1-Man’s Opinion on Sports-Thursday “3-Players in Trouble”
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“3-Troubled Players”
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Out of a job for a wide variety of reasons.
Mistakes made…sure.
Blackballed…possibly
Trevor Bauer is back in the news. Matt Araiza is in the background in the news. Colin Kaepernick has disappeared off the radar.
Each a victim of what they have done.
TREVOR BAUER…A 4th woman has surfaced charging Bauer raped her, got her pregnant, gave her money for an abortion and abused her. The ex-Dodgers pitcher says it was a consensual relationship and the woman in Arizona wanted to extort 1.6M from him, then went to court. This on the heels of 3-other women coming forward that Bauer was involved in all types of rough sex episodes in which he abused the women. Another lawsuit here in San Diego is pending. Bauer was suspended for 194-games by the Commissioner, lost an enormous amount of money in his Dodgers contract, was released, and exiled. He is now pitching in Japan, but the controversy continues to trail him.
MATT ARAIZA…The legendary Aztecs punter was embarking on his NFL career with the Buffalo Bills, when allegaitons of a gang rape at SDSU happened. Police investigated but never filed charges against the kicking star. The Bills released him, even with the data he had consensual sex with a 17-year old, whom he thought was 18. He has had just 1-tryout and is still without a job as NFL camps open within a month.
COLIN KAEPERNECK….A star at quarterback, who spoke out about police brutality, becoming a leader before the Black Lives Matter movement ever began. He was coming off a poor season, coming off surgery. And he seemingly took on the world for racial discrimination. Despite all the charity things he did, he never got back into the NFL.
People make bad decisions, Bauer’s sexual misconduct lifestyle seems to make him radio-active. He might still be an established major league pitcher, but who wants to be affiliated with a player who has been involved in such seedy stuff. Bad choices for sure. Just too toxic to have wearing your jersey.
Araiza made a bad decision with an underage girl who lied to him. Since when is being stupid or immature or being full of yourself, enough to get you barred from the NFL? This is the same league that has allowed drug abusers, drunks, women abusers, and steroid users to serve a penalty and then return and play. Never charged. Neither was Deshaun Watson, who is playing quarterback in Cleveland, after a year’s paid leave while the case for sexual misconduct, was settled. Araiza deserves better. Seems he is being dealt with unfairly. The NFL is about second chances to lots of people. Why not him?
Did NFL teams stay away from Kaepernick because he had become a social cause spokesman or because he had a series of injuries that left him no longer the star QB he was with the 49ers? It is a complex story.. Now at age 38-time has passed him by, though he works in politics and charity and has alot of good guy stars on his post-football resume. Sure looks like a blatant blackball job and shame on the NFL for that.
Interesting to watch how player’s decisions have led to bad outcomes, some deserved, some unfair, some irresponsible.
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Kaepernick does not belong on this list. He had multiple tryouts that he choked and he walked away from his last contract.
Ariza is caught in the proven innocent, yet will always be guilty court of public opinion.
Bauer’s accusers admit to consensual rough sex then sue. That is a conundrum that his lawyer should handle with a consent agreement that is very explicit.