Last Saturday at Williams Arena, there were two themes: The Gophers beat Indiana, and Richard Pitino's younger brother Ryan showed up in a chicken suit.
After the game, the Gophers coach shook his head and said he thought that allegedly Ryan had lost a bet. No one knew what this bet was about, but now, thanks to Louisville Courier-Journal reporter, Jeff Greer (hat tip to Jeff, who sent me these quotes), we have the real story.
According to Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who was also at the Barn with Ryan to watch his son's team dispatch the Hoosiers, 66-60, there was no wager at all, but rather the idea cropped up from Walker Price, the Gophers' recruiting and operations coordinator. He suggested, apparently, that Ryan be part of the Barnyard, and Ryan apparently liked that idea.
"He said, 'Dad, I'm going to go put on a chicken suit,'" Rick Pitino said. "I expected him to go sit with the students in the animal section and not my section."
Oh, but he did. He did.
"He came up and I said, 'You're going to sit here?'" Pitino recollected. "He said, 'Yeah, you have a problem?'
"And I said, 'Yeah, you're in a chicken suit.' I said, 'Why don't you go up with the other animals?'
"I just moved away like this (shifts his back to block someone to his right), like I didn't know him. Jeff Goodman and Seth Davis are texting me saying, 'Is that your son in a chicken suit, sitting next to you? And why is he doing it?' I tried to make him look good and say he lost a bet in the office and had to wear a chicken suit, which wasn't the truth.