Watson, Griner, Grundy, and Discipline

It's been five weeks since I wrote a blog. I've been sick the entire time with Covid, and then a bacterial pneumonia superimposed upon covid pneumonia. Thank God, I am much better, and have ideas rolling on several topics. Today, it's the various sports discipline cases.

Not everyone in my readership is a sports fan, so a brief recap is appropriate. Brittney Griner is a WNBA star player. She went to Russia because she plays for their Ekaterinburg team as a way to earn more money. Her WNBA salary is 130,000.00. She was arrested for possession of a cannabis product. The story changed through the process. Initially it was marijuana, then cannabis oil for vaping, then a claim it was legally prescribed. Regardless, drug laws are fierce throughout most of eastern Europe, and Griner was tried, convicted, and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Deshaun Watson is a major NFL star quarterback. He played for the Texans. He became unhappy about the Texans' coaching search, which did not inculde some prominent and highly qualified Black men. He made his unhappiness public, and then asked for a trade after signing a big contract extension off his rookie deal. The owner of the Texans at the time, Cal McNair, has made various racist comments, and the racial culture in their organization is apprently poor. In this setting, it is easy to imagine the anger when an 'uppity black man' opened his mouth and bit the hand that just fed him a huge contract. 'Shockingly', complaints suddenly started coming in from masseuses, who said Watson had touched them inappropriately with his penis during massages. 24 of them. The Houston police investigated and found no basis for prosecution, and all but one case has already been settled. No one claims Watson tried to sexually assault or otherwise act violently, and Watson vehemently claims he is innocent. An independent investigator assessed material from Watson and the NFP, and handed down a six game suspension. And America blew up with claims it was not enough. The NFL asked for an indefinite suspension and appealed the case.

Cale Grundy is a deeply respected college football coach who has been in the Oklahoma organization for 23 years. He has spent more than half his adult life there. He has coached various positions, this year being the receivers. In a film study session, where players were supposed to take notes, he saw one player distracted, and took his iPad. He read aloud what the player had written, which included "a word I should never have said". In other words, it included the word nigger. 

Joe Mixon, a star running back in college and the pros, wrote-
"If not for Coach Gundy I would not have attended OU, survived at OU, stayed at OU, and succeeded in life after OU. I owe my education and professional career to him and most importantly I owe who I am as a person to him. Most importantly Coach Gundy is not, and I repeat is not a racist in any way nor has a racist bone in his body, mind, or soul. ... I know racists, I have witnessed both obvious and discreet types of racism and have known and detested even more actual racist [sic]. Coach Gundy is the farthest thing from this type of person."

Nonetheless, the next day he resigned.

These cases have received different amounts of attention, and I think all of it is misguided. Watson's case has generated reams and hours of coverage, all negative, some intensely so. Gundy's case got a footnote, and Griner's case has generated righteous rage from across the political spectrum. Every bit of this is wrong.

Brittney Griner is no stranger to going to Russia, and ought to know Russian law as it pertains to substances. She is a professional, an adult, and should be responsible. She was not in America, where no one prosecutes marijuana offenses unless you have enough to distribute. We're so blase about it that you can light a joint right in front of a policeman, and as long as you don't get in a car no one cares. 

But Russia isn't America. Russia punishes drug use harshly. The US has not one leg to stand on in claiming Griner was poorly treated. She went through the Russian legal system like anyone else. If you don't want to be subject to it, don't break the law or don't go to Russia. This is not an issue for governments, State departments, or social outrage. There is a deal in the works to trade a notorious arms dealer for Griner and one other American. I suspect Russia will hold Griner just for the political advantages, particularly as winter approaches in Ukraine, and western Europe needs energy, but will eventually release her. Her case does not merit public attention.

Watson is a different problem. Any inappropriate sexual act of any kind by a man now calls forth a storm of woke rage. No punishment is sufficient short of the man's life being ruined, his career destroyed, all his money taken, his genitals amputated, and his being publicly humiliated. Nothing less suffices. And that's ridiculous. There are gradations of offense, and everyone knows it, regardless of the ravings of the woke, feminist mob. Like so many of these situations, it's a he said/she said private event. There was no evidence of any physical trauma, and no one claimed any other touching, advances, or efforts at penetration. 

His punishment, a six game suspension, was within the sleeve of other players who violated the personal conduct policy in non-violent ways. Players who hit, threw or otherwise physically assaulted women received bans of 8-16 games. A six game ban is perfectly appropriate.

The woke mob, however, wanted more, and  the NFL kow-towed in the name of political correctness and TV ratings. They have asked for an indefinite ban, at least a year, a financial penalty, and other conditions for reinstatement. In other words, they want a hammer over Watson to destroy his career. It's excessive and it's wrong, yet I fear society will have its way, and yet another man will be destroyed in a punishment far, far in excess of the crime.

Gundy's situation is pathetically ridiculous. The net result is a player who was behaving inappropriately at practice will go unpunished, while a fine coach who simply read out what the player himself wrote resigned for saying a naughty word. That's insane. The player wrote it, was not doing his job, and Gundy called him out. Is nigger so severe a word that we can't even read it aloud when a black man wrote it? Nigger. Nigger nigger nigger nigger. There. The more you taboo a word the more it acquires a life of its own. Black people can call each other nigger. The rap industry has made billions off 'artists' saying nigger. But one, long-time, deeply respected white coach commits professional suicide because he said nigger, when a Black player wrote it? That's insane. 

If it had been me, I would get up at a podium and say "A player in a film meeting was not doing his job and not paying attention. He was clearly distracted by a private tablet conversation inappropriate to the circumstances. I took his tablet and read his words aloud, to discipline him in front of his teammates. I am not sorry, and I would do it again. I was not the author of the words or sentiments, and I was doing my job as I see best to do it. You can fire me, but I will not resign."

Like so much else in our society, three prominent examples of disciplinary action have all been reacted to wrongly, and in ways that distort the situation. In all three a very negative message is sent. When will we stop this stupidity?

Ted