BL: Shakespeare re: Jerry Richardson and John Skipper

Evil Men Do
BobLee
December19/ 2017

Shakespeare Re: Jerry Richardson & John Skipper

I’m not saying I would have changed places with Jerry Richardson or John Skipper (UNC’78) yesterday, but Jerry and “Skippy” would not have switched with me either.  Is there a two-word phrase more chilling than “oral surgery”?

With the sports world all abuzz about Jerry and “Skippy” I was having a broken tooth cut out that had “abscessed”. There is nothing good about the word “abscessed” either. A long weekend of “toothache”… 45 minutes of “oral surgery” Monday morning followed by four hours of ibruprophen and ice packs and my circumstance was in my rearview mirror by mid-afternoon.  Kudos to “The Dentist Of The Hurricanes”.

Alas, for Jerry and “Skippy” their lives will never return to whatever was “normal” for them a few days ago…

Shakespeare’s Mark Anthony re: Caesar…

“The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.”

I do not “know” Jerry Richardson or John Skipper(UNC’78) other than their public personas. I was / was not surprised by public disclosure of their respective circumstances. I never considered it in either case. Nor would I have said a week ago that neither was impossible.

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Jerry Richardson:

Jerry Richardson

Carolina Panthers’ owner Jerry Richardson is the latest high profile accused sexual misconducter to be outed…America, from Sea to Shining Sea, is inundated with a tsunamic pandemic of sexual misconducting accusations.

Are all the individuals being outed as sexual misconductors actually guilty of sexual misconducting? I don’t know that either. I would certainly hope that no innocent individuals – high-profile or otherwise – are being forever labeled with that accusation. Once “labeled” – falsely or otherwise, it tends to stick.

If not already the case, false accusations will certainly occur before “this tsunamic pandemic” runs its course. Innocent lives WILL be ruined by vindictive individuals making false charges with what amount to “he said/she said”.

It is simply IMPOSSIBLE that the “he said” will not be the correct verdict in “some cases”. In what % of cases? The longer this “wildfire” burns the higher the %s of false charges.

The motivation for a false accusation might be political, simple vindictiveness, or a degree of mental derangement… but innocent lives WILL be forever tainted before this is over. But I suppose that already occurs within our imperfect system of justice.

I am not implying any “innocents” have been charged so far. I do not have inside info about any of the high-profile political, sports, entertainment figures so far “exposed”.

I will remind you of The Rule…

“We” tend to assume the worst about public individuals we are predisposed to “dislike”… and assume the best about public individuals we are predisposed to like”. … aka Mike Krzyzewski and/or Dean Smith.

Arbitrarily applying Virtues to individuals we “like” and Vices to those we “don’t like” is a common shortcoming in basic human nature. It is a non-partisan shortcoming.  “Sexual misconduct” is also, alas, a non-partisan human shortcoming.

Our justice system cannot function on an accused’s likability scale… although it probably does more often than we know.

Many TruBlues will forever deny The Greatest Eligibility Scandal in NCAA History because to do otherwise leads to “St Dean was somehow involved” and they simply cannot accept that. It’s how Madelyn Albright dealt with Bill & Monica.

A charge of “Sexual misconduct” is the type of life experience that tends to be included in one’s public obituary… it follows one to the grave and beyond according to The Bard. That makes it a pretty serious charge. Ya think!

Actually “committing sexual misconduct / harassment” is very serious. Albeit there are certainly degrees of “it” that are less serious than others. We, as a society, have yet to establish degrees / categories of sexual misconduct / harassment. We probably need to do that as soon as possible.

An ill-advised (i.e. stoopid) passing remark made in a semi-informal situation is not the same as a physical altercation or direct reference of criminal intent. Not every instance of “sexual misconduct” as currently undefined is “a hanging offense”… but some are.

NOTE: “Harassment” is spelled with one “r” and two “ss” just so you know. I sense there may be more opportunities to discuss this in the days to come. Don’t you?

In lieu of defined levels of sexual misconduct… for an 80 year old man – JR – to say to a female employee (likely young enough to be his granddaughter) that I would like to shave your legs !!

That line scores pretty near the top of the scale of OMG Dirty Old Man Yuckiness and….if true, earns Jerry the “Dirty Old Man” label for sure… and whatever societal perceptions come with that label.

Again, I am assuming “that” actually happened. Richardson has not denied anything individually or collectively. His immediate response – announcing he will sell the team – tends to imply there is significant validity to the charges.

Top Cat

Am I the only one to find it just plain weird that the in-house team executive – Tina Becker – selected to immediately assume COO responsibilities started her career with The Panthers as a TopCat cheerleader?

I don’t know what team of “Fates” are writing this drama but kudos to them for that very very wacky angle.

As for the report that “P Diddy” wants to buy the team…  Why not?  I’m assuming Charlotte’s original Team Owner / Bad Boy George Shinn (aka “The Little Lothario of Tega Cay”) is not interested.

The Jerry Richardson Mess is not over. More will be reported… and reported here.

A reminder about “what you read/hear in the media”… If you don’t trust “the media” to report “politics” fairly and factually, why would you trust the same reporters, editors, publishers, anchors to report ANYTHING fairly and factually. “Politics” now invades pretty much everything in society.

If their individual and organizational basis taints one aspect of “the news” will it not taint all aspects of what they report?  Just something to keep in mind.

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John Skipper (UNC’78)

John Skipper

I don’t “know” John Skipper (UNC’78)… never having met the man, but, I “don’t like him”. From whatI have deduced from following his career as President of ESPN, he has been dishonest in his motives.

See Above as regards assuming the worst about public figures one does not like.  Even Internet Legends can be guilty.

The public debate about “politics in sports” is misunderstood. The Worldwide Leader in Sports Broadcasting SHOULD discuss the evolution of sports as a key element in American society and our culture. Nay… in The World’s society and human culture.

The subjects of Race – Gender – Social Justice (??) – Poverty – Sexual Misconduct – et al are not simply “fair game” but necessary issues for a Sports Network to discuss. It would be ridiculous for Skipper / ESPN to not “discuss these issues”.

My issue with Skipper is that he encouraged / allowed only one side of these issues to be discussed by his on-air staff. He made ESPN a loud vocal advocate for the Left-side of every hot-button social issue.

He further encouraged one-sided discussion by threatening with termination and suspending anyone who dared to bring up “the other side”.

John Skipper (UNC’78) allowed his own “political bias” to dictate how his network reported. For anyone wishing to debate Skipper’s personal views… prior to joining ESPN he spent ten years with Rolling Stone Magazine. YIKES!  Putting aside his UNCCH experience, John Skipper is a flaming liberal.

The circumstance of his out-of-the-blue immediate resignation for “personal substance abuse” is beyond “unusual”. He recently signed an extended contract and in recent remarks to his employees never gave the slightest indication of any “issues”.

I am calling B***S*** on “personal substance abuse” being the reason Skipper resigned. He may indeed have a yet unspecified problem but that is a cover for the real reason. Last week’s latest outbreak of “sexual misconduct cases” at ESPN is likely part of “the real reason”.

He could have gone on a 3-month rehab or similar standard corporate tactic in such cases. I’m no authority on substance abuse but for it to be to the degree one immediately resigns his career implies it is “serious”.

“Serious” substance abuse would be known by those within the ESPN / Disney top tier. Precluding his contract extension when ESPN is facing numerous critical issues to its business model. 

Are all Disney top executives given such a superficial due diligence ?? Disney stockholders might be worried…  What secrets are Bob Iger hiding ???

Whether these latest allegations were “the straw on the camel’s back” or is Skipper simply “a rat leaving a sinking ship” … I certainly don’t know.

I do see that a sympathetic mainstream media – that shares Skipper’s political views – is giving Skipper “warm fuzzies” and buying the “seeking help from my addiction” story.

Would that same media do likewise were it Jerry Jones or anyone not of their political ilk? Certainly not. They would be ferreting out the exact nature of the addiction and declaring what a dastardly human being Skipper must surely be.

Regardless… as with Jerry Richardson, the John Skipper (UNC’78) story has chapters yet to unfold  too. I will keep you appraised of what I think about it.

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