Syracuse

[xu_fan]

And another molestation scandal:

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7248184/syracuse-police-investigating-bernie-fine-molesting-boy-1980s

So so sad................

[BlueGuy]

The guy said the sexual abuse continued till he was 27. Huh? Does that sound strange to anyone else?

[rhyno2110]

So why did he decide to go public now? I hate this shit because the details are so blurry, you can't know 100% what to decide.

This is getting old...

[Xavgrad08]

I am going to wait for more facts to come out on this case before I jump to conclusions. If true Fine will rot in hell. If not true Fines reputation will still be ruined.

[xu_fan]

After reading more and more about it Im beginning to think it's fake... Made up... Horrible for Fine if these people would do that too him. I'll also try to wait for more details to come out though.

[GoMuskies]

The guy said the sexual abuse continued till he was 27. Huh? Does that sound strange to anyone else?

Yeah, when you're 25 and getting "molested", you're actually just in a homosexual relationship.

[bleedXblue]

Agreed, this doesnt sound right.

27 ?

If you're 17 and don't have enough common sense to end something like this you've got something wrong going on.

[X-band '01]

So why did he decide to go public now? I hate this shit because the details are so blurry, you can't know 100% what to decide.

This is getting old...

I don't know what it's like to be abused, but I can't imagine I would ever be able to openly admit at ANY time that such a relationship was going on. It takes a lot of courage to open up about these things.

I'm afraid this is going to be similar to the Catholic Church sex scandal - this may only be the beginning that we hear as far as this thing happening at other programs. It's not just young children that we know have been abused that makes me sad, it's the children that we DON'T know have been abused that frightens me.

[Jumpy]

Did anyone hear Boeheim's response to the allegations? He flat out called the guy a liar using Jerry springer logic that the guy needed a family member to bring this public and not himself.. He very well might be lying, but why would someone so visible go off like that? He has nothing to gain and everything to lose if this guy's story turns out to be true.

[danaandvictory]

Did anyone hear Boeheim's response to the allegations? He flat out called the guy a liar using Jerry springer logic that the guy needed a family member to bring this public and not himself.. He very well might be lying, but why would someone so visible go off like that?

Boeheim is both (a) a dick, and (b) a Paterno-style "above the law" character who thinks he is of equal or greater importance than the university.

[BlueGuy]

Boeheim is both (a) a dick, and (b) a Paterno-style "above the law" character who thinks he is of equal or greater importance than the university.

Full disclosure: I live here in CNY, and grew up a Cuse fan. Blenheim is a dick, but I don't think he believes he's above the law here. Syracuse is a much bigger place than State College, PA. I dont think one would be able to just sweep something like this under the rug if charges truely were meritted. Syracuse is a medium sized private school (something like 12k undergraduates). The police could give a crap about burning them if they had to. If this was legit back in 2005, I have to believe it would have come out much sooner.

[jhelmes37]

Why did this guy go to ESPN and not the cops?

Seems shady to me. And yeah, apparently this started at 15, I know when I was that age, I would've smacked the shit outta some old dude trying to grab my dong.

[Jumpy]

Man, this story is F'ed up. I'm watching ESPN and they are currently playing a recorded phone conversation between another accuser and Fine's wife. It was taped in 2002 and it's just now coming out. Apparently, Fine's wife had full knowledge her husband had inappropriate contact with this guy, as it was happening, while he was a kid and did nothing to stop it. By the way she was talking on the tape, she acted like it was no big deal at all. It just amazes me that people can see this stuff going on and allow it to happen.

And now that the story is growing some legs, Boeheim finds himself in a sticky situation because he painted himself in a corner by blasting the first guy that came out.

[THRILLHOUSE]

Man, this story is F'ed up. I'm watching ESPN and they are currently playing a recorded phone conversation between another accuser and Fine's wife. It was taped in 2002 and it's just now coming out. Apparently, Fine's wife had full knowledge her husband had inappropriate contact with this guy, as it was happening, while he was a kid and did nothing to stop it. By the way she was talking on the tape, she acted like it was no big deal at all. It just amazes me that people can see this stuff going on and allow it to happen.

And now that the story is growing some legs, Boeheim finds himself in a sticky situation because he painted himself in a corner by blasting the first guy that came out.

And it appears Fine's wife was having sex with the accuser as well. Boeheim should have kept his mouth shut, but his ego wouldn't allow it.

[Xavgrad08]

It is certainly looking worse for Fine. Boeheim's strong support of him could be a problem for Jim. You can't call child sex abuse victims extortion artists and survive when the evidence starts looking worse and worse that the abuse happened.

[stophorseabuse]

Look, as important as winning is, in NO way would I want Xavier to do anything but support a victim.

Boeheims comments after this allegation are assanine. Say you have known Fine for years, and can not see such a thing happening, but to say the victim is a liar when you have no idea is B.S.

I will be honest, my opinion for this one was shaped by early comments disparaging the victim as a goof. Well, maybe the reason he is a goof is because he was molested for years.

Still nothing is certain, but if that tape is real, it looks as bad as it gets.

[blobfan]

Why did this guy go to ESPN and not the cops?

Seems shady to me. And yeah, apparently this started at 15, I know when I was that age, I would've smacked the shit outta some old dude trying to grab my dong.

The type of person targeted for abuse is not emotionally strong enough to fight back. Kids that get abused usually come from unstable or broken homes. Can't name you the specific sources off the top of my head but I've heard several experts attest to that on talk radio and TV the past couple weeks, mostly NPR. We can sit here and say we would never let something like that happen to us, but can you honestly say you never met a kid needy or messed up enough to get sucked into that situation?

[STL_XUfan]

Look, as important as winning is, in NO way would I want Xavier to do anything but support a victim.

Boeheims comments after this allegation are assanine. Say you have known Fine for years, and can not see such a thing happening, but to say the victim is a liar when you have no idea is B.S.

I will be honest, my opinion for this one was shaped by early comments disparaging the victim as a goof. Well, maybe the reason he is a goof is because he was molested for years.

Still nothing is certain, but if that tape is real, it looks as bad as it gets.

Boeheim can take solace in knowing that his answer is no where near the high mark for victim bashing. That is still proudly held by former Colorado Coach Gary Barnett.

In response to his female kicker being sexually harassed his response was....

"We took very good care of her, but Katie struggled with her own performance, where I don't think she ever earned the respect of her teammates. If that prompted certain treatment, I don't know," he said.

"[Katie Hinda] wasn't a very good kicker" and "was a distraction to our team," Barnett said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?id=1601161

[X-band '01]

Look, as important as winning is, in NO way would I want Xavier to do anything but support a victim.

Boeheims comments after this allegation are assanine. Say you have known Fine for years, and can not see such a thing happening, but to say the victim is a liar when you have no idea is B.S.

I will be honest, my opinion for this one was shaped by early comments disparaging the victim as a goof. Well, maybe the reason he is a goof is because he was molested for years.

Still nothing is certain, but if that tape is real, it looks as bad as it gets.

My guess is that Boeheim knew that the only way to cover his ass was to immediately come out and support Fine, even if he knew he had no ground to stand on. Anything less and he knew that the media and the public would perceive him as looking out for himself and only himself.

If the victim were lying, Fine would have had a team of lawyers filing anti-defamation suits left and right by now.

[THRILLHOUSE]

Syracuse fired Fine.

[waggy]

I don't get your line of reasoning X-band. I think the reason Boeheim supports Fine is because his own closet isn't without its own skeletons. Fine knows everything about the Syracuse program, and there ain't no way it's clean.

[X-band '01]

I was talking about Boeheim covering his OWN ass, not Fine's. The questions are now going to be whether or not Boeheim knew himself that this was going on, and for how long it was going on if he knew.

To me, what's more troubling is the notion that BOTH Fine and his wife were taking advantage of this ballboy (if the allegations are true).

[DC Muskie]

Man those tapes from Fine's wife were incredible. "It's all about the dick." Are you kidding me? You are married to this dude?

There are some really f'd up people out there.

[THRILLHOUSE]

Boeheim releases his statement:

“The allegations that have come forth today are disturbing and deeply troubling. I am personally very shocked because I have never witnessed any of the activities that have been alleged. I believe the university took the appropriate step tonight. What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated and that anyone with information be supported to come forward so that the truth can be found. I deeply regret any statements I made that might have inhibited that from occurring or been insensitive to victims of abuse.”

[LA Muskie]

If the victim were lying, Fine would have had a team of lawyers filing anti-defamation suits left and right by now.
Wrong. You never recommend a defamation suit in the US. It invites more attention in the midst of a criminal investigation. A civil defamation suit would be horrible...HORRIBLE advice in these circumstances.

That said, the story got a lot worse today. For Fine. For Boeheim. For Syracuse. But mostly for the kid who has been excoriated as a liar for the last 2 weeks, when it looks like he may well have been molested as he says he was.

[LA Muskie]

I don't get your line of reasoning X-band. I think the reason Boeheim supports Fine is because his own closet isn't without its own skeletons. Fine knows everything about the Syracuse program, and there ain't no way it's clean.

You may be right, although the pessimist in me thinks that this notion (skeletons in a program) would apply to 99% of the programs in the country.

[LA Muskie]

The questions are now going to be whether or not Boeheim knew himself that this was going on, and for how long it was going on if he knew.

To me, what's more troubling is the notion that BOTH Fine and his wife were taking advantage of this ballboy (if the allegations are true).

You're absolutely right (on both counts). It was knowledge that brought down JoePa. Boeheim came out strong. That was either because he was genuinely in the dark, or because he was bluffing. There will soon be more to this story.

[STL_XUfan]

Boeheim releases his statement:

“The allegations that have come forth today are disturbing and deeply troubling. I am personally very shocked because I have never witnessed any of the activities that have been alleged. I believe the university took the appropriate step tonight. What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated and that anyone with information be supported to come forward so that the truth can be found. I deeply regret any statements I made that might have inhibited that from occurring or been insensitive to victims of abuse.”

The more this statement scrolls across the screen on ESPN the more that sentence stands out to me. This statement took almost an hour and a half to appear after the news broke. He made it very clear that he did not "witness any of the activities". However avoided saying that he had no knowledge of the activities. I might be reading way to much into the wording, but it seems like it was crafted very carefully to not say that he didn't know anything.

Also, Syracuse needs to quickly get a DVD of video clips of Fine on the bench at Syracuse where he is not standing in the direct shadow of Boeheim to all of the major new outlets. It is going to be really hard to keep Boeheim out of this story if his picture is always on the screen when they are talking about Fine.