EElman
Outlaw's Outtakes

12-3-18 - Hunt - Pete Elman

Of Right and Wrong
by Outlaw

This past February, Kansas City running back Kareem Hunt committed an assault which was captured on video. Although the Chiefs and the league were made aware of the incident at the time, it was considered a "he said, she said" event, and they believed Hunt when he denied any wrongdoing. Mysteriously, neither the police, the Chiefs, nor the NFL was made aware of this video until three days ago. When it became public, the team within hours released Hunt. No criminal charges have been filed. 

In an interview, Hunt was contrite, describing himself as " extremely embarrassed because of that video."   He repeatedly mentioned his upbringing, saying, " I'm definitely not that type of person. My mother raised me right. I know right from wrong."

Really? He had nine months to come clean, and he didn't until the video emerged. And now, a number of NFL owners "are irate" that the league's investigators did not interview Hunt back in February.

Give me a break.

The video is clear; it shows Hunt getting into a confrontation with a woman while being restrained by others. After exchanging words with her, he shoves her before she strikes him in the face. Hunt then shoves another man into the woman, pushing her to the floor. Hunt eventually makes his way over to her and kicks her in the leg while she is on the floor.

Shortly after the incident, she unsuccessfully begged the cops to look at the building's CCTV. Not surprisingly, the cops did nothing. The building officials, with indisputable evidence of an assault in their possession, did nothing. The league did nothing. And, of course, the Chiefs did nothing to get to the bottom of the incident. After all, Hunt led the league in rushing last year, and was a key cog in their high-powered offense.

So, nine months later he's busted. But it is not just Kareem Hunt who is at fault--it is the entire culture of professional football, and it starts at the top. This is the league that did not have the guts to mete out a proper punishment to Ray Rice, the league that blackballed Colin Kaepernick for peacefully protesting police brutality. According to sources Hunt may face more than the baseline six-game suspension for violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy. They are also investigating an incident involving Hunt allegedly punching a man in the face at an Ohio resort in June. And the NFL is believed to have found enough from that incident to add to Hunt's discipline.

How many more times do we have to see yet another example of misogynistic, violent, criminal behavior on the part of an NFL player go unpunished? Can someone explain to me how the NFL, with its $8 billion annual profit, cannot get their hands on a two-minute video, but TMZ can? Or, even worse, how the Chiefs reflexively believed their player? And is the players' union innocent here?

These are questions that will probably go unanswered for some time. We are surely living in fearful and frightening times. When the president and his lackeys are the only people in the world who will not admit that Jamal Khashoggi's gruesome assassination was ordered by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, I guess anything is possible. Perhaps our biggest fear should be that we may be losing the ability to tell right from wrong.

*          *          *

From 2000-2005 I wrote a column for the late great Oakland Athletics Fan Coalition (OAFC) entitled  Elman Swings
, a play on the fact that I'm a musician. Some of you may remember the OAFC, an East Bay organization that at its peak had several thousand members devoted to keeping the A's in Oakland and guess what? They've succeeded. Perhaps one or two of you might remember my articles (more like rants) about baseball and society. So when the Ultimate Sports Guide asked me to compose regular screeds for this weekly blast called Outlaw's Outtakes, how could I say "No?" ('Outlaw' is their nickname for me.) -- Pete Elman

Pops
3-6-17 - Pops

Michael King (left), with an associate from USF (center), and Karla Granadino-King, are pictured at the Olympic Club in San Francisco,  proudly sharing with the world their  Pops Premium Rumpopo. A King family secret, Pops Premium Rumpopo is a  delicious rum cream liqueur recipe brewed in the family tradition.  The award winning recipe is a Belizean family favorite and now available at all Total Wine & More stores in California and Bay Area retailers.
For more information, visit https://www.bzecheers.com/rumpopo

Pops - Original
Pops Back Label