I know we've got the Sandusky case thread in the Football forum but I didn't see anything on Bernie Fine. This case is moving into the Jerry Springer realm and now it looks like it may take down Boeheim as well(because of his "righteous indignation" at the reports). We'll see how it plays out in the coming months. Here's the latest http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/2...-reportedly-faces-third-sex-abuse-allegation/
Here's where it detours into Jerry Springer world http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-ba...nie-fines-wife-i-know-everything-that-went-on I'll re-post this part So her husband abused the boy then she got with the boy!!!
This situation is just so odd. I'd believe almost anything about the result of this case. On one hand, there seems to be enough smoke that I'm almost certain there is something to these claims. On the other hand, the timing of this allegation (immediately after the Sandusky situation) seems fishy. I'd also be curious to hear why the other accusers weren't willing to come forward when Bobby Davis first went to ESPN almost a decade ago, but they will now. Then there's the marriage of Bernie and Laurie fine. First off, if she knew of everything that was going on, why didn't she do something to stop it? Furthermore, why is she still married to him?
I know of plenty of women in unhappy marriages - their husbands cheat, knock up other women, beat them. Some even molest. Yet they still stay married and remain loyal.
Lots more detail of the phone call here: http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...sistant-bernie-fine-wife-admits-worries-abuse At another point in the call, Fine says of her husband: "You know, he needs ... that male companionship that I can't give him, nor is he interested in me, and vice versa." During the phone call, Davis told Laurie Fine that when he was about 27 years old in the late 1990s, he asked her husband for $5,000 to help pay off his student loans. "When he gave you the money, what does he want for that? He wants you to grab him or he wanted to do you?" she asked. "He wanted to do me. He wanted me to touch him, too. He tried to make me touch him a couple of times. He'd grab my hand, and then I'd pull away, and then he'd put me in your bed, and then you know, put me down, and I'd try to go away, and he'd put his arm on top of my chest. He goes, 'If you want this money, you'll stay right here,' " Davis said. "Right. Right ... ," Laurie Fine said. "He just has a nasty attitude, because he didn't get his money, nor did he get what he wanted. He didn't get ... " Davis interrupted her at that point and said, "It's not about the money." To which Laurie Fine replied, "It's about the d---. I know that. So you're -- I'm just telling you for your own good, you're better off just staying away from him." Later, Laurie Fine admitted to having a relationship with Davis. In the interview with ESPN, Davis said that occurred when he was 18 and a senior in high school. Davis said he told Bernie Fine about it, but Fine seemed unaffected. "I thought he was gonna kill me, but I had to tell him," Davis said in the interview with ESPN. "I felt so bad. I told him about it what was going on with me and Laurie and it didn't faze him one bit honestly." On the call, Laurie Fine told Davis she'd already warned her husband that one day his alleged molestation of Davis might become public. "I said to him, 'Bobby and I talked, and I know some things about you that if you keep pushing are going to be let out.' " Davis continued: "He doesn't think he can be touched ... " Laurie Fine: "No ... he thinks he's above the law."
Plus one also has to call into question ESPN's culpability. They had details they believed needed to be corroborated and refused to move forward with the story years ago. If Fine is guilty, how much blame does ESPN get for standing pat?
I guess ESPN's argument will be that this was such a serious accusation that they didn't want to back up a false claim that dealt with an issue this sensitive. But I see your point. ESPN so often breaks stories with very little fact or evidence behind them just to be first, so why did they decide to draw the line here?
ESPN shouldn't be blamed. They're not a law enforcement agency. Davis went to Syracuse Police with the tape and they said they couldn't do anything (that's fishy right there given the Chief played for Fine and Boeheim when they were assistants in the 70's). That's why ESPN didn't run the story. If anyone is to blame, it should be Syracuse University, Syracuse PD, and even the DA. The DA claims he didn't know anything back in 2003 and 2005, but that sounds unbelievable as well.
More layers: Note that she thought this might be the case back in 2003. It's not like she's saying this now as part of a damage control plan.
Perhaps this is "testament" to ESPN's journalistic integrity. Or at least a good reflection of one of their few quality units (OTL). If they couldn't prove the merits of the story, ESPN did the "right" thing [legally] by not risking slander if no one was coming forward to corroborate the allegations. Who is to say they haven't been digging behind the scenes like Charles Robinson has with Yahoo! Sports over the years? At the same point, I wouldn't be surprised if this was still some giant extortion scheme set up by David and Fine's wife.
I hope the Feds go after both Sandusky and Fine and string them up, then I hope they look into the military supplying young boys for the Afgan elders. There is no place for child abuse even if it is culturally acceptable in a few countries in the middle east. DD
But it is easy to understand Boeheim's reaction, because those things are so adhorent, and it is easier to believe they are false than it is to consider what really happened. The first reaction has to be..."No, not my friend"...... Now, if the guy KNEW anything then I want him out on his ass and sharing a breathing aparatus with Paterno. DD
Apparently Boeheim has changed his tune. It's a crazy world... now that i have kids these types of stories really hit home. Espn has the audio up of the phone calls.
