Bernie Fine Allegations: Instant Reaction Day Recap

The Bernie Fine situation hit the fan Sunday.

Laurie Fine's phone call was released, a strange third accuser stepped forward in the morning. SU saw enough and fired Fine in the evening. Boeheim released a statement supporting the firing and apologizing for his comments. And the calls for Boeheim's head began.

So let's see what Instant Reaction Day looks like so far...

Jason Whitlock pulls an anti-Gregg Doyel and continues to call for time and collection of facts in the case. He also continued to call ESPN and their "journalism".

Everything that has happened in the last week smells like public relations and not a search for truth. If this scandal ever leads to criminal charges against and a trial for Bernie Fine, every party listed above will have significant questions to answer in front of a jury.

A media outlet had the alleged smoking-gun evidence (audio of Laurie Fine talking about her husband's relationship with Bobby Davis) against a man accused of child molestation but kept quiet about it for eight years until it needed to unveil the evidence to justify premature reporting.

There is a lot that must be explained before I can discern any truth.

One writer makes the point that ESPN basically did what the folks at Penn State did. They had proof of sexual abuse against a child and did nothing about it.

Michael Rosenburg at SI says the situation is dark, but reminds everyone this is not Penn State.

Syracuse is learning a lesson from the Penn State thing, a lesson that every university and major institution needs to learn: When an accusation like this hits you, don't hit back. And the best way to protect yourself is not to look like you are protecting yourself at all.

Seth Davis says that SU was right to fire Fine, but doesn't think Boeheim has to take the fall, as well.

I can understand why Boeheim's initial instinct was to believe his lifelong friend and stand up for him as strongly as he could. The truth is many of us would have done the same. That is regrettable, but unless there is evidence that indicates Boeheim either tried to bury information about Fine's improprieties or did not handle that information properly, then I believe he should be allowed to keep his job.

Some folks aren't so sure. A sex-abuse survivors group is calling for Jimmy's firing.

The SU community is still in shock. So many folks who stood up to defend Bernie in recent weeks seemed stunned, if they're commenting at all. Board of Trustees member and former Syracuse University player George Hicker was among the shocked:

"Having watched those tapes today, it’s pretty amazing that he’s accused of these things prior to today and now on this tape, this fellow came out and said he [Bobby Davis] was sleeping with his wife. So I don’t know what more to say than it’s lurid," said.

Over at Three Idiots, they know there are still way too many questions ahead for this to be even close to being over.

Syracuse.com provides a handy-dandy timeline for Bernie's time at SU and the alleged abuses and Andrew Pregler has a pretty good rundown of the last few days as well.

On Sunday night, former CBS5 anchor Maureen Green, sports radio talk show host Brent Axe and Psychologist Dr. Chris Allen joined anchor Michael Benny for a frank discussion on the story that is captivating Central New York and beyond.