Bobref

Watson has settled 20 of the 24 lawsuits against him. The immediate effects of this are: The four remaining plaintiffs now have even more leverage than before. if there’s anyone else out there still thinking of suing, they now have added incentive to do so. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/browns/2022/06/21/deshaun-watson-browns-settles-lawsuits-allege-sexual-misconduct-massages/7688001001/ Browns QB Deshaun Watson settles all but four of 24 lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson has reached a confidential settlement with all but four of the 24 women who sued him and accused him of sexual misconduct during massage sessions in 2020 and early 2021, the women’s attorney said Tuesday. The settlements end the women’s litigation against him nearly 15 months after most were filed in 2021. “Today I announce that all cases against Deshaun Watson, with the exception of four, have settled,” plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee said in a statement. “We are working through the paperwork related to those settlements. Once we have done so, those particular cases will be dismissed. The terms and amounts of the settlements are confidential. We won’t comment further on the settlements or those cases.” Settling the cases allows Watson to move on from most of the litigation after it generated regular ugly headlines about him, at least somewhat spoiling his recent arrival in Cleveland as the new $230 million quarterback of the Browns. Settling the cases also helps him avoid several days of deposition testimony that were scheduled for him this week. Those depositions are no longer going forward. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in May the investigation into the allegations against Watson was nearing an end, but it’s not clear what the league knew about two new lawsuits filed against Watson this year or information thatcame out of recent pretrial discovery. "Today’s development has no impact on the collectively bargained disciplinary process," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Watson's attorney, Rusty Hardin, declined comment Tuesday when contacted by USA TODAY Sports. Hardin had said the women were lying and that Buzbee viewed Watson as a “payday” after the women accused Watson of improper behavior, including exposing himself, causing his genitals to touch them and in some cases coercing sex. Watson, 26, never was arrested or charged after two grand juries in Texas declined to indict him. There could have been several reasons the grand juries chose not to indict him, including a lack of hard evidence in these cases individually when Watson’s word was pitted against those of the women. Only one of the criminal complainants was called in to testify at the Harris County grand jury proceeding in March even though other complainants there were subpoenaed and ready to testify, Buzbee told USA TODAY Sports previously. One of the cases that did not settle is the lawsuit of the first plaintiff to sue Watson, Ashley Solis. Buzbee said he looks forward to trying her case and the others remaining active in due course. “The cases against Deshaun Watson started with one phone call, from one brave and strong woman,” Buzbee stated. “That woman was Ashley Solis. At the time of that call she was just one of the hundreds of calls seeking legal assistance that our firm gets weekly. Even though she was originally turned away by our screening process, my staff insisted that I personally speak with her. I’m glad she persisted. Once we took a second look, and after having contact with Watson’s original lawyer who disrespected Ashley and her profession and who arrogantly minimized the conduct of someone he referred to as an 'asset,' I was convinced that our law firm should try to help her. “As a result of Ashley’s lone but brave voice, soon many women who had allegedly experienced the same conduct were emboldened to step forward. I am incredibly proud to represent them all. They have endured vile criticism and fanatical ignorance. They faced withering cross examination by skilled litigators and stood firm. They are warriors all. Today we have an important announcement about these cases, but it is important to point out that, without Ashley Solis, the conduct experienced by these women would likely have continued unfettered. The truth is, without her courage and willingness to come forward, the NFL wouldn’t currently be contemplating discipline; there would be no examination of how teams might knowingly or unknowingly enable certain behavior; sports teams wouldn’t be reviewing their personnel screening processes; and this important story wouldn’t have dominated the sports headlines for more than a year.” One of the newest lawsuits against Watson noted that Watson previously had offered each plaintiff $100,000 to settle their cases, but not all would accept that amount, “due to the aggressive nondisclosure agreement that Watson’s team proposed.” Similarly, the terms of the settlements might never be revealed.

There’s no doubt that the IHSAA is litigation-averse, and that may be one of the reasons they implemented the SF instead of the multiplier, aside from the fact that it is infinitely more fair. Whether their fear of litigation was actually justified is another issue. “Discrimination” gets a bad rap, because people automatically think that all forms of discrimination are illegal. But there are actually very few forms of discrimination that are addressed by litigation. Race, creed, national origin, gender (sometimes), age (sometimes), sexual orientation (sometimes). Perhaps a few others.But there are lots of forms of discrimination that do not run counter to the law. Suppose a private employer decided he would hire only left-handed people because he was left-handed. Could a right-handed person denied a job sue him for that discrimination? Nope.

Once again, I was too slow and ran out of time to edit. Let me explain. The IHSAA can be treated as a quasi-governmental entity when it deals with individuals in, for example, eligibility decisions. That’s why they often lose those lawsuits. But not so when they are dealing with their own member institutions. That’s completely different. There, they can essentially only be sued by a member institution for violating their own rules. That’s because the rules are the equivalent of the terms of a contract with the member institution.

Please stop with the discrimination lawsuit stuff. Not a snowball’s chance in hell.

Ran out of time to edit the above post. I was going to add: I guess my question would be: “If playing schools in places like Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Columbus, etc., does not result in an unfair competitive advantage, why would anyone think that playing schools from Pittsburgh, or Alabama, Georgia, California, or Florida does provide such an advantage?”

I think you are giving the people who came up with the travel rule too much credit for “intelligent design.”

THIS!!!!!

So, you think the mercy rule is a good idea, but it should be extended to the first half?

That’s because he’s from Highland. 😂🤣😅

I’m saying they often check out of a lopsided game whether there’s a mercy rule or not.

Predictably, not everyone agrees with you. https://www.on3.com/college/texas-longhorns/news/david-pierce-critique-replay-call-from-game-1-loss-vs-notre-dame-texas-longhorns-baseball-mens-college-world-series-cws-review/

And, in a related story, 2A football champ Andrean won the 3A baseball title yesterday.

“Fair” often depends on whose ox is getting gored.

The dream is still alive in Omaha!

So, coaches and players don’t mentally check out, and fans don’t leave early, when it’s 35-0 at halftime? I beg to differ.

Dennis was a great player and a great kid. He was a close friend of my younger brother, so I was around him frequently. From the entire decade of the 70s, there are 3 Munster players who have been inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame (one of whom had been a high school coach for many years when he was inducted). There are 3 from the 1969 team alone (one of them inducted as an official). From that team two (Larry and Keith Johnson) went on to play at Michigan. Tom Karras played at Southern Illinois, and Jim Eidam played at Northern Illinois. Both Tom and Jim played in the North-South game.

This is what leads me to believe that the travel rule is grounded in something other than, or in addition to, concerns about students missing school, or expense. I believe there are those that feel such games would give a team a competitive advantage come tournament time, and since not every school can avail themselves of such opportunities, no one should. I know it’s silly and illogical. But I can’t think of any other reason for the rule.

I saw all those teams play multiple times, as I had 3 younger brothers attend Munster. One of them started on the Flynn-Such team you mentioned. I’m not unbiased, but I respectfully disagree. And, I can tell you with certainty, because I got it from the horse’s mouth, that John Friend disagrees with you as well.

The 1969 team finished ranked 9th in the state at a time when there was only 1 class in football. Relative to the. O petition, Munster has never had a better season. And I’m not sure how Munster was “far ahead” of the rest of NW Indiana, since 1969 was only the 4th season of varsity football.

The 1969 team had 4 D-1 players. Don’t think they’ve done that since.

Munster’s best team was in 1969.

That’s painting with a pretty broad brush. My younger daughter was formerly the Director of Bands at Triton Central and is now the Director of Orchestras for the School Town of Munster. So, I’m pretty familiar with the band thing. The one thing I’ve noticed is that the music groups are constantly engaged in some sort of fund raising venture to pay for these trips. Not only does this minimize the financial burden on the school, but it has the effect of involving both the parents and the community in band activities to a degree not often seen in athletics.

You’d lose that bet.

Apparently, there’s no concern with band kids missing school, the expense to the school, etc. Band kids are different, I guess.

I give this about the same chance I would give a snowball sitting on my driveway right now. https://heavy.com/sports/chicago-bears/dk-metcalf-trade-proposal-seattle-seahawks/