808s and Bold Takes Issue 22: Rest in Power John Lewis
A commentary on the culture of sexual harassment that came from Washington's football team, the WNBA denying one of its superstars a medical exemption, and a tribute to the late and great John Lewis
(Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash)
Hello and welcome to 808s and Bold Takes. With every day that passes, we find ourselves inching closer to the return of sports. It’s normal, then, that I had a dream last night about baseball. Except this dream wasn’t me watching from the stands, I was actually pitching.
Well, not me; I was in the body of Stephen Strasburg. It was an incredible feeling. I was one of the best pitchers in the game, one of the most naturally talented throwers of a baseball ever. I had been drafted number one overall as one of the most hyped prospects ever, had one of the greatest postseason pitching performances ever en route to a World Series MVP, and then I signed a 7 year, $245 million contract.
I was out there, ready to face the hapless Yankees players who didn’t even know the power I was about to unleash upon them, a 95mph fastball with a devastating 12-6 curveball and a changeup that would buckle knees and leave the best hitters ever hapless.
And then I realized that although I was Stephen Strasburg, I threw like Varun Shankar. Folks, let me tell you, MLB players aren’t used to pitching against Varun Shankar, in that they haven’t seen pitching this slow since they were in diapers. Needless to say, it went very badly for me, and the Nationals were down 8-0 before I could blink, but luckily I woke up.
That’s about the happiest DC sports story I can tell, so let’s get to the serious stuff.
The Washington football team embarrassment
For those who aren’t sports fans, here’s some background. On Thursday, Will Hobson and Liz Clarke, reporters at the Washington Post, released a bombshell story that 15 women who worked for the football team had allegations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse. Here’s a link to the story, which I strongly recommend that you read in its entirety.
The women who spoke to the post, each one of them, are all incredibly brave and should be applauded for speaking against a culture like the one that existed in Washington. And, let’s be clear, this is a culture. It extended high into the ranks of various parts of the front office, from player personnel to business operations to even the team’s radio voice, Larry Michael. Two more women, reporters Rhiannon Walker and Nora Princiotti of the Athletic and Ringer respectively, also separately reported that Alex Santos, the director of player personnel (who conveniently was fired shortly before the Post’s story dropped) sexually harassed them while they covered the football team.
It seemed to even reach owner Dan Snyder’s former right hand man and team President, Bruce Allen. Here’s one of the accusers, Emily Applegate, talking about Snyder and Allen.
“None of the women accused Snyder or former longtime team president Bruce Allen of inappropriate behavior with women, but they expressed skepticism that the men were unaware of the behavior they allege.
“I would assume Bruce [Allen] knew because he sat 30 feet away from me … and saw me sobbing at my desk several times every week,” Applegate said.”
The team has had issues like this in the past, like one from 2018 where team cheerleaders said that the team took them to Costa Rica, took their passports away, and had them take topless photographs with spectators, described as “a contingent of sponsors and FedExField suite holders—all men.”
In addition, some cheerleaders were used as escorts to a nightclub, and while the arrangement did not require them to perform sexual activities, it was mandatory for them to go with the aforementioned spectators.
These are, without a doubt, despicable actions all around. The Washington football team had a disgusting and abhorrent culture, one that enabled and protected these men after they’d made the workplace in Ashburn a horrific place to be. The question as to whether these allegations are horrific enough to push Snyder out is yet to be answered.
The culture that existed in the Washington football team’s office is not unique to that team. While it may have been slightly extreme compared to others, the offices of sports teams and offices in general are littered with the stories of women who have had to deal with such issues. The hope is that exposing men like this and having them punished by losing their jobs and having their names rightfully dirtied will serve as a warning and hopefully prevent these horrific actions from happening in the future.
There’ll be more to come with this subject, particularly with Snyder’s future, but I’d like to finish this segment talking about responsibility. The first is journalistic responsibility, a lack of which was painfully apparent in some tweets by DC sports media members. These tweets all hinted at the story that was to come, but didn’t release any details about the story.
Here’s an example.
The basic rule in journalism is that if you have enough to run the story, you run it. If not, you shut up until the story is written. Not doing so is merely a way for you to try and appear like you’re in the know while not saying anything. That led to this tweet by me, one that Rafael Lorente, the Associate Dean at the University of Maryland’s Merrill School of Journalism liked. The original tweet was like the one above but with even less detail somehow and has now been deleted after sufficient shaming.
The problem with these reports, outside of being bad journalism, is that they cause reckless speculation. It should be noted that not a single Washington Post reporter tweeted about the story beforehand other than former columnist and now editor Dan Steinberg, who was merely commenting on the abundance of rumors. Here’s his comment on the situation.
The same cannot be said of DC media members who work at high profile outlets and should know better. The wild claims from fans that resulted because of these media members, who failed at their job, had a negative effect on the story. This was the victim’s story to tell, and the press should not have hyped the story in such a manner. They have a responsibility to do better next time.
The second responsibility comes to all of us, specifically men. We have a responsibility to treat women equally and respectfully in our lives, especially when it comes to the workplace. We also have a responsibility to call out the men who continue to harass women, to ensure that these men are not allowed to prey upon those who merely want to work in any number of fields.
We have a responsibility to do better, to ensure that women don’t have to choose between not being sexually harassed or having their job.
The WNBA Fails Elena Delle Donne
The Mystics star forward was denied a medical provision to sit out the WNBA’s season due to her experience with lyme disease. Delle Donne speaks more about her long-standing issues with “Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome with a current active infection with a different strain of borrelia and bartonella as well as other co-infections” in her piece in the Players Tribune, which you can read here.
She was denied the medical provision by the WNBA’s doctors, basically meaning that now she’d have to choose between playing and exposing herself to COVID-19 or not being paid for the season.
Here are the risks of her playing and possibly contracting COVID-19, from that Players Tribute piece.
“When news of COVID started spreading, I immediately took it seriously. That’s not me bragging; those are just the instincts I’ve developed after more than a decade of living with Lyme disease. I’ve been told time and time again over the years that my condition makes me immunocompromised — that part of what Lyme does is it debilitates my immune system. I’ve had a common cold that sent my immune system spiraling into a serious relapse. I’ve relapsed off of a simple flu shot. There’s just been so many instances where I’ve contracted something that shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but it blew my immune system out and turned into something scary.
That’s just something I deal with. And so when I read that immunocompromised people are at a higher risk with COVID, I took every possible precaution. (Which, by the way, I realize is a huge privilege I have that most people don’t.) I treated COVID like any high-risk person should: as a matter of life and death.”
If you don’t believe her words, here’s more from the Kellman Wellness Center.
“Patients who have Lyme disease have a severely impacted immune system. A big component of Lyme disease is a hyperactive immune system that is always in a state of inflammation. People with Lyme disease are at a greater risk of incidence and severity of coronavirus.”
It’s an incredibly bad look for the WNBA to be doing this, especially to a player like Delle Donne, who’s been a superstar since she entered the league. Here are the 30-year-old’s credentials: two-time MVP, WNBA champion, six-time All-Star, four-time All-WNBA first team, Rookie of the Year. That doesn’t mean this type of action would be okay against a lesser player; it just shows how bad it looks for the league to be doing this to a star that has carried the league to its current state of relevancy.
One of the principal aspects of sports returning has to be the element of choice for players to not participate, preferably with pay. Luckily for Delle Donne, the Mystics have reportedly announced that they will pay her salary despite the WNBA’s decision.
We can only hope that the rest of the sports world follows their example.
John Lewis, An American Hero
It’s hard to call anyone a hero, just because very few humans can live up on a pedestal like that, especially when being in the public eye for an extended period. John Lewis might have been the rare exception. The US Representative from Georgia’s 5th district was one of the most influential members of the civil rights movement from its inception in the 60s to its current iteration.
He was a contemporary of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and he marched in Selma, wearing a coat and a backpack as he was brutally beaten, his skull fractured. He was a man of little fear and great compassion, one who fought his entire life to make the world a better place, and he did just that. While it comes too slow and too late for far too many, Lewis is a reminder of the progress this country has made and the progress still required in the future.
One of the greatest men in American history, one who will be dearly missed.
Rest in Power to an American hero, John Lewis. Thank you for all you have done; we will all continue to fight the good fight in your name.
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Do not become bitter or hostile. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. We will find a way to make a way out of no way.” - John Lewis