2020 Saints: Working with Sinners

soxhop411

news aggravator
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Dec 4, 2009
46,274
The New Orleans Saints are going to court to keep the public from seeing hundreds of emails that allegedly show team executives doing public relations damage control for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese to help it contain the fallout from a burgeoning sexual abuse crisis.

Attorneys for about two dozen men suing the church say in court filings that the 276 documents they obtained through discovery show that the NFL team, whose owner is devoutly Catholic, aided the Archdiocese of New Orleans in its “pattern and practice of concealing its crimes.”

“Obviously, the Saints should not be in the business of assisting the Archdiocese, and the Saints’ public relations team is not in the business of managing the public relations of criminals engaged in pedophilia,” the attorneys wrote in a court filing. “The Saints realize that if the documents at issue are made public, this professional sports organization also will be smearing itself.”
Attorneys for the men suing the church say “multiple” Saints personnel, including Senior Vice President of Communications Greg Bensel, used their team email to advise church officials on “messaging” and how to soften the impact of the archdiocese’s release of a list of clergy members “credibly accused” of sexual abuse.

“The information at issue bears a relationship to these crimes because it is a continuation of the Archdiocese’s pattern and practice of concealing its crimes so that the public does not discover its criminal behavior,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote. “And the Saints joined in.”

A Saints spokeswoman Friday said team officials had no comment.

Attorneys for the Saints acknowledged in a court filing that the team assisted the archdiocese in its publishing of the credibly accused clergy list, but said that was an act of disclosure — “the opposite of concealment.”

A handful of Saints emails that emerged last year in the clergy abuse litigation included an October 2018 exchange in which Bensel asked an archdiocese spokeswoman whether there might be “a benefit to saying we support a victims right to pursue a remedy through the courts.”

“I don’t think we want to say we ‘support’ victims going to the courts,” Sarah McDonald, the archdiocese’s communications director, replied, “but we certainly encourage them to come forward.”
https://apnews.com/8a88d4d188c04751d9731a49081d5d3c?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlowMore at the link
@Lose Remerswaal Done
 
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Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
72,428
Team executives did this because they were afraid of Gayle firing them? What's the motive?

Gayle Benson should be Richardson'ed, for sure.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Aug 23, 2008
51,289
Team executives did this because they were afraid of Gayle firing them? What's the motive?

Gayle Benson should be Richardson'ed, for sure.
Bensel has worked for the team for over 20 years. The motive is he probably does whatever the Bensons have paid him to do in that time.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,428
Bensel has worked for the team for over 20 years. The motive is he probably does whatever the Bensons have paid him to do in that time.
She

(Gayle)

So the son did it? Then that makes less unsense
 
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soxhop411

news aggravator
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2009
46,274
Am I the only one who thinks this could cause the NFL to force a sale if these allegations turn out to be true?
This seems like it could really damage the image of NFL that one of their teams were using team money to assist the church in covering up/explaining away a huge sex abuse scandal
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

RIP Dernell
SoSH Member
Mar 24, 2008
7,202
the saints should move from brees and make a run at brady
Can you give one reason why they should even consider this?

The Saints have a massive cap hit if Brees doesn't return. He's got familiarity with the offense, receivers and coaching staff, is loved by the city and had a better season than Brady last year. He's also 18 months younger than Brady for whatever that's worth with QBs over 41.

Only reason Brees doesn't return is if he retires, not because the Saints decided to move in.
 

j-man

Member
Dec 19, 2012
3,646
Arkansas
Hill is too big a risk for a super bowl ready team

brady has a 2-year window this saints team has a 2-year window its the best serior for tom if he wants super bowl number 7 with cook at te Thomas Kamara he has the weapons' he wants NE to have
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

RIP Dernell
SoSH Member
Mar 24, 2008
7,202
Hill is too big a risk for a super bowl ready team

brady has a 2-year window this saints team has a 2-year window its the best serior for tom if he wants super bowl number 7 with cook at te Thomas Kamara he has the weapons' he wants NE to have
None of this addresses why the Saints shouldn't just keep Brees. Or how they'd afford Brady when they already have a $16m cap hit for Brees.
 

j-man

Member
Dec 19, 2012
3,646
Arkansas
brees showed a decline that was noted in the payoff loss to Minnesota and its only going to get worse for him if NE fails to offer a 2-y deal to brady its a better play for NO to offer brady over brees as for the 16 mil cap hit I guess some defense players will have to leave
 

streeter88

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Apr 2, 2006
1,807
Melbourne, Australia
jman I can’t base this on any facts, but I can’t believe that Brady in a new uniform with new coach and teammates would be better than Brees.

Can you explain why you think Brady would be better and why the Saints would even take that bet?
 

bigq

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
11,084
Thankfully the Benson led Saints and her pedophilia enabling friend Archbishop Aymond have god on their side. I’m certain that Goodell will jump to protect the shield at any moment now and put the Saints in their place for using their PR group to shield child rapists.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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Sep 12, 2003
14,540
South Boston
SI found that the Saints front office was far more involved in this than first disclosed: https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/06/17/saints-help-to-church-more-extensive-than-admitted
So the Saints claim they only helped out PR wise in from a couple weeks away from when the Church released their "Pedophile List". It now looks like this was a crock of shit and had been helping them out for months and months. Also, there is evidence that the Saints helped craft that exact list, which, not surprisingly, left some names off of it. The Saints also refuse to give the "receipts" of the 60+ million $ that they have gifted the Church, some suspect this money was used to pay settlements to the victims. The Saints deny this.

An AP investigation found the Church failed to include at least 20 clergy members who had been identified in lawsuits or charged with sexual abuse crimes (there are currently 63 names on the list, up from 57).

But in court papers filed earlier this year, Trahant & Co. said that emails showed the Saints “initiated this entire situation” and even pulled in other community leaders. The lawyers also alleged that the Saints “appear to have had a hand in determining which names should or should not have been included.” They wrote, “It cannot now be disputed that the Saints had actual involvement in the creation of the Pedophile List.”