Sex scandals continue with Mavs and also with the NFL Combine

Witness backs up woman’s claim that Mavericks owner Cuban groped her in a bar

When a woman in Portland, Oregon, filed a report with police in 2011 claiming that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sexually assaulted her, no newspaper wrote about it.  She did not press charges, so it was not considered news.  But now, thanks to the #MeToo movement, it’s a major story that while posing for a photo, Cuban allegedly slipped a hand inside her jeans and then inside her underwear and inserted a finger into her vagina.  The Oregonian last week provided corroboration, quoting Christopher White, a security worker at the Barrel Room, saying, “She jumped away like she was not happy with him.  That’s when the energy in the room exploded.  . . . He was kind of gropey.  . . . It wasn’t how you’d normally pose in a picture with someone.”  He said Cuban was so inebriated that the bar cut him off and then asked him to leave.   Cuban, who is considering running for president in 2020, emphatically denied he’s a pussy-grabber.  Not that such conduct would be a disqualifier in this post-family values era.  But how acceptable will NBA Commissioner Adam Silver find it?  Cuban has incurred $1.2 million in fines from his office, and he can expect more when the NBA completes its investigation of the Mavericks’ treatment of women. 

Between the Lines: This story dovetails with confessions of sexual harassment in the Mavs’ front office and resignations from it.  Cuban called it “truly a fuck-up on my part” that he took no immediate action against vulgar male employees.  There’s speculation Cuban will be forced to sell the team.  But that probably won’t happen because other NBA owners fear skeletons in closets.  

LSU’s Guice was asked at Combine if he likes men and if his mom is a prostitute

Derrius Guice, running back from LSU who is a projected first-round draft pick, said one team at the NFL Scouting Combine asked him if he liked men, and another one asked if his mother is a prostitute.  Such personal questions in job interviews violate federal law, but, as far as is known, the league has never punished anyone for asking.  Speaking on Sirius XM, Guice said: “It was pretty crazy.  Some people are trying to get in your head and test your reaction.  I go into one room and a team will ask me do I like men, just to see my reaction.  I go into another room, they’ll tell me, ‘I hear your mom sells herself.  How do you feel about that?’”  Two years ago, Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn admitted that one of his assistants asked one of the top prospects, Eli Apple, about his sexual orientation.  Quinn apologized to the player.  DeMaurice Smith, director of the NFL Players Association, said on Pro Football Talk that the league’s response to the Guice allegations should be “find out what team did it and ban them from the Combine.”  The Combine interviews are recorded, so determining the culprits should not be difficult.

Between the Lines: NFL teams test the prospects’ ability to withstand trash talk they’re likely to encounter on the field.  Odell Beckham Jr. once lost his composure when cornerback Josh Norman allegedly addressed him with a homophobic slur.  Even so, this sort of interrogation is clearly out of bounds.

Cris Carter reprimands Odell Beckham: ‘Enough is enough’

Cris Carter, Hall of Fame receiver who for almost a year has been a friend and mentor to Odell Beckham Jr., is weary of inappropriate behavior by the New York Giants’ Pro Bowl receiver.  Beckham’s latest controversy resulted from a video that appears to show him with marijuana in the company of a woman with a powdery white substance suspected of being cocaine.  “I’m so disappointed with him,” Carter said on his FS1 television show.  “Time to grow up and stop acting like a little boy.  If you want to be a national brand, act like it.  . . . Enough is enough.  . . . This matters.  Your images in sports will always matter.”

Dear Odell: You think what you do away from football is irrelevant, but every embarrassing incident is a distraction that raises doubts about your commitment to your profession.  It will affect your earnings.

Joe Thomas says Richard Sherman ‘got crushed’ by being his own agent

Upon his release by the Seattle Seahawks in a rebuild mode, All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman did not hire an agent to represent him and signed a 3-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers that most NFL experts feel was overly team-friendly.  Sherman, 29, received a signing bonus of $3 million, with additional earnings tied to incentives.  He can earn $13 million a year if he stays healthy and makes the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams.  Joe Thomas, All-Pro left tackle of the Cleveland Browns, tweeted: “This is really a case of ego getting in the way of his pocket book.  He got absolutely crushed on the contract while working as his own agent.”  Sherman responded via Twitter: “It was actually a case of believing in myself as a player while also coming off a major injury.”  Sherman had two Achilles surgeries this off-season.

Dear Richard:  An agent would have data on all other contracts and would ensure that you’re paid fairly relative to your peers.  Overconfidence in your  healing powers led to a poor business decision.  Not that it’s any business of Joe Thomas.

Home Run Derby blamed for Aaron Judge’s 2017 slump and shoulder injury

Home Run Derby champion Aaron Judge said he’s ”one and done” for that popular All-Star event.  Like many previous long-ball competitors, the New York Yankees’ right fielder saw negative effects from altering his swing.  In the first 44 games after the break, he hit .179 with only 6 home runs.  He was affected – more than he admitted at the time — by a left shoulder injury that required arthroscopic surgery in November.  However, Judge said he doubts the shoulder injury was a direct result of Home Run Derby, that it was a more gradual development.