Ex-Bears GM Jerry Angelo says the NFL ignord hundres of cases of domestic violen

[Neutral Corner]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/2014/10/09/former-bears-nfl-teams-hid-hundreds-domestic-violence-incidents/MKT6YQEiNMgLE1hPLqvG7J/story.html?rss_id=Top-GNSP

I

Jerry Angelo, seen here in 2001, told USA TODAY Sports that teams refrained from disciplining players in ‘hundreds’ of domestic violence matters over his 30 years in the league. Jerry Angelo, seen here in 2001, told USA TODAY Sports that teams refrained from disciplining players in ‘hundreds’ of domestic violence matters over his 30 years in the league.

In an interview with USA Today Sports, ex-Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said that during his 30 years in the NFL, teams refrained from disciplining players in ‘hundreds’ of domestic violence incidents.

USA Today Sports’ Josh Peter wrote Thursday that Angelo said when teams found out about an episode, they would ask “is everybody OK?...How are they doing?” and then “just move on.”

“We knew it was wrong,’’ Angelo told USA Today Sports. “…For whatever reason, it just kind of got glossed over. I’m no psychiatrist, so I can’t really get into what that part of it is. I’m just telling you how I was. I’ve got to look at myself first. And I was part of that, but I didn’t stand alone.”

 

[LongTimeListener]

Prove it.

/oop

 

[BTExpress]

In other news, sun expected to rise in east tomorrow.

 

[cjericho]

Has anyone talked to the great Tagliabue? Does he get a pass? Obviously Goodell has received a lot of well-deserved criticism, but haven't heard too many say a bad word about Paulie.

 

[Neutral Corner]

So why does Angelo choose to put this out there? He has to know he's throwing a hand grenade under the banquet table.

 

[cranberry]

The Bears' response?

"We were surprised by Jerry's comments and do not know what he is referring to."

The NFL remains largely in denial.

 

[YankeeFan]

This story doesn't seem to have gotten much traction.

Is the public burned out on the subject?

 

[Neutral Corner]

Seems like it. I know that I've read the stories for years, but that link seemed to gather a shrug and a collective "Yeah, so what else is new?" here.

 

[outofplace]

Prove it.

/oop

Stalking me even on threads I hadn't read yet. Nice.

Seems like Angelo is talking about things he has no direct knowledge about. He also isn't making accusations about any specific individuals, which makes a difference.

 

[BDC99]

Seems like Angelo is talking about things he has no direct knowledge about. He also isn't making accusations about any specific individuals, which makes a difference.

I think this is why it hasn't gained much traction. And the fact that the league finally seems to be trying to move into the 21st century. Attitudes about domestic violence have evolved across the board, so it's really no surprise. The league is just moving more slowly to evolve.

 

[YankeeFan]

And, he's predictably walked it back:

Former Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said comments he made in a USA Today story that “hundreds and hundreds” of domestic abuse cases were covered up during his 30 years in the NFL were taken out of context, misunderstood and misinterpreted.

What he was trying to say, he explained on Friday, was that over his 31 years in the NFL, there have been “hundreds and hundreds” of changes in the way things are looked at on the field and off. The league’s sensitivity to domestic violence, especially in light of publicized incidents involving Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, is one of those changes.

Unfortunately for Angelo, who was the Bears’ general manager from 2001-11, that’s not the way it came across in the USA Today story. But the idea that he or anyone in the NFL would be covering up hundreds of domestic-violence cases is “preposterous,” he said.

“It doesn’t even make sense,” Angelo told the Sun-Times on Friday. “ I would not have knowledge of hundreds and hundreds of cover-ups. How would I have knowledge of that? That’s humanly impossible. It’s just preposterous. Common sense says you can’t cover that up. There’s going to be a police report. How else would I know? Maybe in one or two [situations] you might hear something. But you wouldn’t really know the facts.”

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/30375202-606/jerry-angelo-my-knowledge-of-any-cover-ups-is-absurd.html#.VDhhNufZcXw

Thanks for you leadership on the issue Jerry.

 

[BDC99]

The police report issue was one I meant to mention in my previous post. If there was a domestic violence issue with a player even 30 years ago, there would presumably be an arrest/report. So reporters would presumably have had access to that information. It's not like the NFL exists in a bubble and could just keep it quiet. But with the attitudes back then to just ignore it/look the other way, it is certainly possible.

 

[LongTimeListener]

The police report issue was one I meant to mention in my previous post. If there was a domestic violence issue with a player even 30 years ago, there would presumably be an arrest/report. So reporters would presumably have had access to that information. It's not like the NFL exists in a bubble and could just keep it quiet. But with the attitudes back then to just ignore it/look the other way, it is certainly possible.

Ha. Good one. You haven't been paying attention at all.

Check out the other thread. 20 San Jose cops on 49ers' payroll.

 

[playthrough]

The Bears' response?

"We were surprised by Jerry's comments and do not know what he is referring to."

The NFL remains largely in denial.

Can't really fault the Bears. What were they supposed to do with that?

Ditka's reaction was lousy. He's a tool.

 

[Mark2010]

I totally agree with this.

Are we really so naive as to think this stuff didn't go on in the 60s, 70s and 80s? It's just that with the 24-hour news cycle, all the off the field stuff comes under much greater scrutiny.

I'm sure back 30-40 years ago, it was much easier for teams to handle things in house and/or sweep it under the rug. But I have no doubt it happened.

 

[outofplace]

The police report issue was one I meant to mention in my previous post. If there was a domestic violence issue with a player even 30 years ago, there would presumably be an arrest/report. So reporters would presumably have had access to that information. It's not like the NFL exists in a bubble and could just keep it quiet. But with the attitudes back then to just ignore it/look the other way, it is certainly possible.

Ha. Good one. You haven't been paying attention at all.

Check out the other thread. 20 San Jose cops on 49ers' payroll.

The fix is always in. Everybody who is accused of a crime is always guilty. Don't you all know that?

 

[BDC99]

The police report issue was one I meant to mention in my previous post. If there was a domestic violence issue with a player even 30 years ago, there would presumably be an arrest/report. So reporters would presumably have had access to that information. It's not like the NFL exists in a bubble and could just keep it quiet. But with the attitudes back then to just ignore it/look the other way, it is certainly possible.

Ha. Good one. You haven't been paying attention at all.

Check out the other thread. 20 San Jose cops on 49ers' payroll.

Not anymore.

Police suspends officers' off-duty work with 49ers
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The San Jose Police Department has informed its officers they are no longer allowed to do off-duty work for the San Francisco 49ers.
The order Friday came hours after the San Jose Mercury News reported a sergeant with the San Jose Police Department allegedly was at Ray McDonald's house the day he was arrested for domestic violence.
The officer is one of 16 from the department who moonlight with the 49ers as part of the team's security.
San Jose Police Chief Larry Esquivel says in a message to personnel that it is in the department's "best interest to suspend all San Francisco 49er secondary employment related assignments until further notice."
Esquivel says the decision was made "due to the complexities of the investigation."
McDonald is out on $25,000 bail following his Aug. 31 arrest.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Wow. That's big.

I hope protecting Ray was worth the millions of dollars they will collectively lose over the next few years!

 

[Neutral Corner]

I have no doubt whatsoever that the league has hushed up or swept under the rug any number of incidents over the years. It is well known that league security employs many ex-cops, and that it cultivates relationships with members of law enforcement. Cops are no more immune to playing fanboy than other people are. Every day policemen make decisions about how to handle incidents they see. If they don't like you, if you carry yourself wrong or say the wrong thing, the charges from the same incident can be radically different from what you'd face if you were on their good side. Add in money and access to lucrative part time jobs, or jobs after retirement, and the league wields powerful influence.

The other side of the coin is that society today is far different, and far less tolerant of words and actions that used to be routine. The simple fact that we refer to "the N word" and that the use of that word has become anathema in polite society tells us that. I can remember when use of that word was not uncommon, although considered vulgar and impolite.

Society's view of violence against women, wife beating, has come a long way as well. I don't remember what led me to look at Youtube for Hunter S. Thompson a while back, but I hit a clip of him interviewed along with a Hell's Angel after his book on the Angels came out. It runs about 6 1/2 minutes, but the meat of what applies here starts at about 3:25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccyu44rsaZo

The Angel says, in reference to another Angel beating his wife, "To keep a woman in line you got to beat them like a rug once in a while", and the audience, including the women in the audience, laugh. No one seems offended. It was said as a funny throwaway line, but context says that he absolutely meant what he said, and the crowd seems to have taken it that way, and they don't bat an eye. The interview was from 1967.

I'm sure that Angelo's "hundreds over thirty years" was in part informed by the attitudes of a bygone era. On the other hand, he has not been out of the game all that long.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

It would have been so easy to push these cases aside up until very, very recently.

I was watching the SEC Network and they were interviewing Will Muschamp about the Treon Harris issue and the victim apparently withdrew her claim, probably after being bribed or threatened, and he's talking like Harris was completely cleared.

It's like that everywhere. Get accused of someting, work out a plea arrangement where you plead no contest or agree to get counseling and it all goes away. It didn't always happen like that, but in the majority of cases it did.