As I alluded to yesterday, it was Jim Boeheim’s birthday (I still see your JB avatar, Vernon; but then I still see bloody Woz for me, and I changed it to President HAL a long time ago; can’t seem to shake my cache). Not a very happy one (birthday for JB, that is), as it turns out. Jim’s assistant coach, Bernie Fine, who was the manager on the SU team JB and Dave Bing played on, and – like Jim himself – has more or less been with SU ever since, has been accused of molesting a former ball boy (and then a second one – the first one’s brother or something) back in the 1980s. I find this pretty hard to believe but, well, I guess you never know (he is from Brooklyn, after all). And, really, how would I have any way of knowing?

What I do know is, once accused of something like this, you’re pretty much guilty whether you’re guilty or not. Bernie’s been placed on Administrative leave, and, well, I would kind of guess that no matter what the outcome, he’s all but done here.

From what I gather, his accuser reported this to the police in 2003 or something, but the statute of limitations had long run out, so the DA’s office reported it to SU, who then claim to have investigated it, including interviewing the people this guy said would corroborate his story. They didn’t.

Apparently the local newspaper (who has never been shy about dragging SU through the mud – and was, in fact, responsible for the only NCAA probation the basketball team has ever suffered – so far – on less than earth-shattering violations) also had the story back then, was also unable to corroborate any part of it, and therefore it never ran.

So, now, in light of the whole Sandusky thing, this guy’s brother has now “come forward” and he and his brother took the story to ESPN, and here we are.

Is this another Penn State-style coverup, or is this a guy who is disturbed, or full of shit, or looking to cash in? Or something else? Beats me.

Whatever it is, it sucks. Not a good birthday present for Jim Boeheim, and a pretty crappy way to start off a Friday – let alone a basketball season where we were looking like we had a pretty good team. This will now be the only thing I hear about for a minimum of the rest of the season, and for probably a lot longer than that.

As if that wasn’t enough, Regis signs off the air today, and Ashton and Demi are breaking up. Talk about bad news coming in threes.

I’m not insinuating that I’m the victim here, but WTF? Can I not have even a little bit of enjoyment in my life? If I have to avoid following basketball, this is gonna be a long, dark, cold, and depressing winter.

I mean, more than usual.