ESPN Sat on Molestation Tape Since 2002

Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | November 28, 2011 | Rush Limbaugh

[Kaslin]

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: So this assistant basketball coach at Syracuse, this guy -- Fine is his name, Bernie Fine -- has been accused of sexually molesting boys and students for a whole bunch of years. It turns out that ESPN had a tape since 2002 with evidence. ESPN has sat on evidence for nine years because they say they couldn't corroborate it. On the tape the guy's wife cops to it, saying she witnessed it and a ball boy admits it. They say they couldn't corroborate it. I wonder if the coach's name had been Paterno if ESPN woulda sat on this for nine years. They're saying they couldn't corroborate it.

"Syracuse fired assistant coach Bernie Fine Sunday after a 2002 phone recording emerged in which Fine's wife told his accuser she was well aware that her husband had molested him. The tape had been in ESPN's possession since former team ball boy Bobby Davis legally recorded it nearly a decade ago, but the network said it didn't air it until Sunday, it said, because it didn't have corroboration. Two other men have also come forward to say Fine molested them since Davis first accused Fine. The accusations became public after Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was fired amid allegations he sexually abused young boys.

"Davis made the tape after a brief talk with police in 2002. His allegations, which he brought to ESPN and the Syracuse Post-Standard at the time, created a journalistic conundrum for both: They didn't know whether to report accusations that could be incredibly damaging to Fine, or to risk not exposing a child molester. Both news outlets opted not to report on the allegations, they said, because they couldn't find anyone to support Davis' account. Neither Davis nor ESPN passed on the tape to Syracuse University officials for an internal investigation of Fine in 2005. Syracuse chancellor Nancy Cantor noted in a statement Sunday that university officials did not have the tape at the time.

"'That is true. They did not have that tape in 2005,' ESPN's Mark Schwarz reported Sunday night. 'Bobby Davis did not know what to do with that tape. All he knew is that the Syracuse police had a cursory five-minute phone conversation with him in 2002. He then made the tape. He presented it to us. We didn't have a corroborating second alleged victim,'" and apparently no curiosity, either! Apparently no curiosity to find out anything further. But then the whole thing blew up when the coach's "wife told his accuser she was well aware that her husband had molested him." So the wife knew that this was all going on all this time!

As I say, I wonder if the coach's name were Paterno or if McNabb had been involved somehow, if ESPN woulda sat on the tape for nine years. It's really fascinating stuff. I mean, a lot of people are asking, "How do you sit on evidence like this for nine years and not have even any curiosity to find out if what you've got is a bombshell?" We're hearing all this holier-than-thou wringing of hands. "My God, the abuse of a child is going on, and nobody did anything about it! How could this coach possibly sit by?" This McQueary guy, the Penn State guy, "How could this McQueary guy let it go? How could he let it go on? How could he not stop it?" How could ESPN let it go on? How could they not take steps to stop it, corroborate it, or whatever? It's amazing.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: All right, this scandal now at Syracuse, the Bernie Fine scandal. For nine years a tape with evidence of sexual molestation of a young boy. Nine years. They said they couldn't corroborate it. For nine years they sat on it. Why not? Folks, there's this giant elephant in the room. It's the same thing happened at Penn State. Nobody wants to bring it up, nobody wants to talk about it, nobody's got the guts and the courage to talk about it, but it's there, and there's no question. You see how fast ESPN would have put out that tape if this Bernie Fine guy had said something questioning the media hype around Donovan McNabb. See how fast ESPN would have put that out if it was a young girl that was molested.

END TRANSCRIPT

[Major Matt Mason]

ESPN is run by a bunch of libs. I stopped watching that worthless network years ago. This is no surprise whatsoever.

[Wolfie]

I can’t help but think of dozens of local stories in the last year involving child luring and things of that nature where the suspect is arrested forthwith, perp walked on the local news, and shuffled off into the legal system. No grand juries, no years long investigations, no need for further corroboration. One child, one accusation, instant handcuffs. Of course, when one isn’t a cog in a multi-billion dollar industry like big-time college sports, I guess you can’t expect the same standard of treatment.

[WayneS]

I’d like to hear a logical explanatio from the guy as to why he gave the tape to ESPN instead of to the police.

[WayneS]

I’d like to hear a logical explanation from the guy as to why he gave the tape to ESPN instead of to the police.

[brownsfan]

This has got to feel like karma for Rush.

ESPN management sucks, but I admit, I watch Mike & Mike in the morning. Mike & Mike wanted to be careful how they covered the Penn St. tragedy. Greenburg even warned parents to remove kids from the vicinity the first time they discussed it.

But, management had other ideas, soon it was all Penn St, all the time.

[rightsmart]

I wonder if the same people that have been calling for ending the football program at Penn State will now call for The Walt Disney Company to close down ESPN.

[Kaslin]

That is what I was thinking too

[kosciusko51]

I just want to know when all the FReepers that were calling for Joe Pa’s head are going to demand the same from ESPN’s management.

[ilgipper]

Mike & Mike is about all I watch on ESPN any more, other than live football and college hoops. Their show seems to skirt the politicization of most other shows, and is an escape from the day-to-day. I don’t want to turn on sports and see Obama parading around.

[Pharmboy]

So, ESPN is now the Supreme Court and the Attorney General? They had no corroborating evidence?? Who cares...give it to the cops, you nitwits...and Rush is right: if it were little girls being abused they would have done more.

[choctaw man]

“ESPN had a tape since 2002 with evidence”

A netword covering up rape/child abuse?

If there had been a program about Tim Tebow and his Christian views, etc., ESPN would have had it on within minutes, bashing him, don’t you think?

[NRG1973]

I’d like to hear a logical explanation from the guy as to why he gave the tape to ESPN instead of to the police.

Thats simple!!! Instead of seeing Bernie Fine prosecuted, Davis wanted money.

[xp38]

You see how fast ESPN would have put out that tape if this Bernie Fine guy had said something questioning the media hype around Donovan McNabb.

Rush has some experience with ESPN in this regard.

[11th Commandment]

Of course, when one isn’t a cog in a multi-billion dollar industry like big-time college sports, I guess you can’t expect the same standard of treatment.

YUP, and the culture of corruption continues in the NCAA. Schools continually changing conferences for the next buck; you think they are going to hang the dirty laundry after such risky moves? Anti-trust with the BCS system and the NCAA watches. Open recruiting violations, yet only the small schools get caught.

[television is just wrong]

this is a disney company is it not?

[jurroppi1]

He talked to police before making the tape. Sounds like the police didn’t want anything to do with it either.

[RichInOC]

Like I said about the Sandusky thing. If you think stuff like this goes on for as long as it did without at least the hacks covering the team, if not hacks even further afield, at minimum hearing rumors about it, you’re kidding yourselves. It doesn’t let guys like Sandusky and Fine off the hook, it should put the hacks on the hook alongside them.

[servo1969]

The elephant in the room rears its head again. The thing that Rush said can cost people their careers. The truth he confirmed he was referring to last week on his show.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2810554/posts

The money line?

“See how fast ESPN would have put that out if it was a young girl that was molested.”

And there it is.

[Fair Paul]

So, ESPN is now the Supreme Court and the Attorney General?

Yes, they are unfortunately. ESPN controls all aspects of the reporting of a sports story, they like to BE the story.