and this is where
the the struggle between the league and judge Robinson. Kind of
really, I think became most obvious. And here's the third
excerpt, we want to share from the decision. The NFL, has
recommended that mr. Watson be suspended for, at least
the entire
2022. NFL regular and postseason and not be permitted
to return, unless he satisfies any conditions, imposed for
reinstatement. According to the NFL, if this
recommended sentence is unprecedented, is characterized by w.
In the NFL PA that is because his conduct is unprecedented
and that's the NFL's argument. Yeah. Hey look,
how do we put people on notice?
That you're going to get a full season suspension. Yeah. If you
are engaged in this habit, / fetish of getting private
massages, that you're trying to turn into sexual encounters
and he got sued 24 times because of it, right, how are
we supposed to spell that out exactly in the personal conduct
policy
and and Sue Robinson position is, you didn't spell it out
enough with your precedent, your past practice to see. This
is where Jeffrey Kessler
went in and wait. Wave the magic wand and persuaded her
based upon legal arguments
that it's not consistent with past punishments.
It's not
a situation where Fair notice was given to what
the prohibited behavior is. And that's why you can't suspend
DeShaun Watson for 17 games.
That's why the nflpa regards. This as a victory,
they believe they took a big pile of chicken. You know what,
right and made it into chicken salad because he Did it
see this is the difference between factual guilt and
legal. Got plenty of people are factually guilty, but to
ultimately pin on them,
what it is that you want to prove they did and to get
the punishment you want. That's a different issue, altogether. In
this case the prosecutor failed, the NFL
failed. The documents weren't strong enough. The past
precedent wasn't strong enough. The lawyer erring wasn't strong
enough because Kessler
on this point, was able to convince Sue Robinson.
Not to go the full distance but that's why an appeal becomes so
powerful for the NFL. Yeah, because the commissioner
will be more inclined to look favorably
on the arguments Advanced
by the lawyers. He's hired right
to represent the interests of the NFL
deaf. I mean that that argument, you know, by Kessler
and the NFL, I mean, seems thin to me. I mean, it does just, as
an innocent bystander sitting here and all of that. Yeah,
I mean, how are you?
It is unprecedented.
That and what we're seeing here. We've never seen anything
like this. How do you have the direct language in? You're in
it, you know, in your CBS, a to address that.
I mean, at some point, like common sense. Just prevails.
Oh, hey, wait. There was just too many lawsuits. You could
have gone to jail and there's gonna be a lot of other issues.
Well, I don't know, that's pretty serious, damn
subject here, subject matter.
And so, and then, you know, to say it's, you know, against
anything we've seen before, as far as the, you know,
unprecedented suspension and all that. Well, Uh, yeah. Okay,
so, what I mean, that doesn't mean anything to me either
again. We've never seen this before, either from a plier
and, and have this type of situation where at the end of
the day, I don't care what you think. Guilty, not guilty,
weird, for sure.
I don't care what side of the fence. You are fetish, weird,
whatever that's there. I mean no doubt about it but I just
feel like that's pretty thin and I think that's where we get
back to the old story of conduct detrimental to the NFL
and that's what you're talking about
and Rogers going to
In and
I don't know it. Almost it almost. I almost feel like Mike
it's setting up for the NFL to come in and be the Savior for
the like the
the public to a degree.
Like yeah. We've been,
you know, a man's League forever and we've had some
issues along those lines. But look at this, here we are
making a strong statement and correcting this right here
I almost feel like that's what's going to happen. They're
going to sweep in and save the day and it's going to benefit
them. I think in the end the the public eye Why
there is a thread?
In the factual findings of
Sue Robinson. That if the commissioner pulls that thread
enough, he could end up with a written decision that
basically does what you're saying because she found
that he did it. Yeah,
she found that he was guilty and
I think that even though
the nflpa doing the fist pumps because they were happy with
the lawyer erring
that took this bad situation and kept it to only six games.
Ames. I don't think they quite realize what they agreed to,
I think they began to realize over the weekend with they
agreed to because they put the statement out on Sunday night
saying, Hey, will accept judge Robinson's decision and we call
on the NFL to do
the same thing. Well folks, you shouldn't have given the NFL
appeal power over judge Robinson. She should have been
the last word
because whoever has the last word still has the most power.
When there's no standard there, we talked about this yesterday,
there's no difference that's given to her legal.
Finding they just look at it. And say we don't agree with how
you interpreted
our policy. I mean the party
that wrote the policy, the party that enforces the policy.
The party that has every interest in making sure that
the policy is a proper deterrence. For other players
out, there is going to be the party that handles this appeal.
It's crazy when you think of it,
but the union agreed to it and they can get the paperwork
ready and go to court, all they want the NFL will win
the race to the courthouse because the NFL controls
the starter's pistol. Yeah, the the
the kid will be standing outside the clerk's office at
the southern district of New York with the paperwork, ready
to file the moment that Roger Goodell drops the gavel
and suspends DeShaun, Watson, a full season if that's what it
comes to and they'll follow the lawsuit in a place where
they've already won, they've already gotten rulings that
support the idea. Hey,
we have our own in-house system of justice at the University.
It is agreed to just enforcing it. We're implementing it. And
they union agreed to let the commissioner
have final say, the union. Agreed to that. Yeah, there are
plenty of things that people criticize the union about four
ways that I think are unfair
on this.
It's pretty damn. Fair to say, hey Union, what the hell were
you doing agreeing to let Roger? Goodell have final say
on this? Because this decision
gives him the roadmap
to suspend DeShaun Watson a full year. If he wants So
I almost feel like that's why they like you know you talked
about earlier in the show like they weren't sure if they were
going to release it
and then they did,
you know? I just
I wonder if you know the light six game suspension was part of
them. Like wait, this doesn't read like this. Let's put this
out there. I think the Public's going to go. Whoa, this is
crazy. She's only six games with some of the stuff that's
in here.
So in a way,
I think it's already set up for Goodell and the NFL They've
already won in the the court of public opinion. I don't know
Mike. I mean, I don't you tell me you're more on social media
a little bit more than I am. But
I mean, you know, I go through it yesterday. I'm watching TV.
I mean, I, I got to think it was,
you know, three out of every four, four out of every five
people was, you know, pissed off or thought it was too light
of a decision all together and it just, it's
so from that standpoint. I think that's where Goodell is
going to have a little freedom. And it's Not going to be looked
at too harshly, if he adds more games on to Watson
again, 2014, Ray Rice, they were too lenient with him and
he almost lost his job over it. And that's not hyperbole, he
almost was pushed out. They were real questions about
whether or not. Roger Goodell should still be
the commissioner of the NFL
and people in ownership her like, hey, you know, we can
find somebody else to steer the ship through Open Water. This
guy drove the thing right into the Rocks, unforced error. Why
did he only suspend this guy, two games.
And I think at that moment,
Mint. Roger Goodell vowed to never be accused again of being
too lenient with a player and that's why zico Elliott got
what he got. Yeah. And that's why I think that's why I think
DeShaun Watson is going to get a lot more in the six games
when it's all said. Yeah,
that Paul question that we had yesterday, 50,000 votes
81%. Do not go yeah
81%. Wait, how do we get 81% to agree on anything?
We can't get 81 percent to agree that the Earth is round
for crying out loud. So all right a couple of other
key points from the judge Robinson.
Decision. And this goes to aggravating and mitigating
factors because that can drive it up and that can drive it
down. And I think this was fascinating to me, she
in setting the six games. Yeah, she noted there aggravating
factors including his lack of expressed remorse and the fact
that he failed to notify the NFL of the first lawsuit
mitigating factors were,
he's a first-time offender
and he had an excellent reputation in his community
prior to these events.
All right, I don't know that it's look.
I don't want to Discount everything the guy did but it's
kind of like Mike Vick and his dog fighting.
For six years until we found out about it. Yeah. Mike Vic's
got a pretty good reputation but then we find out he's been
maintaining a dogfighting operation for six years
that tends to tarnish. What we previously thought of Michael
Vick. When we learned that the Sean Watson's got this,
this habit of praying upon social media massage therapist
and trying to make
private massages into sexual encounters
that kind of changes. What you think into Sean Watson? I don't
really care about the pre-existing agreed that point
green. How do you say is a first-time offender when
there's 24 allegations against him, right? Right. Which one is
the first one
I hear you, you're right? I mean how you know, the how did
it happen a few times before and nothing happened? I mean he
was worn by people about his reputation, right? We've
learned that throughout this process as well,
from other masseuses or tell me you have a little reputation,
you know, that was floating around. So, I don't know those
community members obviously, didn't think he was that great
in the community but I'm with you, I don't know, you're right
reputation kind of goes out the door. Door a little bit.
I don't mean to like, totally
discredit it. I know he has done some good things for
the community and a lot of ways, but yeah, it's lessened by
current events. It is,
you know, now you go down, there
you go down the Wormhole of, oh, maybe he was doing that
because he was feeling guilty for this, or whatever, but
the reputation has been damaged and yeah, I don't think of past
DeShaun Watson the same way,
you know, as I used to anyways.
You're right. It is, it has no,
it has no
You know, what do I want to Solid Ground? At least in my
opinion?
I just I just don't know how that is a straight-faced
mitigating Factor when you're going to if you're going to
ignore the fact because it's not evidence that there are 24
lawsuits against him.
I just, if you're going to look at aggravating and mitigating
factors, I'd like to think that for that purpose, you know.
Okay, I'm not going to consider 24 lawsuits for the purposes of
deciding whether he did it as to the four that
are presented to me.
But when I'm
identifying mitigating and aggravating Aggravating
factors. I'm not going to say this guy's otherwise pristine
when I know there's 20 other claims against him. Yeah. And
the New York Times reported there's 66 of these women
that he set up the private massages with and
Tony Busby is allege that there are more than 100 by the time
it was all said and done. So it's hard for me you know you
can't put the blinders on, right? If you're going to
start, if you're going to start saying this guy's got
an excellent reputation. He's a first-time offender. If you're
going to deliberately ignore, what else is out there? That
that's just there's something weird about
that to mean it's hard to reconcile
with what we know. Well, yeah, price
Operation. What we're saying is fake it. Just yes fake I mean,
yeah, he was good in the public eye but we don't know really
what he was doing behind closed doors or when he was in his own
time and that's certainly taken a blow their to
wear. Yeah, their reputation seems like, even though we
thought it was good, then was flawed,
no doubt about it.
And my point is,
you can't make these broad brush proclamations about
DeShaun Watson and pretend that the stuff that wasn't part of
the
Draw the Box around the evidence. This is the evidence
but there's other stuff out there
that you just not paying attention. Just there's
something about that. That doesn't sit well with. Well,
let me ask you this real quick to this. They're just too just
because I know you're about to go into it just but I there
were, I saw it, you know,
some people to arguing that
the, you know, it might not look good
for the NFL to upstage, you know, judge Sue Robinson and
her decision as well. And like, you know I just what's your
thought on that. I I get what they're saying,
I get it but like you
Yesterday judges are used to having
a bigger or higher up judge, you know, overturn their their
rulings all the time, let alone, okay. Yeah. Maybe a few
people might be offended by he overturned, you know, a female
judge's opinion here,
but I think there's going to be more females, they're going to
go. Well, I'm glad that he went stricter or more forceful here
as well. But I heard that argument being used a lot
yesterday, too, but I didn't necessarily agree with
this 16-page decision gives him everything he
He needs to write a ruling
that and he's required to put it in writing. He's required to
reduce it to words on paper. He has enough from this,
that, that he can respect her work.
Respect her effort
to interpret the personal conduct policy,
and, and respectfully disagree with it. It's there
because he's not throwing out
her factual findings. He's embracing her factual. Finding she
Got it right? Right on a factual finding
its her application. The personal conduct policy to
those facts that he's going to part ways with her on and and
it will be if they're smart, it will be a very positive
kid-glove type of a
a way of disagreeing with her gently disagreeing with, all
right? But ultimately disagree.