. Been there, done that, more than we ever wanted.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Rick Pitino has an ally in defending his honor against rape charges. His name is Tim Sypher, the ex-husband of the woman on trial for extortion, in connection with the rape charges.

Pitino took the stand on Thursday for a second day and withstood cross-examination by Karen Sypher’s attorney, He was reported to have lost his composure when trying to describe how it felt to have his private indiscretions aired in public.

Louisville’s courier-journal.com reported Pitino told defense counsel, “It has been extremely embarrassing. The most difficult thing was telling my wife and children.”

What he was forced to tell them was that he had a brief sexual encounter in 2003 with Karen Sypher, then known as Karen Wise, a woman he had only met the night they had relations. The details of that are contained in the original story, found here.

He also had to confess that the woman claimed she got pregnant as a result of the sex with Pitino, had an abortion and in 2009 said she was raped that night in 2003, for which she was seeking money to keep it all on the down low.

That is where Tim Sypher comes in. Sypher was on Pitino’s coaching staff, in 2003, he served as the Louisville Cardinals’ equipment manager.

He met with Karen Wise, a woman he didn’t know, at the request of his boss. Rick Pitino then asked him to be part of a 2003 meeting with the two of them to discuss the pregnancy. From there it gets a bit weird.

Sypher testified that he drove his future wife to an abortion clinic in Cincinnati, only days after the meeting. They began a romantic affair and within six months they were married. They had a child together in 2005.

It wasn’t until early 2009 that Tim Sypher says, he first heard rape allegations from Karen. He told the court he found them surprising and troubling.

More disturbing to him was the fact that a man, not him, had left voice messages for Pitino about the rape claim.

In conjunction with making claims of rape, Karen Sypher started to demand things from Pitino. Tim delivered a letter to his boss containing a laundry list of of wants and desires. Somehow, no one thinks Tim was in agreement with Karen on how she was going about all this.

According to the courier-journal.com “She started saying I want this, I want that,” Sypher said. The letter to Pitino “… included a demand for money to pay for college for her four sons, a ‘car of my choice’ and a house paid off, according to the one-page, handwritten letter introduced in court.”

Tim Sypher characterized the rape charges against Pitino as “craziness”. He and his wife separated after she continued to insist on receiving compensation and the couple is now divorced.

In the coming days there will be more testimony about how her demands got her charged for extortion.

How will Pitino face parents of recruits after this?

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Rick Pitino took the stand on Wednesday in the federal trial of Karen Sypher, a woman, prosecutors claim tried to extort millions of dollars from the University of Louisville men’s basketball coach.

What else would this be about if it weren’t about mere money? Sex of course and from what Pitino said during the trial’s morning session on Wednesday, it wasn’t a lengthy affair.

How do you make something sleazy – sex in public on the table of a closed restaurant- even more so? You say it was brief, “unfortunate” and only happened because the woman whispered in your ear and tugged on your pants zipper.

Oh yes, and that a male companion was sitting on the other side of the place while it all happened.

From the Louisville Courier Journal, by way of USA Today: “Unfortunate things happen,” Pitino said after he told the prosecutor, under direct questioning about the details of the event.

Will Pitino lose recruits as a result of it all?

Ms. Sypher was unmarried at the time and is currently estranged from her husband, one Tim Sypher who was then and until very recently still was on Pitino’s staff at Louisville.

Pitino’s testimony is the first time he has uttered a word on the subject since Sypher was charged in the spring of 2009.

Sypher says she was raped by Pitino, making the testimony of the man in the restaurant during the encounter, somewhat important.

That man is Vinnie Tatum, Pitino’s driver (nice life he leads down there in Louisville) who says all he heard were “…the sounds of two people that seemed to be enjoying themselves during a sexual encounter,” He told that to FBI investigators in 2009.

Sypher is accused of attempting to extort money in exchange for never uttering a word about that night and what occurred thereafter.

Sypher, Pitino said, called to say she was pregnant, had no money for health care and didn’t know what to do.

On the stand Wednesday, Pitino said, “I didn’t believe at the time it was my child,” Nonetheless he gave her $3,000 for health insurance, according to him, an abortion, according to her.

Sypher claims no extortion took place. Rather it was nothing but her discussions about settling a case she intended to bring against Pitino for sexual assault, among other things.

The intent of the accused when discussing money in exchange for dropping a law suit is important to proving extortion. There also must be facts that give rise to a plausible belief a law suit was about to be filed at all.

That is the kind of testimony that will come when Sypher gets on the stand as well as her representatives who engaged in the supposed negotiations with Pitino and his attorney.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Jockey brand has announced Denver Broncos QB Tim Tebow as its national spokesman. He looks good in an undershirt as you can plainly see. The real question is whether we’ll see him in Jockey boxers or briefs.

Michael Jordan has had a twenty-year sponsorship deal with Hanes and appears in their humorous television ads for the company’s undershirts, you know, the ones with the “lay flat collar”?

Perhaps in anticipation of the Jockey brand announcement of Tebow’s endorsement deal, Hanes put out a statement on Tuesday about a new TV ad featuring MJ and the company’s new-look underwear.

“The light-hearted spots highlight new Hanes Men’s Underwear with Comfort Flex Waistbands which feature a softer, more-stretchable waistband that comfortably shifts without pinching or binding,” says the company’s press release.

Is there one person alive and sane who believes Jordan will pose in underwear. Come on now, the guy has an image, right?

Perhaps if they let him light up a stogie and hold a golf club in his hand, otherwise he’s not going near that anytime soon

But, back to Tim Tebow. Underwear is the last product you’d ever think he’d endorse. Although the Jockey press release makes reference to certain qualities of their brand that seems to fit Tebow perfectly. Listen to this:

“Tim is genuine, smart and driven and those qualities align well with Jockey. We look forward to building a long and collaborative relationship with him in the coming years.”

I don’t know about smart and driven but Jockey sure is genuine…at least I think. Here is what Tebow had to say: “I’ve long been a fan and consumer of Jockey, and think they make a quality product with a great fit”

Great fit, huh? Ok, get thee to the polls at my other column “Want to see Tebow in boxers or briefs?”

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

The Tennessee Titans filed a civil lawsuit against USC and its football coach Lane Kiffin arising out of the school’s hiring of Kennedy Pola, the Titans’ running back coach.

They did not include coach Pola in the suit. The question is why.

This is a breach of contract case if pursued against Pola since the filed documents make clear that the assistant coach’s obligations were to notify his employer and obtain written permission to merely enter into discussions with a third party looking to employ him.

The case against the Titans alleges that they maliciously interfered with a contract they knew about including knowledge of the terms. There is case law in the state of Tennessee that allows for such a claim in addition to a state statute.

Money damages are sought including punitive amounts for the malicious nature of what the Titans believe occurred. And therein lies the only reasonable explanation of why Pola has been spared, at least for now.

Deep pockets are needed for cases like this, first for legal fees and then a potential settlement or a jury verdict if it even gets that far. Pola reportedly was paid $400,000 under the terms of his Titans deal, coming in pay checks just like all of us get from time to time.

USC, on the other hand is worth a whole heck of a lot more, as is Kiffin.

Kiffin will surely have to face the wrath of incoming Athletic Director, Pat Haden, who takes office on August 3. He can’t be happy to start his term by having to untangle another mess brought on by remnants of the bad old days at USC.

Lawsuits such as these can be dismissed prior to getting into the nitty-gritty of depositions and exchange of internal documents and communications. It isn’t likely this will be the case in this instance.

The case states the minimum it has to for a smell test and key facts are what is at issue. Did USC really know that Pola had to ask permission to leave? Were they informed that verbal approval was insufficient to proceed?

Those kinds of things require fact finding that will open USC and Kiffin to producing texts, phone records, emails and testimony about how in less than 48 hours, a man with a contract left his employer and joined another, without proper notice and approval.

Stay tuned..

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

The LA Angels of Anaheim traded left-hander Joe Saunders over the weekend in exchange for Dan Haren, ace of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It was an unceremonious end in Anaheim for Saunders, and his teary interview about it all demonstrated how a one-time golden child can end up with little overall value to a ball club – the dreaded “business” of sports.

Angels “new rules” about walk-off celebrations

He was accompanied in the trade by three minor league players, all pitching prospects with only Dan Haren coming over from Arizona.

Times have changed for Saunders. the Angels #1 draft pick in 2002, paid $1.8 million in a signing bonus. He was written about  in the book, “Odd Man Out” by Matt McCarthy, a former minor league pitching prospect for the Angels.

As the team’s top pick and the number 12 pick overall in 2002, Saunders was seen as a star in training by his A-level minor league teammates. According to McCarthy, they all knew he was the favorite child and would be groomed differently than them.

It took three years for him to make his major league debut and it was inauspicious. Appearing in two games in late summer he didn’t distinguish himself as he gave up 8 earned runs in 10.1 innings.

In fact, it took until 2008 for him to have a breakout season. His record was 17-7 with an ERA of 3.41. He was vying for the club’s ace pitching spot with Jered Weaver after the inevitable departure of John Lackey.

Weaver finally got his All Star game invite

When that time came, Saunders wasn’t able to replicate his great season. While his 2009 record was an enviable 16-7, his ERA ballooned to 4.60, walking more players and giving up more home runs.

In 2010 he seemingly lost his command and his record sat at 6-10 when he got the news that his only baseball home was saying an unceremonious farewell, to acquire a true ace.

Saunders cried when interviewed and realized that his relationships of eight years standing as well as his comfortable Southern California lifestyle were now history.

It’s clearly not a rags to riches to rags story. Saunders has the stuff to recover and at his age, 29, he has time to do it. He is going to a club that has given up on the season by trading their ace and is out of the race in the NL West.

He won’t have to suffer too long in Arizona however, since he is on an expiring contract, having been signed for only one year at less than $4 million in the off season by the Angels.

In the end, Saunders was an expendable as anyone else on a ball club seeking to maintain relevance in the AL West pennant race. He just never thought the human sacrifice to help his team would be him.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant has decided that rookies don’t carry pads at NFL training camp and has refused to participate in a time honored tradition. Perhaps it’s not about all rookies, rather it’s only about him.

We aren’t surprised are we? His quote on the subject was, “I’m not doing it,” Bryant said. “I feel like I was drafted to play football, not carry another player’s pads.”

Didn’t he drop to his NFL draft position solely on the reports of his personal behavior? He was subject to discipline by the NCAA, which if you believe everything Bryant and his mentor Deion Sanders had to say, was much ado about nothing.

Yet, he has put his stake in the ground about a tried and true ritual that has been performed by every big name in the league at one time or another.

Perhaps it was the fact that the person who pointed to the pads and told him to go get them was the guy whose job may just be at risk now that Bryant has landed in Dallas.

Roy Williams, Cowboys starter and a guy who hasn’t lived up to the price paid for him by the team, is now in a tough position.

Williams whined that he had to go through the rookie ritual as did every other player he ever teamed up with. There’s been no specificity on where this should go next but if Williams’ teammates don’t step up and help him out, he’ll be placed in the role of toothless tiger.

Profootballtalk.com’s Mike Florio found Shawne Merriman’s suggestion on his Twitter account:” Dump his ass in the COLD TUB,” were Merriman’s words of advice to the Cowboys.

Will Bryant break the culture of rookie hazing as practiced by hulking football players? Not likely and for good reason according to an anonymous player who wrote a piece in last September’s ESPN The Magazine.

“Believe it or not, though, there’s a purpose to this idiotic stuff: It’s an initiation into a culture of respect for the men who played before you,” wrote Player X, offered a chance to weigh-in on the topic.

“The only reason we have million-dollar contracts nowadays is that players before us fought for our rights. So you have to pay your dues, show respect to the veterans.”

I think that pretty much sums up why this won’t go away for Bryant and why he won’t be getting much support from anyone else on the subject.

What a year for HBO’s “Hard Knocks” to be focusing on the New York Jets. Bryant’s comeuppance would be must see TV.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Golden Boy Promotions announced late Tuesday that the New York State Athletic Commission has lifted the suspension of the company’s state boxing license, imposed on July 6.

After a hearing on the issues raised by the suspension, the NYSAC saw no reason not to reverse its earlier decision.

Golden Boy claims, “significant but innocent mistakes” caused suspension

Golden Boy is now on the war path, not against the Commission, but against a journalist it claims may have libeled the promotions company.

Golden Boy’s announcement of the reversal savages George Kimball who it claims is guilty of “unprofessional and personally vindictive reporting.”

Kimball’s untruths, according to GBP include reporting that the promotions company was suspended for unethical conduct, “…arising from supposed financial transactions relating to Golden Boy’s May 15, 2010 event in New York.”

The NYSAC ruled on Tuesday that GBP was guilty of omitting the existence of certain contracts. When they were produced, GBP says, the Commission found no evidence of anything other than failure to timely produce what was demanded.

In addition to lifting the suspension, the Commission assessed a $10,000 fine against GBP for violating a New York State law. There was no finding that the company committed any violation of the Ali Act.

The company’s statement ends with a threat to Mr. Kimball and his publishers. “It is our hope that the matter can be put to bed with a retraction and an apology. However, Golden Boy wants to make clear that going forward, it will not tolerate this kind of irresponsible journalism, and will move swiftly to vindicate itself in court and elsewhere.”

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC