I’m calling this brief note an open thread…
The Clarion Ledger reports that, as expected, Andy Kennedy entered a guilty plea to disorderly conduct in the Cinncinati incident yesterday. He said: “I acknowledge using poor judgment, which resulted in an adverse reflection on me, my family, our program and the university that I so proudly represent.” Director of basketball operations Bill Armstrong, 31, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. The same day, Atheletic Director Pete Boone announced that, because of the incident, Kennedy was not going to get a contract extension he’d otherwise earned “on the court.”
Our very own Cincinnati Kid should have heeded his mom’s adminitions: “Nothing good ever happened to a kid after midnight.”
I guess I’m a bit surprised that Kennedy was able to keep his job. According to various reports, he and his friends were kicked out of a bar, were highly intoxicated, were engaged in an altercation with a cab driver, allegedly used racial slurs (but denied by Kennedy), and then on police video Kennedy tried to talk the police out of arresting him because he was the head coach at Ole Miss (even after being warned that he was being videotaped). Kennedy also disobeys the officer’s directions several times.
Not exactly the sort of person you would consider a good role model, and as head coach of the basketball team he is exactly that, a role model. The USM head basketball coach lost his previous job for much, much less.
You can see the police video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxg1mVW3_cY
And you can see the video as part of a Cincinnati news broadcast (with subtitles) here:
As to Armstrong’s situation, for those of you who may not know, let me point out a “rule”. When the officer says something along the lines of “You better calm down, or I am going to take you to jail”, and you reply with something along the lines of “I don’t care. You can take me to jail”. You go to jail.
It is actually a test and the correct form to the answer is “Yes sir, Officer. I will do everything you tell me to do”. Now, you know.
In response to Plexix, I offer the following different perspective about this matter. First, the prosecutor huffed and puffed about the charges quite a bit at the beginning. One can only presume that getting a guilty plea on a rinky dink, low level misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace must have been a reflection of the prosecutor’s lack of confidence in his ability to nail AK on the assault related charges. Technically, AK’s actions did likely constitute a breach of the peace, to some extent. AK adamantly denies that he ever struck, touched, attempted to strike, or threatened to strike the cabbie. Likewise, he adamantly denies using any racial slurs (to the contrary, according the witnesses in the cab, it was the cabbie who used racial slurs against one of the black assistant coaches in the cab). The cabbie’s early public statements about the matter indicate MANY inconsistencies —going from Kennedy hit him, to touching him in a threatening manner, to not actually hitting or touching him, etc. etc. Just one such lie is enough for me to discount the cabbie’s future testimony about anything. And based upon the cabbie’s actions of not letting AK’s assistants out of the cab when they wanted out, and thereafter transporting them a short distance in order to create the cab fare, there should be a law against that type of behavior — I was thinking false imprisonment.
The coaches were out late for dinner, because they had just finished up a late practice with the team. They were at the Bar/Restaurant for approximately two hours. Did they display the best behavior? No. Did they commit any crimes? At worst, only the disturbance of the peace charge.
We don’t even hold our politicians to as high a standard as you propose. So, why a basketball coach? I have defended many folks, including professionals (who shall remain nameless), on disturbing the peace type of charges. Are you saying that they should all have been fired from their jobs as well? Just curious.
Cabbie was holding his left cheek, he was driving so how did he get hit on the left side of his face? Also when a guy as big as AK hits you, it tends to leave a mark.
I’m with AFOTL, I think this is much to do about nothing.
Speakin’ of small brains, that reminds me: the hummingbirds have returned to our backyard. We saw one buzzing around last week, so we got the feeders cleaned up and filled. The birds are guzzling the good stuff as fast (almost) as we make it. Welcome back, you little assholes.
Best business card ever at http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/the-best-business-card-ever/ H/t to Matt Cutts
Hi, AFOTL. I am just now seeing your post above. I wasn’t advocating AK’s firing, I said I was surprised he wasn’t fired by Ole Miss. It’s a close call, IMO. But obviously some people should be held to different standards than other people. A head basketball coach, who is in almost-complete control of his young players’ lives, and who does serve as a role model to them, should be held to a different standard than some other professionals. A banker, for example. Would a public high school teacher that did what AK did still have their job? I doubt it.