We have another situation that fits the adage of bad things happening in threes even though the immediate headline/news event seems out of the ambit of two other embarrassments. Here is the latest headline:
“Falcons fire LaTroy Lewis amid investigation into sexual assault allegations”
Sadly, those kinds of headlines have become far too commonplace, but this one rang a strange bell in my mind. Indeed, the Falcons had just hired LaTroy Lewis to be their D-Line coach last month; that seemed to me to be a strange pair of circumstances. And just a little more reading allowed me to make it the third event in a triumvirate of badness.
The focus of the three phases of embarrassment belongs to the University of Michigan Football Program:
- Embarrassment 1: The Jim Harbaugh time as head coach produced a suspension for recruiting violations and the infamous sign-stealing scandal.
- Embarrassment 2: The firing of Harbaugh’s successor, Sherrone Moore, and Moore’s subsequent arrest involving felony charges.
- Embarrassment 3: LaTroy Hawkins was on Sherrone Moore’s staff as an assistant at Michigan until he was hired by the Falcons in February 2026.
According to reports, the alleged sexual assault happened in Ann Arbor while Hawkins was still at Michigan and that the police there had just become aware of the incident. Hawkins’ lawyer naturally stated that his client would “fiercely fight these false allegations” and the lawyer for the woman says that her client was a victim who met Hawkins on an Internet dating site. There is not much there I find surprising; what I do find surprising is that the Falcons fired Hawkins almost immediately instead of saying they would let the investigation play out and that the Falcons were gathering information on their own and any final decision would await all of that.
Switching gears … In other news involving NFL folks who got themselves crosswise with the judicial system, President Trump recently pardoned five former players who had been convicted of a variety of offenses. Here is the list:
- Billy Cannon: He plead guilty to being part of a counterfeiting ring that produced large amounts of bogus currency.
- Travis Henry: He was convicted on drug trafficking charges.
- Joe Klecko: He was convicted of insurance fraud and bankruptcy fraud.
- Jamal Lewis: He was convicted of “facilitating a drug deal”.
- Nate Newton: He was convicted of drug trafficking after being arrested twice in a short span of time with almost 400 pounds of marijuana in his car.
Billy Cannon was an interesting case. After his conviction he spent several years in jail but after he was released, he became a dentist/orthodontist and had a practice in Baton Rouge, LA where he had been a star halfback at LSU. Billy Cannon died in 2018.
Moving on … Chris Berman announced that he will retire when his contract at ESPN expires at the end of the 2029 NFL season. Berman started at ESPN in 1979 – – the year ESPN first went on the air; he will have been a 50-year veteran of the network when he retires, and I believe he is the last of the “ESPN originals”. Chris Berman is famous for his schtick of using wordplay to give nicknames to various athletes. Everyone probably has his/her favorites on that list but here are my two favorites:
- Oddibe – Young Again – McDowell
- Jim – Two Silhouettes On – DeShaies.
In other news … The Indy Colts have put the “Transition Tag” on QB Daniel Jones and have given Anthony Richardson permission to seek a trade. Richardson is only 24 years old and back in 2023 – – not so long ago – – the Colts spent the overall #4 pick in the NFL Draft to acquire Richardson. In my opinion, the Colts have decided to cut bait here:
- In three seasons with the Colts, Richardson has appeared in only 17 regular season games out of a possible 51 regular season games.
- His completion percentage in those games was only 50.6% which is notoriously low.
- He threw 11 TDs and 13 INTs in those games.
The enticement for other teams is that Richardson is freakishly athletic; if he could stay healthy and work on his accuracy, he could be a foundation piece for a team – – and he is only 24 years old.
Finally, this life assessment from Tallulah Bankhead:
“If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
Billy Cannon played for the Oakland Raiders, 1964 – 1969. There is a book on him called “The Long, Long Run.”