Bob LaNinfa: If swimmers had been running for president, they’d gotten away with it
Let’s give credit, where credit is due. The United States press finally did their jobs. They reported that some U.S. Olympic athletes in Rio de Janeiro out one night to have some fun, got drunk, kicked down a bathroom door then fabricated a story to police of being held up at gunpoint. It’s been in all the papers and on TV. But what difference does it make?
It isn’t like they had guns and fired on the consulate there, burned it down, killing some people. It isn’t like they went before Congress, raised their right hands and, under oath, promised to tell the truth and then lied. One of the gold medal athletes, because he told a lie, his life has been destroyed. Companies that endorsed him have been dropping like flies. What kind of digging would the press do, and write about, if he had been running for the president of the United States?
Bob LaNinfa, Modesto
This story was originally published August 30, 2016 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Bob LaNinfa: If swimmers had been running for president, they’d gotten away with it."