The Ray Rice Elevator Video

I thought Hardy's was the one that was supposed to be the most grizzly of any of the recent domestic abuse cases based on the police report.

 

I don't think the police report was ever made public. You would not typically get a narrative of a domestic violence case in the small portion of the report that is public under North Carolina's records law.

Her account of the event first became public through her filings for a domestic violence protective order and it was grisly. But the DVPO wasn't granted and her testimony in the District Court trial differed from her account in the DVPO filing. There is a lower burden of proof to obtain a DVPO against an abuser than there is to convict them of a crime.

She claimed in the DVPO paperwork that Hardy dragged her across the floor and strangled her with both hands. Yet the police did not charge Hardy with assault by strangulation (a felony) or second-degree kidnapping (a felony). If she had any marks on her neck at all from being strangled, then I can't understand why he wasn't charged by the police or indicted by the DA on the higher crime. She also admitted during cross examination that she'd been using cocaine that night. Even if the state had been able to get her into court today, she was going to be a difficult witness to rehab her credibility on the stand.

Only the people who were in that apartment know what really happened, but this was a very weak case for the state.

 

ESPN with great work on the Steelers' head of security, a.k.a. The Cleaner, who is also a county sheriff.

Pittsburgh Steelers security chief's dual role as sheriff's officer questioned - ESPN


In one case, U.S. marshals believed the Steelers, with Kearney as security director, tipped off a player who had been implicated in a Las Vegas prostitution ring, touching off a day-long manhunt that delayed the player's arrest, federal officials told "Outside the Lines." After the marshals complained, Kearney's supervisor told him to "keep in mind his primary jobs" but concluded he had not violated department regulations.

In the Adams case, the Steelers' top rookie in 2012 had been stabbed during a drunken melee, but details of the crime initially were few, and whether he was an innocent victim or played some role in the altercation was unclear.

Police reports and court documents show that Kearney went to the hospital and met with Adams -- a conversation that occurred hours before detectives interviewed the player for the first time. Shortly after, Kearney moved Adams' truck -- which would become a potential piece of evidence -- to the Steelers' practice facility. In his role as a sheriff's deputy, he then led the investigation to locate one of the suspects. When the case went to trial, defense attorneys believed Kearney was so compromised that they appealed to the judge to prevent him from wearing his sheriff's uniform to testify.

oop sees no problem with any of this. Nobody got convicted so that means nobody done nothin' wrong.

So far we have the Ravens, Steelers and 49ers with uncomfortably close ties to local police. Hmmm, think there might be 29 other teams with similar setups?

 

Nothing new there. I think somebody even posted about Kearney on this site before.

Regarding your second to last sentence, please refrain from putting words in my mouth. You do it badly.

If I remember correctly, at least one member of Ben Roethlisberger's entourage the night of the accused rape in Georgia was an off-duty police officer. It might have been two. Willie Colon was in that group, too, but nobody ever seems to care because he is not a big enough name.

I absolutely have questions about law enforcement getting into these types of relationships with individual players or teams. I do not, however, consider it proof that any player on any team is automatically guilty just because he has been accused of a crime.

 

Was there a bear involved?

 

Hollywood Reporter has a story about ESPN wanting Olbermann to stop doing commentary -- which is interesting in its own right -- that includes this nugget. Is ESPN being paranoid, or is it possible that the NFL is so petty that they gave them a shitty MNF schedule as "pay back"?

ESPN walks a particularly fine line in how its reporters and personalities handle the professional sports leagues that are so critical to the network's success. ESPN's Monday Night Football deal (which extends through 2021) is worth $15.2 billion to the NFL. It is the richest rights deal among the NFL's TV partners — which also includes CBS, Fox and NBC — in part because it comes with extensive highlight rights critical to feeding content to ESPN's myriad sports programs. ESPN has had MNF since 2006, with the current deal representing an increase of more than 70 percent — $1.9 billion per year up from $1.1 billion — over the previous agreement. And while NFL schedulers have historically worked to spread marquee matchups among its TV partners, the upcoming MNF schedule is viewed as one pointedly lacking in high-interest games, with multiple sources inside ESPN's Bristol, Conn., headquarters believing the "terrible" schedule is “pay back for Simmons and Olbermann,” as one source put it.

ESPN Wants Keith Olbermann to Quit Doing "Commentary" - Hollywood Reporter - The Hollywood Reporter

 

Perhaps ESPN should get out of the habit of overbidding on properties without the securing some sort of guarantee or say on marquee games.

 

Sunday night gets better ratings than Monday nights. If the NFL thinks they can get comparable money elsewhere, let them find it. Conversely, if the NFL pulls its highlight rights from ESPN and gives it over to the NFL network, it could make the house network exponentially more valuable.

 

ESPN pays $111 million per game (check my math: $15.2 billion divided by 8 years divided by 17 games; understanding I am leaving out the playoff crumbs and one or two super bowls)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/s...xtends-deal-with-nfl-for-15-billion.html?_r=0

They should be able to get more than a bunch of Tennessee Titans games.

 

Fuck ESPN.

 

In a battle of Fuck ESPN vs. Fuck the NFL, who wins? Ditka.