When Your Favorite Players Go Wrong
In probably the most unexpected twist to the ongoing pile of drama that is the Houston Texans, Deshaun Watson is being sued in civil court for many, many counts of disgusting behavior ranging from inappropriate suggestive comments to, well, what can only really be understood as rape. As of right now, there are no criminal charges, and everything is alleged and basically “he said/she said”, but with a frightening amount of shes involved.
The allegations all paint the same basic image: Deshaun likes to try and manipulate and coerce masseuses. He gets them to work on him, and once the masseuse has begun to work on his muscles, he slowly escalates what he’s asking for until it gets violating and completely inappropriate, using his fame and power in the situation to get these women to go much farther than they want to. It’s gross and predatory.
I haven’t followed Watson’s career trajectory all that closely, but as far as I can tell, this has blindsided pretty much everyone. Watson didn’t seem like a sketchy guy before this. He didn’t seem to have rumors surrounding him like a Jameis Winston. Before these lawsuits broke into the news, he was basically a hero, fighting the good fight against a dipshit owner and his wormtongue of a right hand man. I can’t say definitely if I believe the lawsuits have merit. There is still too much unknown in this case. What bothers me is the knowledge that where there is smoke, there is fire. Right now, there is a frightening amount of smoke. If even one of these cases is true, Deshaun Watson is not a good person. The more women come forward, the harder the problem is to dismiss. Nobody would have bought one woman saying America’s friendly dad Bill Cosby raped her. The force that broke that case open and changed our understanding was the sheer scope of people coming out.
That said at this point I can’t necessarily blame any fan who refuses to believe it. The timing of all this is certainly a bit suspect. The very public feud with management has spurred a lot of speculation about the strings being pulled and who is pulling them. Did the Texans release all this to damage his reputation? Make no team want him? To make them look better in the feud between the two sides? Did Watson get in a public fight and start this substantial feud because he knew this suit was coming and his camp wanted to try and bury it with bigger drama? Everything is so open to interpretation right now. I can fully understand any fan who still wants to hold onto the unknowns in Watson’s favor. There is a significant part of me that also doesn’t want to believe it either.
There is a certain depressing fact about being a sports fan, or even just a fan of celebrities in general. All of us have at one point adored a scummy person. If you root for a sports team, you’ve had to come to terms with the fact that one of your favorite players was probably a piece of shit. In fact, you might have known that player was a piece of shit and still rooted for them anyway. You either completely disavow that person (usually depending on the severity of the crimes involved), or you just kind of accept that the person was bad even if the player was great. I have a Lawrence Taylor funko pop on my work desk. I didn’t buy it, it was gifted to me (I would never willingly purchase a funko pop) but I still proudly stuck him next to my monitor. Lawrence Taylor was a piece of shit, but damn he was good at football and a historical icon for my team. When I look at it, part of me feels proud to remember how fucking cool he was, and another part of me gets sad at all the human damage he caused. It’s not one or the other. He was both.
I’m not sure really where I’m going with this, which is kind of the problem for cases like this where the facts are obscured behind closed doors that we will likely never see open. Deshaun might be a predator. If you are optimistic that he’s not, don’t attack the people who have already turned on him and want him off the team, because frankly that side is just as understandable. Coming to terms with someone you like possibly becoming someone you can’t isn’t very easy.
In the meantime, we are just going to have to wait this one out a bit and see if whatever side we’ve fallen on ends up being the side that is proven or at least accepted as the correct side. As for me, I don’t want him to be a scumbag, but I’m thinking that he is. It’s a fucking bummer and I hope the women get some justice.
In all fairness I have seen this happen
in all fairness a sickening number of fanbases have seen this happen…
There’s almost no fucking way that this is a stage job to ruin Watson’s career, it’s twenty different women from all over the country, all telling mostly identical stories about the dude. That’d be a logicistal nightmare for a genius to try and pull off, this is fucking Cal McNair the failson we’re talking here.
I get it, Watson was fun as hell to watch and one of the reasons I liked watching the Texans in the postseason, but fuck me this is like Antonio Brown x100 stuff.
I think the counter point to this is how difficult it would be to keep this undercover with not even the slightest rumor with 20 different women from all over the country. Trying to keep that all hush hush and out of the media with that many people in that many places for however long it was seems like a pretty big logistical hurdle in itself.
It doesn’t require work to “keep this undercover” at all. Each woman would assume that she’s alone in this and wouldn’t want to step into the spotlight and get all the shit thrown at her in a futile attempt to get justice. That is, until it starts to snowball and suddenly she isn’t alone anymore, and there actually is a small chance that the perpetrator will suffer some consequences.
It’s how these things happen all the time. Some awful man gets some headlines for his big promotion or other move he’s making, it spurs one brave woman into action, more women come out from the woodwork in response, and then the deniers spin it as a coordinated response because it’s “only happening now that he’s going for that promotion” or whatever. It’s not suspicious at all, it’s depressingly typical. It’s absurd to expect victims to time their allegations to minimize their impact on the perpetrator’s career plans so as to appear less suspicious, especially because even if they did, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.
Very well said.
Sweeps, this is a bad take and you should feel bad.
At this point my thought is that the allegations are real but the reason we’re only hearing about this shit now is because of the feud. I sincerely doubt Watson could get away with this without anyone in the org hearing about it and, well, the incentive they had to protect him has evaporated.
This is exactly what I thought. It’s possible that the Texans, and even the NFL, were keeping all this quiet. He’s not playing ball, so they’ve stopped protecting him.
Which would also explain why there was no trade happening, if it was some sort of open secret among the teams.
Obviously part of this is the never-ending appeal of ridiculous consipracy theories.
In no way am I defending him because at this point, it seems like he’s guilty of at least pushing things further than necessary. BUT! Ben Roethlisberger. He wasn’t a model citizen either and he got off. One way or another. Let’s see how this unfolds. I’d say that right now, the Texans are regretting not trading him sooner.
“Wait and see” seems like the best strategy at this point, but considering the number of women, it isn’t looking good for Deshaun.
Just here to say that Ben Roethlisberger never “got off” in the sense that he was cleared of wrongdoing but instead the DA declined to press charges, believing that the he-said-she-said nature of such a high profile case made it unwinnable and because the victim specifically asked him not to do so in the belief that the personal backlash she would face for accusing the city’s star quarterback would ruin her life.
That was his 2010 accusation. He settled a very similar civil suit in 2009 to the ones Deshaun is facing.
The thing is the conspiracy theory of Watson being “punished” by the Texans doesn’t really make sense at any level. It requires you to believe that Cal McNair is willing to commit felonies just to get even with Deshaun.
Also from a football standpoint, the Texans either tank his value (especially if this becomes criminal) or roll out a tainted QB as their starter. Neither sounds appealing in the slightest.
Beat me to it.
Even with the timing and the lawsuits being filed by a slimy, prominent, grandstanding Houston lawyer well known for grandstanding (followed by Watson hiring an even more slimy, prominent, and grandstanding Houston lawyer to defend him…), I don’t see much reason to believe the Texans organization has had hand in orchestrating any of this. Even beyond the difficulty of organizing a conspiracy of this scale (by an organization whose mission is to win football games, a mission they aren’t even good at), the allegations don’t really do the Texans much good. Watson’s trade value is tanked, of course, but even if the team retains him he will likely face a lengthy suspension from the commissioner’s office regardless of the outcome of the lawsuits. Even after that, Texans will have to answer questions about why they retained/stood by Watson amidst the allegations and they’ll have to deal with the ire of not just their own fanbase but parts of every other teams’ as well. Sadly, for ALL involved, it seems to me that the allegations being (at least largely) true is the most likely situation here.
Not only that but if the investigation gets prolonged and Watson gets put on the commissioner’s exempt list they’ll have to pay his salary while he sits on his arse not playing for them. The Texans got smacked pretty hard with this regardless of how it gets resolved
That’s my immediate thought when I heard people throwing out the idea the Texans were behind this. If by some chance they could manage to pull this off, why wouldn’t they trade him to a team like the Bears for a king’s ransom and then do this? His trade market is gone and there is a good chance he will never play another down in the NFL. The Texans lose either way so why would they even want this?
If this were a conspiracy wouldn’t it make more sense that Watson is the one behind it? He wants out and this would be the scorched earth way out, ruin his own reputation to the point where the Texans have no choice but to release him.
This is a good, albeit insane, take and you should feel good.
Certainly seems more plausible than the Texans being behind it. Watson’s strategy may have been to blow up his rep in the news bad enough to get outright released, then clear his name, then sign anywhere that will still take him.
Seems like an awfully big gamble, though, and since he is still on the team, it appears to have failed.
Not saying this is what happened – just that it is much more plausible than the Texans being behind it.
Sounds like Antonio Brown.
It’s crazy to see all the people who will go out and defend the player over the women accusing them. Jameis Winston, Derrius Guice, and now Deshaun Watson, all of whom were being defended ruthlessly. I follow an NFL news page that posts updates around the league, and whenever the updates on Guice and Watson came out, you couldn’t find a single comment siding with the women. Most of the people will say they’re “chasing the bag” or “ruining their reputation” or crap like that. And this is before any substantial evidence has been put forward from either side.
It’s frustrating to hear people say things like “why didn’t they come out sooner?” In the case of Derrius Guice, a police report was filed by the woman who accused him of rape back in 2016, when it happened. She didn’t testify on it until 2 weeks ago. She reported it on time, but the police didn’t do shit. She released it on time, but the police and the school failed to bring it to light until much later. Kinda like Jameis Winston. Also, they’re worried that people won’t believe them, even if they report it the next day. Plus, if they were raped, then they have to deal with handling that kind of traumatic event. They aren’t going to be fully prepared and comfortable sharing this experience so soon. Especially if they have to deal with people who think she’s just “chasing the bag”.
It’s pretty sad to see that all these guys have this mindset that the woman is always wrong, especially if the rapist is really good football guy.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CM8hlN0rzeW/ this is the latest post made about the Deshaun Watson case btw
Additionally, in the cases with Watson you have to wonder how often these things may have happened to the masseuses from clients that aren’t as rich or famous. That would very understandably have added to their reluctance to come forward.
I have a friend who is a massage therapist. She works in a small town just outside Winnipeg now. When she worked in Winnipeg she said she was propositioned probably once every couple weeks and she began to spot the type. She is not conventionally attractive. When I asked her about this situation with Watson she said her worst nightmare would be having a person with power on her table. Couldn’t imagine the amount of crap a good looking girl working in a large city would have to deal with.
My gf is a lmt (licensed massage therapist) and she’s had to press charges/initiate a restraining order/ be escorted to and from her car. So has just about every other woman she’s worked with in that field.
With this many cases it is pretty hard to believe there isn’t any smoke. The most charitable likely explanation I can think of is that DeShaun needs massages in sensitive areas for medical reasons, failed to communicate that properly to some masseuses who then felt harrassed or assaulted sexually by him, filed and then opportunists jumped in. I don’t think it’s likelier than him being a scumbag though
Innocent until proven guilty no longer exists I guess? Not a Deshaun defender but really?
I never said he was guilty. I said I think he is, but I hope he isn’t. Only the court can legally decide that.
it’s a matter of looking at similar situations and making a personal judgement based on what I know, something literally everyone does, even you, since you went out of your way to specifically mention you aren’t defending him.
Also that’s a legal principle, not a general societal one.
lol jesus this fuckin guy
kind of a “its my first amendment right to say it” defense: if that’s your best argument in favor, you’ve already lost and should just walk away before you embarrass yourself further
To be fair, Watson hasn’t been making himself very likable for a while now.
Honestly, the amount of women saying so is the only reason it’s plausible that it’s true. Nothing else seems right. First off, why would they all file civil suits and not criminal charges? If he really is that much of a scumbag, he should go to jail for a long time. The next problem is that the lawyer himself is pretty shady, with a problematic history when it comes to his occupation. Not to mention he’s allegedly friends with Cal McNair and even lives on his street. Watson’s lawyer has already come out and said there’s evidence against their claims too
https://www.stradleylaw.com/blog/deshaun-watson-lawsuits-questions/
TL;DR assume nothing
You can’t, as a private citizen, just “file criminal charges” as opposed to filing a civil lawsuit. You have to go to the police, who investigate (or don’t) and put together a file for a prosecutor to review (or don’t), who then has to decide whether to file charges (or not). That’s why.
Watson’s lawyer said they have evidence against the claims of one potential victim (since their names haven’t been made public yet, though no doubt that both teams of lawyers know exactly who everyone is), and are attempting to use the one victim’s alleged lie to dispute all the claims.
They’ve filed civil suits because it’s much more likely that they get justice that way; in cases like this, it’s extremely hard to get beyond shadow of a doubt proof that he did what they say he did, while in civil court you only have prove it’s more likely than not that it happened.
Great summary, but one question: “blind-sighted”? Did you just mistype “blindsided”, or is there an inside joke here I don’t know about?
I can’t really weigh in on the scandal or how likely it is, But i feel like I can offer a little help at least in where to maybe look for dealing with the fact that someone might have been an amazing player, but a scummy or worse person. I feel like I should also mention a lot of this is coming from an outsider looking in because most of my experience with sports of any kind, comes from reading the drawplay or watching Secrete Base videos on youtube.
I personally think that actually acknowledging both of the facts is important, denying that they may have been good and you enjoyed watching them play before or maybe even in-spite that you know how much of a human trash fire they might have been is probably an important step. Especially if they were a part of a favorite moment or favorite game.
My current stance is to acknowledge that the person is garbage or I disagree with them, and that the work they’ve done was good and appeals to me and if there is a way to enjoy it without supporting them try to take that route otherwise try to avoid enjoying the work directly or altogether.
I can’t offer much more because I’m still struggling with similar questions on how to feel about liking stuff made by bad people. All I can really offer are three videos that helped me figure out the precarious plateau I’ve found my current stance to be. I know they are more focused on artists and their work but I still feel like it’s similar enough to maybe help a little
First is Mother’ s Basement’ video “MMO Junkie’s Racist Director – Should We Hate the Work, or the Jerk?”
and the other two are Lindsay Ellis’ Videos “Death of the Author” and “Death of the Author 2: Rowling Boogaloo”
again I realize it’s not exactly the same thing because it’s much harder to divorce a person from their sports actions than it would be from a work of art they’ve created. But I feel like some of the feelings might be similar enough and it’s also not like people have to be terrible people to play good at sports.
As I said on reddit, ok, maybe the first 2 were a misunderstanding. But 20? TWENTY misunderstandings?
Monkey paw is at it again.
I went through the first five with Favre as a Packers fan. His waffling with retirement, his diva behavior then announcing his retirement and then pulling a “wait, I didn’t mean it!” after the Packers announced Rodgers as the starter, before demanding a trade. Then he pulled the retirement thing again to sign on with the rival Vikings, and I was done with him. I laughed when Favre did a Favre and threw a bad pick in the NFCCG, causing them to eventually lose. Then he had the sexting thing. I’ve mellowed out on my dislike of him, but still don’t like him nearly as much as I did back in the day.
I have no words… Deshaun is screwed. If he gets traded to the Broncos I’m gonna laugh… A lot.
Oh god, talk about a monkey’s paw situation.
Yeah. “I wish I was traded away from the Texans!”
The finger curls…
I meant for Broncos fans, but yeah, I can see it that way too.
Well… I suppose I had my own monkey’s paw.
Dave’s take at the end, “In the meantime, we are just going to have to wait this one out a bit and see if whatever side we’ve fallen on ends up being the side that is proven or at least accepted as the correct side. As for me, I don’t want him to be a scumbag, but I’m thinking that he is.” sounds like the place I’m at, especially as a non-Texan fan.
As I get older I try not to pick one side and defend it until the facts are known. I don’t have time like I did in the past to waste it arguing on the internet.
The more likely Texans Conspiracy theory is that they were running PR for him.
When he told the franchise to F*** off they stopped covering for him, and paying off women with hush money.
Kinda the same for Jameis Winston after everyone realized he was terrible and FSU had their trophy.
My only qualm with the accusers is why not take this to a criminal trial? If Deshawn really did rape them, why not do everything in your power to make sure that it never happens to another women again?
For crime victims, this decision is often out of their hands, aside from pressing charges. Criminal proceedings depend on if the local DA’s office thinks they have enough evidence to prosecute and win a case. To win a case, the DA has to convince a jury beyond the shadow of a doubt that a crime was committed. If DA won’t take up the case, the victim’s fall-back is to file a civil case, which has a lower threshold for success.
Yeah, a civil suit and criminal trial are not mutually exclusive – one often follows the other. I would never read into the filing of a civil suit that the plaintiff doesn’t want a criminal case to be opened as well.
There’s a criminal investigation now
keep jerking off over your fake election
Keep living in a fantasy world where you’d rather believe everything was fake because you can’t handle the simple reality that more people voted for a different guy than the one you wanted
Look in all fairness to whatever preconceived thoughts you have towards Watson’s innocence or guilt, we should all be able to agree on one thing…
Fuck Jack Easterby