Pitino or Sypher -- who's the villain?

First, the facts: University of Louisville men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino, by his own admission heavily under the influence of alcohol, had consensual sex with Karen Sypher (then Cunagin) at a table in a Louisville restaurant after closing time on Aug. 1, 2003. Sypher later alleged Pitino had raped her, a claim no law enforcement authority has been able to substantiate. She has been indicted in federal court for attempting to extort money from Pitino, and for lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Pitino went before the media last week to apologize in public to his wife and family, the University, and its basketball fans for his conduct and its consequences.

This much we know.

Some of the other claims made in various quarters, especially from people howling for Pitino's head, don't make quite as much sense. Much has been made of Pitino's giving Sypher $3000 -- according to her, to pay for an abortion; according to him, for health insurance she used to pay for an abortion. That boils down to "he said, she said."

The chronology, however, raises many eyebrows, including mine. Pitino and Sypher had sex on Aug. 1; she had an ultrasound exam to confirm the pregnancy on Aug. 26, and an abortion three days later -- four weeks to the day from the sexual encounter that purportedly led to conception.

From all I've been able to uncover, though, it generally takes four to five weeks before ultrasound will confirm pregnancy; it takes that long before the gestational sac will show up in the image of the uterus. On this timetable, though Sypher's pregnancy was confirmed, Pitino's responsibility for it remains a matter of reasonable doubt. While the anti-abortion crowd howls for U of L president Dr. James Ramsey and athletic director Tom Jurich to dismiss Pitino, some of us in the pro-choice camp see a certain virtue in Pitino's giving Sypher the money without insisting on a paternity test.

Bottom line: while Pitino's contract with U of L does contain a morals clause, he has broken no laws -- neither adultery nor abominably bad judgment are open to criminal prosecution in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He will continue for some time to take a battering in the court of public opinion, but I don't believe his transgressions merit dismissal.

Sypher, on the other hand, may be facing serious prison time, but her troubles appear mostly self-inflicted.

Suffice it to say, the whole sordid mess will bear watching.