Rick Stansbury's dumb comments

Rick Stansbury did little more than make himself look like a moron at his first press conference since his decision to reinstate Renardo Sidney.

He was asked about the fight heard round the world because, you know, it was the fight heard round the world. His response?

Something about the sunshine?

Asked about the Hawaiian trip, he mentioned the great weather and celebrating his birthday.

"We enjoyed Hawaii," Stansbury mused. "You ain’t going to write all that crap, I know."

No, we're not.

Stansbury should have had more to explain after the school was embarrassed and for compounding the situation by issuing a statement saying that sending the players home sent "a strong message" that their behavior would not be tolerated.

"You don't like for any time to have an incident like we had," Stansbury said Wednesday. "That's difficult enough in itself, and that's basically all I'm going to say about that situation. That's enough you guys have seen it and wrote about it and heard about it more than we all need or want to talk about it."

Oh, it got better:

"You know I’m not going to talk no more about all that," he said. "You know that. Enough’s been said about it, and we'll move on past all that. Now, I don't worry about things I can’t control, so hey."

Stansbury did address what he hoped Sidney would learn from the incident going forward.

"You hope any time someone experiences what he's been through, it makes him a better person first," Stansbury said. "A better person first. That's the No. 1 thing. After that, you hope it translates into becoming a better basketball player." (My emphasis added.)

First of all Rick, let's get something straight. You could have controlled this. In fact, you had damn near sole control over the decision to allow Renardo Sidney to return to the basketball court just two games after he traded haymakers with a teammate in the stands after a game on national television.

Look, Rick!



That's on ESPN!

And you allowed him back after missing just 80 minutes of basketball!

Don't tell me you had no control over the situation. And don't insult my intelligence by saying you want Sidney to get better as a person first. You cannot undo a lifetime of being spoiled rotten and allowed to get away with everything based on your talent in less than two weeks.

It doesn't work that way.

In fact, all you did, Rick, was reinforce Sidney's notion that his talent will allow him to get away with whatever he wants. You've invested so much time and energy in tying yourself to this knucklehead that you cannot cut the cord. You have to sink or swim with Sidney -- good luck with that, by the way -- something you have probably known for a while.

Well, we figured it out now, too.

Have fun answering those questions the rest of the season.

You've made your bed, now you get to sleep in it.