BUSINESS AS USUAL IN THE 'CUSE

The basketball team at Syracuse University, that Central New York bastion of integrity, sportsmanship and intellectual honesty has had a difficult year, embroiled, at first, in Coach Jim Boeheim’s knee-jerk statements that accusers of assistant coach Bernie Fine of pedophilia were only ‘in it for the money’ and, most recently, buying into sophomore guard Michael Carter-Williams' theory that the civil penalties he incurred from shoplifting at the local Lord and Taylor was simply a ‘misunderstanding’.

We are left to wonder whether Carter-Williams 1) did not understand that stuffing an expensive bathrobe and other items into his backpack and leaving the store without paying was not a benefit reserved for all heretofore entitled athlete-students or, 2) he did not understand that Lord and Taylor, like other retailers, stays in business by actually charging money for the goods displayed in their stores.

Not to be outdone in the battle for local headlines, the SU football team will be playing in the Pinstripe Bowl this weekend for a trophy named after a convicted felon, George Steinbrenner.

That seems fair and balanced.