Habib: With fallout of sexual assault right up the road, Dolphins must hit pause on Watson
MIAMI GARDENS — The man accused in the Chicago Blackhawks’ sexual assault scandal received severance pay, a championship ring and a playoff bonus.
His name was engraved on the Stanley Cup.
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The Blackhawks managed to compound those errors in the most repulsive manner possible. They made the victim feel worthless. To them, he was an impediment to winning a championship.
There are lessons to be learned here. Joel Quenneville perhaps learned one when he lost his job Thursday night even though he was coach of a 7-0 team, the Florida Panthers. Two mistakes caught up with Quenneville: facilitating the cover-up as coach of the Blackhawks at the time, then lying about it when the 2010 incident implicating his video coach came to light this week.
Were Dolphins paying attention?
Given the relationship that exists between South Florida’s pro sports franchises, one would hope close attention was paid by the Dolphins, who have been linked to a potential trade for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, the subject of 22 civil suits from massage therapists claiming sexual misconduct.
Once again Friday, coach Brian Flores was afforded multiple opportunities to disassociate the Dolphins from trade speculation. Again, he refused, carefully choosing words that strike a balance between what sounds like a commitment to Tua Tagovailoa while making sure everything he said cannot come back to bite the organization should the trade come off. The words “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach” come to mind.
No heavy lifting is required for the Dolphins to send signals that unless and until Watson clears his name, they have nothing to say to the Texans. And let’s be clear: We don’t know if Watson is guilty. We don’t know if Watson is innocent, which actually would make him the victim of a conspiracy to smear him. If he can clear his name and he’s available, the Dolphins wouldn’t be doing their job if they did not look into a trade. He’s that good.
But to do a trade now, because of the trade deadline? That would amount to mortgaging the future on an unknown quantity and, worse, it risks sending to those 22 women the same message the Blackhawks sent to Kyle Beach, who identified himself this week as the victim in the incident.
"It made me feel like nothing,” Beach said. “It made me feel like I didn't exist. It made me feel like he was in the right and I was wrong."
Beach's interview must-see viewing
Rather than envisioning Watson in an aqua and orange No. 4 jersey, the Dolphins should do homework today requiring just 25 minutes, 58 seconds. Watch the interview Beach conducted this week with Canada’s TSN and carried on ESPN. Warning: If you haven’t seen it, once you start watching it, it’s impossible to turn away.
“I want to make sure the one thing that comes from this is change,” Beach says, referring to how his concerns were ignored. “I want to make sure, in any way possible, this does not happen to somebody else, because it will happen again. I will not be the only one. Whether it’s hockey, soccer — any sport, any business, any company — there needs to be a system in place that it gets dealt with. And it’s somebody making the decision to deal with it that has no skin in the game.”
Somebody, say, unlike USA Gymnastics, which shielded its doctor, Larry Nassar, when it should have protected more than 150 young gymnasts who testified that Nassar sexually abused them over two decades.
Beach accused video coach Brad Aldrich of sexually assaulting him, armed with a small baseball bat and the threat of destroying his hockey career, also known as the Harvey Weinstein technique.
Rather than see his own hockey career destroyed, Aldrich then scurried off to work for USA Hockey, Notre Dame, Miami (Ohio) University and a high school in Michigan, where he pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Beach was left wondering what more he should have done to protect that minor from Aldrich.
Of course, Beach did his job. Quenneville and the rest of the Blackhawks’ brain trust failed miserably at theirs. The 107-page independent report on the case is littered with phrases that trigger outrage: “Didn’t want any negative publicity during the Stanley Cup Finals … Brad did a great job … Quenneville appeared angry and was concerned about upsetting team chemistry. …”
Again, we don’t know if Watson is the perpetrator or the victim. What we do know is the Texans want multiple first-round draft picks for him.
Maybe someday, it will be a deal the Dolphins could make with confidence.
After what this week brought? No chance.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Habib: It would be irresponsible for Dolphins to trade for Watson now
