It’s Flag Day …

And a Happy Flag Day to one and all …

Ever since the LIV Golf Tour became a thing and after we learned that an NFL team is likely to sell for more than $6B, the usual focus by sports fans on large sums of money has had to expand significantly.  However, when the following story broke about a month ago it took things to an even higher plane.  Let me do a reset here …

Brian Davis was a member of the Duke national championship teams in the early 90s along with Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley and Christian Laettner.  Davis had a brief and undistinguished professional basketball career, but he has been active in a variety of financial enterprises since his graduation.  In May, Brian Davis filed a lawsuit against Bank of America seeking 500 billion dollars alleging that Bank of America never showed his bid or his financials to Daniel Snyder because Davis wanted to bid $7B for the Washington Commanders.

Davis also sought the return of more than $5B that he says he transferred to Bank of America as part of his bidding process for the NFL team.  The suit alleges that Davis transferred that money from an account at Citicorp to Bank of America, but that Bank of America never put the funds in Davis’ Bank of America account.  At the time of the filing, there were questions about how Davis came up with $5B to put in an account at Bank of America but I thought that this would have to be clarified if the matter ever went to trial.

Another aspect of the matter that did not make immediate sense to me was why Bank of America would conceal or deflect a $7B bid for the Commanders.  Daniel Snyder retained Bank of America to try to find a buyer for the team; my guess was that Bank of America would earn its fee at least in part based on the purchase price for the team and if that wee the case, then Bank of America would be motivated to put the Davis bid front and center.

Then this matter took an even stranger turn.  Davis dropped the lawsuit voluntarily and according to Frontofficesports.com:

“There are no indications in court records that there was any type of settlement.”

In a matter of weeks, a complaint seeking $500B in damages and the return of a “missing $5B bank transfer” just disappeared without a settlement?  Just to set this in context, various websites estimate Brian Davis’ net worth to be between $13M and $15M; that is not chicken feed but it does stand in stark contrast to the sorts of numbers one might expect to be associated with someone trying to buy an asset for $7B.  Davis was asked about the source of the money for his bid, and he specifically denied that it was from Saudi Arabia; he told a DC news station:

“That capital is coming from private investors who are located here in America who are domestic.  I have a great amount of respect for the Saudi Arabian people and Arab people in Islam in general. I love them. But the money’s not Saudi Arabian and I’ve never been to Saudi Arabia in my life.”

I do not have any superpowers, but my “Spider Sense” is tingling here.  I have no idea what is going on with all of this, but I suspect that there is more to be learned about this situation.

Moving on …  Brittney Griner is back in the news.  She and her Phoenix Mercury teammates were transiting the Dallas Airport when Griner was accosted by a man who is known as a “far-right Twitter personality”.   He is also described as the host of a “comedy show” on Blaze TV and that one of his recurring schticks is to “confront pampered subjects face-to-face”.  A security guard said the man “seemed aggressive and made some inappropriate comments”; there were no arrests and no charges.  The players’ union used this incident to press the league to have its teams fly chartered air instead of commercial air.  That is not all that surprising; that is what unions are supposed to do.

But in this case, I think the union is stretching the point just a bit.  Yes, Brittney Griner is easily recognized in an airport and yes, Brittney Griner is a lightening rod for attention given her having been inserted into the polarized political realm last year. However, the rest of the WNBA players can move about in most airports in anonymity so long as they are not wearing their uniforms with their names and numbers on them.  Even in that case, at least 20% of the players might not be recognized for who they are and might be taken for fans who are just wearing something they bought at a fan site.

Switching gears …  This item has been hanging around on my clipboard for a while, so let me polish it off today.  The Baltimore Ravens signed veteran QB, Josh Johnson, to a contract.  Given that he would be at best a backup to the backup in Baltimore, why would that even be interesting let alone important?

• This is the third time the Ravens have signed Johnson to a contract.
• He has been on the roster of 14 NFL teams in his career.
• He has also played in the XFL, the United Football League and the Association of American Football.
• Josh Johnson at age 37 is the Energizer Bunny of QBs.

Finally, a brief observation by Arthur Godfrey:

“I’m proud to be paying taxes in the United States.  The only thing is – I could be just as proud for half the money.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………