That Aud Smell

And this goes to a point that @Cascade Youthmade about the plaintiff’s lawyers — very media savvy.

i was just reading what you wrote in that one post. and i recalled generally what you'd said previously. it seemed to me that you were moving past a posture where you'd withhold judgment.

yeah - that's an interesting one to contemplate. it's a fookin hand grenade, for sure. i appreciate the give and take.

It means that this --> has no if's or but's about it. Which yields a take that Trotter is acting in bad faith in order to defame Pegula. Which is sorta nuts, based on what we presently know (and don't know).

I tend to agree that the Bills will ultimately need to bring in a guru of some kind to get Allen under control and help him be the player he can be. Daboll and his team did a very good job with that. Dorsey was a part of that team, but, as the OC, he does not seem to have sufficient control over Allen. Agreed. I was texting with a group of friends -- only 1 of them a Bills fan -- and asked to whom Allen best compares as an NFL QB. I said Favre, maybe. Then someone else chimed in: Dude. Jim Kelly. And I was like oof.

I think you're speaking past each other here a bit. @PASabreFan may have his finger on a somewhat nuanced legal issue. Trotter is in a position to testify, under oath and in admissible form, that an unnamed media colleague said something in a meeting that was attributed to Pegula. He can probably (?) testify to that not for the truth of the matter asserted -- that Pegula said it -- but for the purpose of establishing that, in that meeting, a colleague related that (alleged) quote to other NFL brass and that, thereafter, NFL brass swept the matter under the rug. There are principles of hearsay here that I'm a little fuzzy on. But I think I have it substantially correct. See how that works? It's a clever bit of lawyering, tbh.

Interesting. Not terrible litigation strategy, btw. I mean -- it's out on the edge. But if your opponent is an absolute behemoth and has billions of intangible value tied up in its brand, it's a logical play. Embarrass the sh1t out of them and use that as a pain point. And if the extraneous allegation were found to have been made with knowledge of its falsity, well, then, there are remedies and penalties for that. I very much doubt such a claim would ever be proven, though. Speaking of being out there on the edge.

Hmm. Interesting. Fair deuce. It’s still a well-drafted pleading.

As stated upthread, the issue appears to be equally if not more about what the league did and didn’t do in response to the alleged statement being raised. The facts alleged on that issue are pretty specific. Trotter has big boy lawyers. Wigdor is a small shop, but they are Chambers rated. You only get that rating when the bench and bar agree that your firm is top notch. That complaint appears to be excellent work product. I’m assuming that the lawyers performed due diligence on what they view as the relevant facts.

It’s okay to say that it’s more than that, if that’s what you feel in your heart.

And thank God for that.

Yes, I’m familiar. I think in either instance, you’d need to prove malice. And I think those frothing for such a lawsuit harbour the suspicion that these claims are maliciously made.

Love reading/seeing you here. Twitter isn’t enough.

Not the person per se. But the harm alleged. The issues implicated. Lol - a bias is a bias, bruh. It’s no more the time to talk about suing Trotter for all he’s worth than it’s time to talk about Pegula being a racist SOB.

I just glossed the complaint. That's some impressive looking work product. It was not "giving"* frivolous litigation. *This is the Gen Z phrase I just caught onto. "It's giving ... ."

now, wait a goddamn minute.

well, this is a civil matter so ... . but the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, to be sure.

Whether it's allowed or permitted has little to do with what I'm driving at. Is it advisable for a person in his position to thusly react? It is not. I don't quite understand this sort of take when something like this is in the posture it is - early days. It seems to reveal a bias more than anything.

There are hundreds of AP Lang teachers out there who'd redline the sh1t out of that sentence. Hire one of them, Terry! Why would you be shocked? I'm far more shocked that the statement wasn't simply: "I never said what Mr. Trotter claims I said. I never said it in an NFL meeting or anywhere else."

I'm so far removed from this realm - I don't think my life experiences have much bearing on the matter. The tone-deaf aspect is what makes me think that he's not using a PR professional who charges $1000 an hour. Those cats are worth every penny when you have billions at stake. Matt Pegula's j1zz hats, fo sho.

There's plenty wrong. They're tone deaf. Focus on the hurt being alleged. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Mr. Billionaire. You spent your entire statement doing that. I wouldn't doubt this. Hence the golf clap.

I'd be stunned if any decent PR professional was involved in preparing that statement. I think it's John Roth or someone who reports directly to him. Agreed 100% on efforts to sound lawyerly will doom any press release. Also, I don't know what he meant to say. The words he used are unclear. And a little weird.

If the statements are demonstrably false and it can be shown that the plaintiff knew as much when he caused his complaint to be filed, then the lawsuit could be dismissed as frivolous. That could undo the privilege generally afforded to judicial statements. Just taking a break. Hard times, actually.