Watson suspended 27 games - UPDATE: Reduced to 18 games

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101st_fan

I taught Yoda
Oct 22, 2005
13,770
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Near where sand and waves meet.
The two individuals involved are the only ones that can shed enough light on this incident for people to create an informed position. We know Watson put his hands on her then took a plea deal. That plea deal means that a detailed accounting never hit the public domain. That leaves speculation to what happened and the accompanying lambasting in the press.
 

Armourboy

Hey! You suck!
Jan 20, 2014
19,005
10,371
Shelbyville, TN
Like I said, I think if they had found something more than this one incident it would have been more than what he got. Of course that's assuming they wanted to find more.
 

SavageSteve

Registered User
Mar 28, 2008
777
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Nashville, TN
Having daughters, I have mixed feelings about this situation. If someone hit one of them in an abusive situation, you'd likely see me repeating the bathtub scene from Breaking Bad to hide the evidence of my rage towards the abuser. I am very uncertain of what I'd do in protecting what will always be in my eyes, my little girls.

However, I am glad that the Predators seem to be taking a road less-traveled in today's current politics of attempting to allow him a second chance to clean up and do the right thing coupled with the assumption that he is on proverbial thin ice if he screws up again. Whatever issues issues this couple has that manifested in the incident at the gas station, I am also glad that he does have the opportunity to be within a structured situation that could help them to resolve these issues and be better citizens and parents. Otherwise cutting bait on him likely results in a worse situation for the child and the couple. If he continues with this behavior, he then needs to go far far away. If not, then my opinion of everything this team is built upon changes a lot...
 

ThirdManIn

Registered User
Aug 9, 2009
55,115
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The reason it is a "road less traveled" today is because it was the only road traveled for centuries. Second and third and fourth and fifth chances, etc., and that's if the first chance was sullied in any way. That is a problem that should be corrected.

I hope he gets help. I empathize with him but I do not have sympathy for him, and a second chance absolutely will need to be earned. Apparently a condition to his no-contest plea deal is substance-abuse treatment. I hope he gets what he needs from that. The team and league should have suspended him until he completed the terms of his deal, and then added an additional suspension based on how well he satisfied those terms.
 

LCPreds

Registered User
Dec 8, 2013
7,452
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TN
I'm still not even sure precisely what he did so am really surprised by some of the strong opinions here. Feels like there are a lot of reactions to what people imagine he may have done and not what we know for a fact that he actually did. Some guesses can be made for sure but they would still be guesses.

Speaking of which, one of the conditions he has to complete was for a substance abuse program. Did he happen to get charged with a DUI and/or public intox or anything similar? It's the one aspect of all of this that I've found strange since this was supposedly alcohol related and I thought this happened in a vehicle. Speaking of guesses, I'm going to guess they didn't teleport to the gas station.
 

ThirdManIn

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Aug 9, 2009
55,115
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I'm still not even sure precisely what he did so am really surprised by some of the strong opinions here. Feels like there are a lot of reactions to what people imagine he may have done and not what we know for a fact that he actually did. Some guesses can be made for sure but they would still be guesses.

Speaking of which, one of the conditions he has to complete was for a substance abuse program. Did he happen to get charged with a DUI and/or public intox or anything similar? It's the one aspect of all of this that I've found strange since this was supposedly alcohol related and I thought this happened in a vehicle. Speaking of guesses, I'm going to guess they didn't teleport to the gas station.

Often times alcohol/substance abuse treatment is a requirement for guilty/no-contest pleas in assault cases involving alcohol. In fact, an alcohol monitoring bracelet is often a condition of bond when they are initially arrested and post bail. If he had been drinking it's not that surprising that he would be required to complete a substance abuse treatment course. I highly doubt a public intox charge would have been the deciding factor on such treatment.

As for the strong feelings, it has to do with a combination of things not the least of which is how much attention is paid to these cases. This is a prime opportunity to continue to show that these incidents, even if they are viewed as "minor," have no place in our society, and the punishment should be harsh. A severe punishment doesn't preclude a second chance later on, but it does help communicate to others that things which used to be viewed as relatively minor (or even viewed as a part of society we should accept, as it still is in several places around the world, including areas where hockey is a huge sport) are, in fact, serious if for no other reason than a failure to address them promptly leads to even more severe violence down the road in entirely too many cases.

I know the natural reaction is often "this isn't fair" since others have been treated with much softer gloves not even that long ago, but that mistakes in dealing with these things were made then doesn't mean we should continue to make them in the name of fairness*.

*I'm not accusing you of making the fairness argument, LCPreds. I'm pretty much just preemptively taking that particular, popular argument off of the table because I'll be mowing the grass shortly and won't be responding for a while :laugh:
 
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maplepred

Go Preds Go!!
Aug 14, 2011
3,461
752
this will cost us at least 3-4 points on this season's total. we are already too soft up front and this will make us even softer.

Johansen, forsberg, bonino, Sissons, and salomaki can all hit. That’s almost half our forwards. 5/12
 

FossilFndr

RIP Steve
Jan 18, 2014
3,204
1,407
Fall Branch, Tn.
Did the local talent even mention Watson in their first game or pregame broadcast? Would have been a good time for a comment of some sort. "miss him on the ice .... going to do x for DV awareness ...." Thought I heard Mason use his name once quickly in passing but nothing significant. I must have missed it ???
 
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