Rusty Hardin Is an Idiot
His words, not mine.
Deshaun Watson hired Rusty Hardin last month as he mounted a civil defense to allegations of sexual assault by nine different women. Four weeks later, Watson is now facing allegations from 23 different women, 22 of whom have filed lawsuits against the Houston Texans’ quarterback. The 22nd lawsuit was made public on Monday, one hour after the Houston Police Department announced an investigation into a complaint against Watson.
Since the first lawsuit was filed on March 16, in which Ashley Solis said Watson touched her with his penis during a massage therapy session, there has been significant attention on Instagram communication between Watson and the alleged victims. And while there are many elements to the allegations and legal defense, it’s clear Instagram messages and “modern communications” will play a big role.
“Millennials live on Instagram. Those of you who are millennials know that. Those of you who are not have probably discovered it long before I,” Hardin said during a press conference on Friday. “They do business on it. Deshaun lives on Instagram. He does business transactions on Instagram. Other people do. I’m discovering a much more prevalent use of it than I had any idea. I’m not on Instagram. I don’t do Twitter. I’m not on Facebook. I am an idiot about modern communications. But what I’ve learned is everyone else is not.”
During a press conference in which he is discussing a case that includes a lot of “modern communications,” the defendant’s lawyer tells everyone he’s an idiot with “modern communications.”
Bring Them Back
In June 2003, my mom picked me up from a driver’s ed class and immediately delivered the good news: “Your dad caved; we’re getting Dish.”
For a decade, I begged my dad for cable TV. I couldn’t watch ESPN’s Sunday Night Football, the new “Hot in Herre” music video, or any of the million idiotic reality shows on E!, MTV, or VH1. And I couldn’t watch Pardon the Interruption, which I believed to be a Jeopardy!-like sports trivia show on ESPN.
At 4:30 p.m. CT on that fateful Thursday in June 2003, the first day of Dish Network in the Doughty household, I realized PTI wasn’t a Jeopardy!-like sports trivia show on ESPN. I was crushed. While PTI wasn’t bad, it wasn’t the show I dreamed of for years. That show came one year later when Stump the Schwab debuted on ESPN, and again in 2014 when Sports Jeopardy! debuted on Crackle.
Both were short-lived, airing a combined 196 episodes, and I’ve been awaiting their return for years. (Stump the Schwab did return last year, albeit for only one pseudo-episode on Facebook Live.). SI’s Dan Gartland gave me hope when he dropped this Daily Cover on Friday: What Happened to ‘Sports Jeopardy!’?
“We tried to keep it alive for the last couple of years,” Sports Jeopardy! host Dan Patrick told him. “I reached out to ESPN. I thought that when John Skipper was still there that it was a distinct possibility. I said, ‘You put that in the afternoon half-hour block and there’s no heavy lifting. It’s just basically, you put it in the lineup and let it go. You don’t have to have a producer, a director, anything. It’s ready to go. Add water and stir.’”
It’s a phenomenal read on the history of Sports Jeopardy!, his experience on the show, the show’s demise, and the likelihood of a return.
Odds & Ends
The NFL reversed course on that huge blindside block from the Bills’ playoff loss in 2020 … Updated MLB Power Rankings … NFL Mock Draft: Four straight QBs to open … NFL free agents who signed with the wrong teams … This streaker hid under a tarp for 14 hours before running on the field … Scientists will study the brain of Phillip Adams after he killed five people and himself last week … Candidates to replace John Brannen at Cincinnati.
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