I'm a lawyer in Houston. Tony Buzbee (the lawyer for the 12 women) is a top tier lawyer. He's not the local ambulance chaser.
Women are usually hesitant to report something like this. If you've read any of the reports of the women that were victims of Harvey Weinstein, Gov. Cuomo, or other sexual assaults, or harrassment, it usually takes a while before they report it. They are embarrassed, they often blame themselves, or are threatened by the men with violence or ruining their lives, etc. It's sad, but it doesn't sound so crazy to me. Men who do this, usually do it serially, they don't just victimize one woman and then that's it. It's really starting to sound to me like he is guilty and has a real problem that he needs help with. Did you know that 81% of women have experienced sexual harrassment and that 1 out of every 5 women have been a victim of rape or attempted rape? I have numerous female friends in their 60s and 70s that were victims of harrassment or attempted rape at some point during their lives.
Of course - there is opportunity now to make money off of this guy. The latest: I only arrived there to give a hand relief and a tea bag, but was coerced into a full blow.
Not speaking to this situation but this seems to becoming more and more of a norm among professional athletes. I read a piece or saw one on television that talked about high profile athletes avoiding the club scene more and more because of the negative connotation of it and instead seeking out acquaintances on the internet because it's just that much easier. Even still, in today's culture, that doesn't make them any less of a scumbag if they engage in such activities and do inappropriate scumbag things. I hope for Watson's sake he does get some sort of due process on this beyond the court of public opinion as I hope the same for the women. But as far as his trade prognosis I'd consider him a Texan this season as there's no way this fixes itself before a trade package can be put together. I imagine a couple of teams that were interested are hiring the best private investigators they know to take a look into all of this stuff though. It still feels like a smear job given the lawyers supposed connection to the organization. But nine? That's a lot of accusations to dismiss. The rub to it all (no pun intended) is that if the Texans did orchestrate this entire deal, they've also killed his trade value, so I'm not completely sold that it's an inside job.
Personally, the conspiratorial aspect involving Houston ownership that I think is possible is not that they organized some sort of fabrication, but that they "allowed", if you will, it to come to the surface at this point in time. If this is all true, I think it's entirely possible that the Texans were aware of what Watson was doing well in advance of it breaking this week, and were shielding their star QB or turning a blind eye to it because he was good for the organization. That Cal McNair's neighbor and friend suddenly brings suit just as public opinion on Watson being traded swung in Deshaun's favor is the part that strikes me as really sketchy/iffy/improbable. It may have happened completely organically, but it certainly feels to me like a textbook unscrupulous rich guy scorched earth move. And as terrible as it sounds, I'm kind of happy to be able to focus my excitement for whichever QB they take at #2 now (assuming they go that direction) with Watson no longer an option.
Jilozzo, I am not disputing that at all...BUT as far as the immediate future is concerned, I would have a heck of a lot more faith in JD and Saleh working to build something together than in Nagy and Pace, who have already proven themselves to be two incompetent boobs. Also, as bad as the Jets history has been....it has been better than the Detroit Lions history! you gotta admit that!
I agree. I haven't heard anthing recently, but initially, I think it was said that other Texan players were involved as well. If so, then it's almost certain that the Texans knew about it and may have paid the victims to keep quiet, but even if no other players were involved, I'd still find it very difficult to believe that in this age of "me too" none of the women reported it to the Texans at least.
first two tugs are FREE...but after that, you have to pay PER TUG until the "job gets done"...or at least, so I have heard...
The tie-in with Hopkins and the supposed phone call that Watson's mom made to the McNair's to get him out of town so Watson stops messing around with the same crowd of women Hopkins was bringing around is interesting. I think @NOVAJET did some sleuth work on the Texans board and found that, but don't quote me. And it's all, of course, unconfirmed.
He actually has a decent reputation, Unhappy? I don't know anything about him, but I assumed he was your typical scumbag fame/$$$$ obsessed attorney who viewed this as his 15 minutes of fame.
I think another scenario is more likely...the lawyer had been sitting on this story because of his supposed friendship with McNair to protect his friend's asset, and McNair simply gave him the go-ahead to release it as it became clear Watson wasn't going to play for him any longer. In that instance, its not a smear campaign by the Texans who were more likely using their influence to protect him when they had incentive to do so. Of course, if that were the case it would seem to be more reasonable to have traded him first before letting it get out. But then all conspiracy theories have significant gaps in logic, which is why the simpler scenario is most likely the truth -- this has nothing to do with the organization at all.
To be fair to those types of lawyers, they only get to where they are because they win cases, regardless if they're money obsessed or sleezebags.
