I say ‘we’ because it was widely reported that Chloe had come to the apartment complex to see me. Frank wouldn’t be happy when he saw how they put our pictures up side-by-side. Chloe’s was her booking picture with her hair going twelve different directions. Mine was a press-release photo of me done up as a surfer dude that the J-drama had sent out to promote their show.
The one bit of good news was that the police had sent Chloe for a psych evaluation. I contended that crazy was no defense for tasing even one guy in the nuts, let alone three. I expected, though, that Chloe would never do any time. If Zander could order his driver to crash into the car I was riding in and get a slap on the wrist, surely Chloe could light up a few cops.
Now, if she were an average person, that would be a different story. She would be locked up for sure.
When Manaia and I saw the crowd of reporters at the end of the block, we decided to skip my run today. I’m not sure Fritz had enough security people for me to be able to run safely with all those reporters following me.
◊◊◊
Frank made the executive decision that since I was in the news for having a stalker, he should be with me today. During the early sessions, the questions seemed to be evenly split between ‘Oh, my GOD! You have a stalker’ and ‘Oh, my GOD! You’ve been nominated for an Oscar.’
My responses were, ‘Stalkers are bad’ and ‘Oscars are good.’
Frank took off after my first generic interview to work with one of his other clients. My day became more interesting when I had my interview with
I walked into the conference room and found one of the new breed of sports reporters. These were smart, articulate young women who were beginning to break into the boys’ club that was sports journalism. I wished Tracy was here to meet her, as my friend’s goal was to someday fill that role.
The reporter bounced up from her chair and put on a winning smile.
“Jordan Leahy with
We shook hands and sat down at a round table where she had her notes for the interview, a tablet, and her phone sitting out. She turned on her phone’s recording app and set it in front of my seat. I liked that she didn’t plan to waste my time with small talk and got right to the interview.
“You’re in a unique position for me to ask you about the NCAA and its athletes making money related to a student-athlete’s name, image, and likeness. One of my sources at the NCAA told me that they’re in the process of giving you a waiver regarding that,” Jordan said, obviously having done her homework.
“I need to stop this interview for a moment and get legal advice,” I said as I gave her my most disarming smile.
I’d signed a nondisclosure agreement and wanted to make sure of what it covered before I got myself into trouble. As I interpreted it, it only involved my knowledge of the FBI’s interest in the shoe companies. Specifically, the shoe companies paying players in the hope they would become big stars and endorse their products after graduation.
“Why would you need to talk to your lawyer?”
“Because my eligibility is more important to me than answering your questions,” I said to put it bluntly.
“I agree. I don’t want to get you into trouble.”
She got up and left the room. I smiled when I saw that she ‘forgot’ to take her phone with her. I reached over and turned off the recording app.
That taken care of, I called Duane Morris, my sports attorney with Woodford & Morris. He suggested that I not confirm anything going on with my situation until it had been finalized. We planned to talk when I got back home so he could give me an update as to his progress. Well, more like lack of progress in hammering out the wording for my waiver.
Manaia stuck his head out the door to tell Jordan that I was ready for her.
“Can you confirm that you are getting a waiver from the NCAA?”
“You might want to turn on your recorder,” I said.
She blushed.
“You must think I’m awful. I honestly forgot I left that turned on,” Jordan said.
Either she was a great liar or telling the truth. I chose to believe she was being honest with me and that she’d made a mistake. She turned it on.
“I can’t really talk to you about what I may or may not be doing with the NCAA concerning my image rights. I can talk to you about my opinions, though,” I said to give her an opening.
“What is your view of the issue?” Jordan asked.
“Like everything, there are two sides to it. The NCAA is protecting its member institutions. Part of that is the student-athlete giving up their image rights so that the schools can broadcast games to generate revenue.”
“That’s just it. Football is a huge moneymaker. Shouldn’t the players get a piece of those revenues?”
“How would that work?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Should each player get an equal payout? Do you pay starters more than bench players?”
“Shouldn’t everyone get paid the same?” she asked.
“In the NFL, does the star quarterback make more than his backups, or do they all get paid the same?”
