Sunday, March 13, 2022

Pink slip justice

 You're never supposed to break out the champagne and party favors when a coach loses his/her job. It's sportswriter protocol, sort of, because firing a coach is a bad moment for everyone, costing both fire-er and the fire-ee monetarily and requiring a disruptive reset for both. 

That said, LSU fired men's basketball coach Will Wade yesterday. On the eve of Selection Sunday, no less, with the Tigers projected as a 6-seed in Da Tournament.

And the Blob's reaction?

HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA. HA. HA.

Because, listen, if you can't break out the champagne and party favors for Wade finally getting the gate, you're never going to. It's the sort of  deal for which the Germans coined the term schadenfreude: Taking pleasure in the misfortune of others.

It's a mean word describing a mean human reaction. Nonetheless ...

HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA. HA. HA.

Wade, see, is the slimebucket who -- among much else alleged illegal horse-trading -- got caught on a wiretap bragging about buying a player. Then, he refused to discuss it with his bosses. 

That wiretap went public three years ago, and telling his bosses to sit on it and spin in response should have gotten Wade fired right then and there. Instead, he threw lawyers at LSU, which scared the school into keeping him on with a few face-saving stipulations.

Wade, of course, promptly ignored those stipulations. He's accused of continuing to offer recruits jobs, cars, cash and -- in one notorious instance -- even hush money to a player's fiancee.

But that's not the worst part, by the Blob's lights.

The worst part is the only reason LSU cares about all this now is because the NCAA just hit the school with the results of its investigation into Wade's program. It ain't pretty. Between the two of them, Wade and assistant Bill Armstrong are accused of six Level I violations and two Level II violations.

LSU reaction: "Geez! This is terrible! We had NO IDEA! We need to fire this guy ASAP!"

Of course, the school has actually had an idea for three years now. That it didn't react this way  then probably has nothing to do with the fact Wade is 108-54 at LSU, and won the SEC title in 2019. Of course it doesn't. Just like the fact the NCAAs are about to bring the hammer down on them has nothing to do with them finally getting all righteous now.

What was it LSU president William F. Tate and athletic director Scott Woodward wrote in an open letter upon announcing Wade's dismissal?

"Our responsibility to protect and promote the integrity and well-being of our entire institution and our student-athletes will always be paramount," the letter read.

Edited out of that statement, the Blob suspects?

"Unless we start losing."

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