By TERRY LYONS
BOSTON – For the Commissioners of sports, the best days are presenting MVP Awards, Championship Trophies celebrations, paying tribute to retiring legends or welcoming a new crop of rookies into the league at the annual Draft. The worst of days involve labor strife, work stoppages, enforcing the rules and – ultimately – suspending a player (or administrator) for a significant number of games or for LIFE.
At the NBA, players like Ron Artest (a.k.a Metta World Peace; Metta Sandiford-Artest) were suspended for fighting or conduct detrimental to the NBA for 86 games, Latrell Sprewell (68), GS minority team owner Mark Stevens (65). Others, repeat offenders of the NBA /NBA Players anti-drug program were tossed for life. Included were John Drew, Chris Washburn, Roy Tarpley, Richard Dumas and others who were able to re-apply after significant suspensions (Micheal Ray Richardson, Lewis Lloyd and Mitchell Wiggins), among others.
Donald Sterling, the disgraced team owner and Board of Governor of the Los Angeles Clippers, was banned for life and docked $2.5 million by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for Sterling’s racist remarks and conduct.
There were others, of course, mostly for on-court transgressions such as LA Lakers’ Kermit Washington’s punch of Houston Rockets’ star and Hall of Fame coach Rudy Tomjanovich that cost Rudy T his Dec ‘77-Spring ‘78 season while Washington served a then-astronomical 26-game suspension.
The National Football League faced a significantly different and certainly more catastrophic issue with the case of former Houston Texans and current Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. The talented QB was suspended for 11 NFL games this week, five more games than Sue Robinson, a disciplinary counsel had determined on August 1.
Watson was previously accused of multiple sexual assaults and other inappropriate conduct during massage therapy sessions in lawsuits filed by 25 different women. The lawsuits alleged that from March 2020 to March 2021, while Watson was a member of the Texans, he allegedly sexually abused each woman. One of the 25 lawsuits was dropped after a judge’s ruling in April 2021 that the plaintiffs needed to amend their petitions to disclose their names. Two other women filed criminal complaints against Watson but did not sue him.
Watson settled or agreed to settle all but one of the remaining lawsuits, which remains pending. In July, the Texans reached settlements with 30 women who made claims or were prepared to make them against the NFL organization for what attorney Tony Buzbee called its alleged “enabling” of Watson’s behavior, according to ESPN.
Where does it fall, now? Watson was fined $5 million and is suspended by the NFL for a mere 11 games, ranging from August 30th to November 28th, 2022. Watson will be available to play for Cleveland when the Browns coincidentally play against the Texans in Week 13 of the upcoming NFL season.
What length of suspension would’ve been more appropriate?
The NFL and its Commissioner, Roger Goodell, might take matters into its own hands, instead of the joint and impartial arbitrator assigned by the players and the league.
Regardless, an 11 game suspension for each of the 25 cases would not have been extreme. The issue is not player safety on the field, nor drug/substance abuse off the field, not breaking the law by speeding in a car not other crimes that are addressed by the appropriate authorities and legal system, State-by-State.
TWENTY-FIVE cases of sexual assault – all credible – seem to show for a significant amount of smoke where there was fire. Yet, all the while, Watson claimed his innocence, right down to this week’s 11-game settlement well short of a true “verdict.”
“I’ll continue to stand on my innocence, just because you know settlements, and things like that happen doesn’t mean that a person is guilty for anything,” Watson said. “I feel like a person has an opportunity to stand on his innocence and prove that, and we proved that from a legal side, and just going to continue to push forward as an individual and as a person.”
Will he eventually speak on his own behalf and tell the full story?
“That’s definitely the plan, that’s definitely the goal,” said Watson. “I feel like through the whole process I’ve been trying to tell my side of the story. But a lot of people just didn’t pay a lot of attention to it.”
What left?
Watson has to comply with and overall evaluation and treatment recommendations of a third-party behavioral expert to be fully reinstated, sources told ESPN.
“Deshaun has committed to doing the hard work on himself that is necessary for his return to the NFL,” Goodell said in a prepared NFL statement. “This settlement requires compliance with a professional evaluation and treatment plan, a significant fine, and a more substantial suspension. We are grateful to Judge Robinson and Peter Harvey for their efforts in addressing these matters, which laid the foundation for reaching this conclusion.”
Robinson, an independent arbiter jointly appointed by the league and players’ union, made the first ruling on August 1 while Harvey was a former New Jersey attorney general whom Goodell appointed to oversee the NFL’s appeal, as the league sought a more significant determination than the six games.
From the Brown’s stand-point, franchise co-owners Dee and Jimmy Haslem focused on a player’s right to a “second chances” and counseling.
I think in this country, and hopefully in the world, people deserve second chances. I really think that,” Jimmy Haslem said. “Is he never supposed to play again? Is he never supposed to be a part of society? Does he get no chance to rehabilitate himself? That is what we are going to do. … We think people deserve a second chance. … That does not mean we do not have empathy for people affected and we will continue to do so, but we strongly believe, strongly believe that people deserve a second chance; we believe Deshaun Watson deserves a second chance.”
No argument there, but maybe the second chance should be multiplied times the 25 cases and the result would be a minimum 50-to-275 game suspension and a (25 x $5m = $125 million) fine to be subtracted from the $230 million fully guaranteed contract with Cleveland.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: It’s a B$G week in Boston as the 20th WEEI Radio/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon begins this Tuesday, August 23, originating from Fenway Park. Since 2002, the charitable radio-tele-thon raised $62 million for cancer treatment and research, with The JIMMY Fund and Dana-Farber the key. To learn more, visit www.JimmyFund.org. … The telethon begins Tuesday at 6am (ET) and fans can tune in to WEEI-FM and NESN throughout the 36-hour broadcast to hear stories of courage and hope from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute patients, doctors, nurses, and supporters.
Even though the Red Sox were on the road, Fenway Park was ‘hoppin’ this week, hosting concerts on four consecutive nights: Bad Bunny On Thursday, Lady Gaga Friday, Imagine Dragons on Saturday, and comedian Bill Burr on Sunday, all to sold-out crowds. Burr is the first comedian ever to headline a gig at Fenway. … The Red Sox are off Monday before returning home for a brief six-game home stand, starting Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
TID-BITS: As the PGA Tour playoffs come to a close this week at the annual TOUR Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, the publication of our sister-missive PGA Tour Brunch will come to a close until the first week of January 2023. It’s a great time to sign-up to secure a gift for your golf-loving friends, as all issues from 2022 are archived for reference. … We’ve had a good look at the national college football polls, where the usual suspects (Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia and Clemson) are atop the crop. How about the Atlantic Coast Conference, home of the Boston College Eagles?
Atlantic (first place votes)
- Clemson (111)
- North Carolina State (44)
- Wake Forest (6)
- Louisville
- Florida State (2)
- Boston College (1)
Coastal
- Miami (98)
- Pitt (38)
- North Carolina (18)
- Virginia (6)
- Virginia Tech (3)
- Georgia Tech (1)
- Duke – 220
Overall Champion
- Clemson – 103
- NC State – 38
- Miami – 8
- Wake Forest – 4
- Pitt – 3
- Virginia – 3
- Florida State – 2
- North Carolina – 2
- Boston College – 1
Conclusion: One voter likes Boston College a lot while over 100 media members like perennial champion Clemson. … Five ACC teams are among the National Top 25. They are: Clemson, NC State, Miami, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest. … B1G Ten match-up Nebraska at Northwestern kick-off the schedule in Dublin (Ireland, not Ohio) on August 27th at 12:30pm (ET) on FOX.
NBA MUSIC: Frequent readers of this weekly column will recognized the constant attempt to merge great sports stories with appropriate musical selections, whether they be classic rock songs, artists or other genres.
This week, the two will become one with an attempt to match great NBA players with the legendary artists, musicians or bands they might represent. We’ll call it “The NBA Match Game.” Here it goes and the NBA player(s) and artists are listed in no particular order:
Bill Russell = Elvis
George Mikan = The Beatles
Magic Johnson = The Rolling Stones
Wilt Chamberlain = Stevie Wonder
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar = Tom Petty (while Earvin Johnson, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Silk Wilkes, and so many others were The Heartbreakers
Bob Cousy = Bob Dylan
Connie Hawkins = Led Zeppelin
Larry Bird = Eric Clapton … we passed on “The Byrds”
Elgin Baylor = James Brown
Bob Pettit = The Who
“Pistol” Pete Maravich = Ray Charles
John Havlicek = The Big Bopper
Satch Sanders = Miles Davis
Jerry West = The Beach Boys
Oscar Robertson = Marvin Gaye
Julius “Dr J” Erving = Jimi Hendrix
Michael Jordan = Prince
Earl “The Pearl” Monroe = Sly and the Family Stone
David Thompson = Bob Marley
George Gervin = Bruce Hornsby
Bill Walton = Grateful Dead
Jerry Sloan = Johnny Cash
Dan Issel = America (Horse with No Name)
Carol Blazejowski = Madonna
Sheryl Swoopes = Aretha Franklin
Lisa Leslie = Diana Ross
Diana Taurasi = Lady Gaga
Sue Bird = Adele
Dawn Staley = Heart
Shaquille O’Neal = The Ramones
Allen Iverson = Bubba-Chuck Berry
Scottie Pippen = Muddy Waters
Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas, John Salley, Bill Limber, Rick Mahorn – The Cars
Chris Mullin = U2
Hakeem Olajuwon = Smokey Robinson
David Robinson = Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (song)
Karl Malone and John Stockton = Simon and Garfunkel
Manu Ginobili = Carlos Santana
Pau Gasol = Enrique Iglesias
Artis Gilmore = Chicago (Big Band sound of the ‘70s)
Bob Lanier = Crosby, Stills & Nash
Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen = The Allman Brothers Band
LeBron James = Jay Z
Steph Curry = The Clash
Run T-M-C (Tim (Hardaway/Mitch Richmond/Chris Mullin) = Run DMC
Nate Thurmond and Al Attles = Pink Floyd/The Wall – (Gilmour/Waters)
Dennis Rodman = Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam
Charles Barkley = Michael Jackson/Thriller
Kobe Bryant = Buddy Holly
Draymond Green = The Talking Heads
Steve Nash = Neil Young
Dan Majerle or Danny Ainge, with Walter Bellamy – Steely Dan
Tim Duncan = Jimmy Cliff
’69-70 Knicks = The Band
Marvin Barnes = Jim Morrison and the Doors
Webb Wilder = Gerald Govan (Wear glasses if you need ‘em)
Max Zaslofsky = ZZ Top
David Stern = Bruce Springsteen/a.k.a. “The Boss”
Rod Thorn = The Police
NOTE: Undoubtedly, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, more NBA player and musical artist(s) match-ups that can be added. Please feel free to submit others that come to mind. Either use the comments section or text/DM or email.