Deshaun Watson is a Scumbag. He Should Never Play Football Again.
I won’t pretend like there’s a chance I will stop watching the National Football League. Super Bowl Sunday is a religious holiday to me. I played football in high school, and carry many of the lessons of hardwork, discipline, and sacrifice into the business world today. I plan my life around watching Baltimore Ravens games in the Fall. My little brother and I have attended at least one Atlanta Falcons game every season since 2016.
But what the NFL decides to do, or doesn’t, with the new star quarterback for the Cleveland Browns could be a colossal tipping point for me and my engagement with the NFL. Watson, a former standout at Gainesville High School in Georgia before becoming a national champion at Clemson University, was traded from the Houston Texans to the Browns this offseason. Subsequently, the Browns gave Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million contract, with a paltry first year salary of $1 million. The Browns, who claim to have done their due diligence, all but admitted that Watson stands on some sketchy legal ground and downright repulsive moral footing in doing so. In essence, they expect him to not play football this season, and their financial commitment for 2022 reflects that. You can say what you want to say, but budgets and financials speak to every organization’s true beliefs.
Watson answered questions at Browns minicamp yesterday. They were his first public comments since his introductory press conference in March.
Watson now faces a 24th suit from a woman accusing him of improper behavior at best and sexual assault at worst. According to a recent New York Times report authored by Jenny Vrentas, Watson met with at least 66 women for massages over a 17-month period and was enabled by the Texans organization with templated nondisclosure agreements and reservations at a lavish Houston hotel in the process.
I was convinced of Watson’s guilt as it pertains to improper conduct months ago. The new revelations simply confirm what the publicly available evidence already informed us was true. If Watson isn’t a habitual rapist, he for damn sure has no self-reflection or empathy skills, premeditates his sexually deviant acts, is incapable of understanding the concept of consent, and is a sociopath unable to discern right from wrong. He should never step foot on an NFL field again. At the very least, his behavior calls for a minimum two-year suspension.
I won’t rehash the evidence here. You can and should do that for yourself. But riddle me this – I’m a regular, middle-class guy. I emerged from the pandemic with noticeable hip and back pain and instituted a regular schedule of massage therapy into my life over a year ago. After a few months of a Massage Envy membership that was supposed to allow me to stick to my therapy schedule no matter where I am in the country, I cut back. It only took me a handful of sessions to realize that one of the most important keys to effective massage therapy is familiarity with the body. I found a masseuse in the D.C. area and, even though I live approximately 2,500 miles away her from now, I only visit her. We’ve adapted our cadence to five to seven visits per year, up to two and half hours, because understanding my body’s needs is critical to the therapy and it’s long-term efficacy. One of my legs is slightly longer than the other. My hips are slightly misaligned. You can feel the stress in my neck.
The Cleveland Browns are apparently excited to have a sexual predator playing quarterback for them.
I don’t have a physically demanding occupation. For the most part, I sit or stand at my office chair, reading, writing, analyzing data and staring at maps all day. I probably male less than one tenth of a percent of what Watson makes annually, yet my small team of doctors determined familiarity is such an important aspect of massage therapy for my body that I stick to one, maybe two.
Everyone’s medical diagnosis is different. I don’t pretend to know the intricacies of Watson’s physical ailments. I do, however, that he’s taken the third most sacks of any quarterback since 2018. I know he was so physically banged up just a few seasons ago that the Texans bused him back to Houston from a road game in Jacksonville for fear of putting his body through a flight. For someone that makes their literal living off the functionality of their banged-up body, Watson’s willingness to place that into the hands of over 60 women is a circumstantial head-scratcher I’ve never seen before. Add in the fact that Watson made roughly $51 million in his five-year career with the Texans, and the situation becomes even more murky. Why would a man that gets paid to do wonders with his body only a handful of people on Earth can do not have a dedicated set of massage therapists?
Goodell and the NFL have proven time and again to be impervious to public opinion around subjectively stupid decisions. I hope this time is different, but all one has to do is look no further than the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons aggressive pursuit of Watson prior to his trade to Cleveland to cast doubt on this institution’s willingness to do anything other than maximize their bottom line. The whole country is once again watching. I have no faith in Goodell or the NFL. I truly hope I am wrong.
With illustrative precision and compelling imagination, F.E. Curtis, II brings to life the peril and promise of growing up as a Black male in America. With incredible ease, the tone and imagery of stories spanning three decades manifest itself in a way only thoughtful and unconventional poetry can. Curtis depicts the often unmentioned internal forces at odds in the mind while capturing the external systems attempting to eliminate his being. By using varied forms and styles of creative writing and poetry, the book moves effortlessly from loss of innocence to the haunting of suicide. I'm NOT Okay, Thanks for Asking is a unique, fresh and challenging exposé on growing up as a Black man in America that you've never seen before -- and will never be able to forget.
Note: This book discusses several adult themes and elements and contains explicit language and artistic sexual content. It also includes stories and poetry around suicide and sexual assault. It is not meant for children under the age of 16. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or depression, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Line at 1-800-273-8255.