Here’s a Post for You: Former U.S. Champion Figure Skater Busted

Nicole Bobek.

It’ a week-old story but it’s almost nowhere to be seen. Former American figure skating champion, Nicole Bobek was busted on a distribution of methamphetamine charge in florida ————– last week. And check out how the Associate Press frames her guilt:

Former U.S. figure skating champion Nicole Bobek probably got mixed up with the wrong crowd, the skater’s mother said Wednesday, two days after her 31-year-old daughter was released from jail on a drug distribution charge stemming from an investigation that has netted 20 arrests so far.

Jana Bobek said her daughter liked to party and may be in trouble because of the company she keeps.

“If she is in some kind of trouble, she is probably in some trouble because she got in with the wrong company. I do strongly believe she would never do anything criminal,” Jana Bobek told The Associated Press.

And those were the three lead paragraphs to the AP story of Ms. Bobek’s fall from grace. It was them, those nefarious “wrong company” people.

Though it is completely understandable why a mother would protect her child and perhaps see only the best in them it is reprehensible for a news outlet to frame the discussion concerning the arrested person in such a way to elicit pity from the outlet’s readership.

But hey, that’s the way the AP - and the Big Subliminal - rolls. And the pity party doesn’t end with those first three graphs:

“Did she party? Probably, yes,” Bobek’s mother said. “I know she’s a wonderful person and she has a very good heart and a lot of time that’s been taken advantage of.”

Gotta get that good quote in the to firm up the foundation, eh?

But.

As we have seen with many other athletes, there is a history of negative behavior associated with Nicole Bokek:

In 1994, at the age of 17, she was arrested for first degree home invasion for which she received probation.

Whoops!

Wrong crowd, mom says? Is this little tidbit of info found in the AP article. Is it reported by an ESPN writer who “contributed” to the article in order to disseminate the facts of Bobek’s criminal history?

Nah, not the Big Disney.

Not on your life.

Oh, and the facts of the arrest? We finally get to those in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth paragraphs:

Nicole Bobek, who has homes in New York City and Jupiter, Fla., has been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Hudson and other North Jersey counties. She was arrested in Florida last week and extradited to New Jersey.

So far, 20 people, including Bobek, have been arrested in connection with the drug ring. An investigation is ongoing.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio called Bobek a “significant player” in the ring who was involved for at least a number of months. According to police, the network distributed $10,000 worth of methamphetamine per week.

“This is not a situation where she was buying drugs to pass it on to another associate,” he added.

Wrong crowd?

How about, “group leader?” How about, it is a possibility that Bobek is one of the persons financing the operation?

Let’s see how much longer this takes to hit the 24-hour wash and spin of Mike and Mike in the Morning to 1st and 10 to Around the Horn to PTI to Sportscenter.

Oh, I’m sorry. It’s MLB All-Star week. There’s no time for other news.

We’ll see how this story develops.