by John Walters
A Medium Happy 26th to two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova
Starting Five
Andrews was awarded $55 million after the jury deliberated for 7 hours. Afterward the judge answered two questions and then jogged off to his chambers.
The Peephole’s Court
Yesterday a jury in Nashville awarded Erin Andrews $55 million. The jury divided the award, so that her pervert stalker must pay $28 million, which he does not have, while Marriott Hotels must pay her $27 million, which they do.
I’ve been told that her legal counsel could receive anywhere from 20% to 50% of her award. And I’m not sure how that works (but read Michael McCann of SI.com here). Let’s imagine they collect 20%, for example. Is that of the $55M total or of what she can realistically expect to recoup, which is half that? And when Marriott appeals, do Erin and her team settle for less to prevent that appeal from happening or does she fight it, which will eat up more of her award in legal fees?
Andrews left the courtroom without stopping to give an interview. Which seems like bad karma, considering what she does for a living.
2. All Alone at the End of the Evening
The Meinsers: If it all went to pieces before you….
Former Eagle Randy Meisner, who was best known for co-writing and singing “Take It To The Limit” before Glenn Frey kicked him out of the band, yesterday either did or did not kill his wife, Lana Rae.
Here’s the weird part: At 5:30 p.m. LAPD had visited the home and taken a domestic violence incident report. Apparently, this was not uncommon between these two. Ninety minutes later, according to police, while Randy was in another room, Lana Rae was in another room lifting a rifle that was in its case when it accidentally discharged and killed her.
Why was Lana Rae lifting the rifle? Was she coming back, she coming back for more?
And is Randy, who only last summer was in court for threatening a murder-suicide with an AK-47, completely innocent here, or is there nothing to believe in?
3. Flunkie
Sharapova took full responsibility for taking the Meldonium, because she’s not married to Peyton Manning’s wife.
I’m still trying to understand all of this, so bear with me. Maria Sharapova flunked a drug test at the Australian Open in January for taking a banned substance, meldonium, which was only placed on the banned list on January 1, 2016 (or less than a month earlier)? And now Nike has suspended its ties with her and Porsche has dropped her as a client? And Sharapova may receive a lengthy suspension from the WTA?
Meldonium is a drug taken by angina patients, but it does help athletes recover more quickly from intensive exercise. Sharapova has been taking it since 2006. The ITF only put it on its banned list recently as it noticed the drug showing up in so many of its athletes’ samples. Meanwhile, Serena Williams is like, “Let that skinny-ass white girl take all the meldonium she wants, I’ll still beat her ass.” And she’s right, of course.
That all of this took place on the day Peyton Manning retired, that’s rather rich.
4. The Daily Harrumph: Journalism
Not a good look for Yale, but not a good look for journalists, either.
Okay, this isn’t a major harrumph; consider it a minor harrumph. And let me preface it by saying that in the coverage of the Yale-Jack Montague story, no one has been on top of it quite like Daniela Brighenti and Maya Sweedler (both undergrads) of the Yale Daily News. The spirit of Rory Gilmore is strong in those two.
The New Haven Register, after a very slow start, has also done good work in the past week. And I cannot remember if Mitchell Huntzberger still owns that newspaper, or if he sold it and invested in an app.
Anyway, here’s my beef. On Saturday SI.com heads up to Levien Gym to get around to covering this story. It’s a fine story by David Gardner. My beef here is that in the second paragraph Gardner, writing for a high profile sports site, alludes to a story earlier in the week by The Big Lead, a story that featured NO ORIGINAL REPORTING if you don’t include TBL’s own admission that “a tipster told us.” And he hyperlinks the story.
This is not reporting. All TBL did was get a phone call or email from someone, then aggregate the reporting of the Yale Daily News into an item. And that’s fine for them to do. But it’s a little irresponsible of Gardner to make that the one story to which he leads his readers. Unless it was TBL’s salacious headline which persuaded him to do so. In which case, well, that’s exactly why TBL used it.
I like the guys (and non-girls; no females or people of color on the staff?) at TBL. They’re doing what it is they do and often times they do original reporting. Not here, though. And I don’t know why another writer would reward them for it when there are actual reporters doing real, honest work.
Harrumph!
5. Manning Up (Mooning Up?) to Peyton
If someone tells a reporter, “It’s neither the time nor the place,” then it is definitely both the time and the place.
As ESPN got out the scented candles and lubricants for its Peyton Manning retirement coverage yesterday, a lone intrepid reporter, Lindsay Jones of USA Today, dared to put a damper on the festivities by asking No. 18 about the sexual assault allegations that have dogged him since mid-February (from an incident that, to be fair, allegedly took place 20 years ago).
Credit Jones for asking the question (she took a lot of heat online, but who cares? Twitter bullies are always just four steps away from the door of the basement leading up to their mom’s kitchen, anyway) and credit Manning for invoking another mythic southern figure whose tale is too good to be true in his response: “I did not do what has been alleged,” he said. “Like Forrest Gump said, that’s all I have to say about that.”
Music 101
Out Of The Picture
In 1995 the band Son Volt put out an album called Trace, which is just a wonderful slice of melancholy country rock. None of the songs became chart hits (“Drown” came closest), but I’ve listened to this album hundreds of times. I just flows. That’s lead singer Jay Farrar, formerly of Uncle Tupelo.
Remote Patrol
Champions League: Roma at Real Madrid
2:30 p.m. FS1
Gareth Bale (left) of Real Madrid marks his Roma counterpart
The second leg in this Round of 16 match takes place in Spain. Real Madrid won 2-0 in Rome when the two last met, so they’ll be looking to close it out today with Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It’s all harrumphing. Good points about the SI.com Yale story and the Manning coverage/questions (scented candles and lubricants but no happy ending?). I heard that when Jones asked her question, ESPN chose that moment to dump its coverage of the “news” conference. Guess that means Manning will be an ESPN analyst.
What EVIDENCE exactly is there that PROVES Peyton’s wife, let alone Peyton, took any PED? Some guy who admitted he lied to look more impressive? Was there a COURT case? Any testimony given under oath? Of course, with all the DRUGS & everything else that NFL players take & are GIVEN by their teams to keep on the field, it is a FARCE to single out some alleged drug supposedly taken by an athlete while he was recovering from multiple surgeries & out of the sport for more than a year. That there is NO PROOF that the athlete actually took the drug seems to be IRRELEVANT in these days of (t)witless “journalism”.
As for linking Sharapova’s actual FLUNKING of a drug test & confession of taking this drug for the past 10 years for ALLEGED “health issues” (hey, if you pay ME I’ll say you need to take your kitty everywhere you go for work travel due to “health issues”…) to unproven rumors about Manning is ludicrous. But let’s be generous & say Sharapova WAS taking the drug for the past decade for real health issues, it is still HER JOB (or her advisors) to know when a drug is added to the WADA list. Any athlete who competes in Olympic-type sports & subjected to WADA learns RULE#1 on day one – YOU are responsible for anything ingested, applied, administered &/or found in your body. If it is proven she had been taking the drug for real health “issues” the past decade, then I’d only suspend her for a year.
Welcome back, Susie B.! How was your mini-vacation in Miami last week? 🙂
I didn’t realize you were so sensitive about PM. Look, he’s not just any football player, he’s the face of the richest sports league in the world. And he knows the rules. And maybe he didn’t take the PEDs, but we’re not allowed to at least wonder if he did? C’mon.
And I agree, even if u give MS benefit of the doubt, she screwed up. Which she admitted. See, that’s the difference b/w her and Peyton, and that’s why I made the joke. She owned up to it.
Good to have you back, Susie B.
I wrote a reply earlier but it froze the entire site. Just call me Elsa!
Anyhoo, I read around a bit today & it seems Sharapova’s “health issues” must be an EPIDEMIC in Russia, Europe, Africa the past several years; several Russian “champion” athletes of various sports have all been popped for Meldonium in recent weeks.
Of course, with so many of the world’s elite athletes all “suffering” from ASTHMA, it makes you wonder how such a sick bunch can function let alone compete…
And I’m not sensitive to Peyton as much as to his being the most recent test case where rumors, other unsubstantiated accusations & distorted old information are what pass for “journalism” these days – you can say/write ANYthing, as long as you’re 1st & draw lots of clicks, & to hell with the truth. We live in dangerous times – a person’s reputation & even livelihood can be accused/judged/convicted/destroyed within a WEEK. Orwell was only half right – government is not “Big Brother’ , it is the social media MOB.
And if you really think MS’ highly suspicious explanation for doping is “owing up to it” then “the dog ate my homework” must have worked for you as a teacher. 😉
No, I’m not “convicting” Sharapova, but after reading about Meldonium being used/abused by so many Russian/Euro/African athletes the past several years (which is why WADA added to the list), her explanation is not just seen as HIGHLY suspicious, but ticks me off! Blaming a MEDICAL condition?! Come on, jdubs! Contador’s (non-Asian) TAINTED BEEF excuse is more believable at this point!
I think Manning handled the ’20 year old allegations’ question in his press conference very well. As for the incident/case(s) themselves & how it blew up again after the SB, I thought it perfectly illustrated the piss-poor state of “journalism” today. 1st of all, HOW can any sports media person say they didn’t know about the “incident”? I read about it 4 years ago & thought I was the last person to learn of it as I had read very little about pro football for more than a decade at the time. Of course, what I didn’t learn at the time & only read in ONE of the many screeching/moralizing/let’s-run-him-outta-town “articles” a few weeks ago is that the original case at Tenn was not against Peyton Manning – his alleged incident was ONE of 33 alleged incidents cited by the plaintiff against UT. Also, did you know this woman was arrested in North Carolina (her residence) a few years back for fabricating attacks & other “incidents”? Sounds like a pattern…
Peyton Manning is not perfect. Until yesterday, he was a professional football player for the past 18 years, with more than a hint of obsessive (anal retentive) behavior that enabled him to prepare for competitions at a level unmatched. That he was able to combine that preparedness with superb athletic skill is what made him so successful at his job for so long. That some publicity-seeking NON-journalist was given a platform a few weeks ago in a major media outlet in our country’s largest city to distort events/cases that were ALL closed more than 10 years ago all in the attempt to DESTROY one person because his counterpart in a recent sporting event was justifiably criticized for his spoiled brat/unprofessional behavior is an abomination. EVERY individual connected to journalism should WEEP.
Re Erin Andrews’ legal fees – in most cases like this, the plaintiff has a contingency fee agreement with counsel, meaning that the attorney receives a set percentage of any actual recovery. So the attorney will get whatever the agreed-upon percentage was (usually a minimum of 33%, and often higher), but only of actual money collected, from whoever they can get it from.
If she has this type of contingency agreement, the appeal won’t “eat up more of her award in legal fees” unless the agreement has a provision that the percentage goes up if the case goes on appeal (and that is a common provision).
One other point – Marriott Hotels wasn’t the defendant, and probably won’t be on the hook for this. The defendants were the hotel’s management company, Windsor Capital Group, and its owner, West End Hotel Partners. Marriott is trying to distance itself from the verdict: http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Marriott-tries-to-clear-confusion-in-Erin-Andrews-case
Also, even though the appeal may not eat up more attorney fees, Andrews still has some incentives to settle for less and end the case. One such incentive is time – an appeal could take more than a year, and possible several years, pushing back her eventual recovery. Another is the emotional benefit of having this matter behind her once and for all. And, of course, there is the chance that an appeal could be successful, which might mean that not only could the $55 million award go away, but that she would have to go through the burden and trauma of another trial.
Speaking of Peyton Manning, I want to know why the referees rarely if ever called any motion penalties on him, while he was dancing around, moving here, moving there, never being set… And still, years later, I really want to know why the referees rarely if ever call Michael Jordan for traveling, or charging, or pushing off, or hacking… And with all the evil people in the world doing evil things to innocent people, why would anyone really care that Maria Sharapova took a NON-performance-enhancing drug called meldonium….. how silly is it for the Tennis gods to invoke a stupid new rule against Sharapova (perhaps the most magnetically attractive person in the entire sport of tennis, or not far from it), but at the same time hide the names of the various players who were allegedly investigated for allegedly fixing matches……
The drug IS PERFORMANCE ENHANCING! You think all those hundreds of Russian (& other) elite athletes all “suffered” from the same “health issues”? LOL! And the “tennis gods” did not nab her, she flunked a DRUG TEST overseen by WADA.
I do agree with you about the match-fixing being a far-bigger cancer on tennis & that the tennis poobahs are underfinanced & overwhelmed about how to combat it.
Maybe that doping agency should ban Gatorade, because we all know that Gatorade can enhance the performance of any athlete, as seen on countless TV advertisements.