BEARD VS. WHITE: THE DISHONEST MALPRACTICE OF SPORTS AND MEDIA

Enabled by partner ESPN and quiet outlets such as the New York Times and The Athletic, Dana White skates without penalty after a video shows him slapping his wife — as Chris Beard is fired amid doubts

     It might as well happen now, as a new year begins in a wayward America. Let’s examine what goes down when the issues of four men in a maniacal sports business converge in a news cycle. The way their stories are being handled this week — by industry executives and mainstream media, in some cases intertwined — is everything you need to know about how recklessly and dishonestly these places operate.

     This country, too.

     The words that keep springing to mind: hypocrisy, cronyism, power and, of course, money. All of which add up to decisions that, when stacked together, not only lack consistency and basic logic but smack of twisted, dishonest malpractice. Dana White, Chris Beard, Trevor Bauer and Gregg Berhalter have little in common in life beyond domestic violence, alleged or otherwise.

     It’s preposterous how White can be pardoned while Beard can be fired, Bauer can be stonewalled and Berhalter can be ambushed.

     As I publish Thursday — my latest column about a series of domestic abuse matters in sports — this cannot be debated: Only one of the men is captured on video committing a violent act. That would be White, president of the octagon ragefest known as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, who clearly is seen slapping his wife across her face with an overhand power strike during their nightclub argument on New Year’s Eve.

     Yet, White is the one who’s skating away with his life, career and finances intact. His freedom became apparent on the same afternoon when Beard, after accusations were recanted by his fiancee of three years, was dismissed as basketball coach by the University of Texas. Not suspended. Not demoted. Fired, leaving his life in shambles. Maybe someone smarter than me can explain why Dana White is moving on without a hitch while Beard’s future is in ashes.

     Didn’t Beard’s fiancee say she lied? Were university bosses so zealous to recoup millions in his contract that they ignored Randi Trew’s statement of Dec. 23? That’s when she said, “Chris did not strangle me, and I told that to law enforcement that evening. Chris has stated that he was acting in self-defense, and I do not refute that. I do not believe Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way. It was never my intent to have him arrested or prosecuted.” Her words didn’t matter to a university that knew it could terminate him for cause once he was arrested on a domestic family violence charge. According to Perry Minton, Beard’s attorney, athletic director Chris Del Conte and other university officials reneged on an agreement to conduct an independent investigation and didn’t ask “a single question of (Beard) or his fiancee.” So, there is lingering doubt, keeping in mind that photos aren’t always reliable in legal cases and that a video is the real smoking gun.

      White is on video. There is no lingering doubt. He hit his wife, period, end of story, as he acknowledged in an apology. This is not an allegation. It rises to the level of a crime, if authorities in Mexico chose to pursue an incident that happened in Cabo San Lucas. But five days later, there still have been no official statements about the incident from ESPN and parent company Disney — which does a massive business via White and their $1.5 billion deal — or from Endeavor, the Hollywood entertainment titan that owns and operates UFC. Their silence is by design. They are cowards protecting their monster business by ignoring a real monster.

     They are letting White’s transgression slide, without a reprimand or a ban or even a public peep. They are letting him get away with a crime, with the only possible penalty — if it can be called that — a delay of an upcoming White project on TBS. It’s called, um, “Power Slap League,” and it will be bumped back to Jan. 18. Consider it an insult to the intelligence of viewers, thinking people will forget about the slap in a week. In a story that quickly faded from its main news digest, ESPN reported on the show delay without making a comment about White. TBS parent Warner Bros. Discovery also had no comment, nor did the powerful Endeavor CEO, Ari Emanuel.

     All are in bed with Dana White, the mastermind and huckster behind UFC.

     How do they sleep in that bed?

     A more pressing question: How are they allowed to excuse his actions so nakedly? The answer: Because hulking companies do what they want in 2023 America, even if Disney keeps peddling children’s movies and is trotting out a remake of “The Little Mermaid” in May. You know: “Hey, parents. Please bring your kids to our movies, even if they can see Dana White channeling a UFC fighter on the Internet. To hell with morals. Follow the money and keep our corporate mouths shut.” Disney and ESPN, led by Sir Robert Iger and Jimmy Pitaro, were enabled on their weasel path by two of many media operations also taking a weasel path — the New York Times and its recently acquired sports site, The Athletic, neither of which had informed readers of White’s assault as of early Thursday evening. More than two hours after this column was posted, the Times published a story that didn’t condemn White for his attack but detailed what I’ve detailed all week — how ESPN and Endeavor haven’t responded. Without immediate pressure from two influential, U.S.-based outlets in the sports realm, ESPN and Endeavor didn’t have to punish White or say a word. This is where a journalist must expose failing media, an industry that is giving 332 million Americans another reason not to trust it.

     Allow me. The Times has bolstered its journalistic reputation with a landmark investigation of since-convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein, passionately supporting a related movie, “She Said,” about reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor. Shouldn’t the Times be among the first to run with the White story? This wasn’t a He Said/She Said conundrum. It’s on tape, accessible with a browser and keyboard. When The Athletic was a start-up in the late 2010s, it leaned on stories about “bad actors” in sports. Now it joins the Times in an apparent White cover-up when they have him by the short hairs, even if his pate is bald. Among the most egregious offenders is a media writer at The Athletic, Richard Deitsch, who is overly friendly to ESPN and is known to do its dirty work. He, too, has shied from addressing White in a column or news story. He also fawns over Charles Barkley, a man who has been arrested so many times that even he forgets the number.

     Imagine if Roger Goodell slapped his wife. Social-media pundits alone would have forced mainstream media to hammer away at the polarizing NFL commissioner. But White and his sport are beloved by millions. So? News is news, not a lesson I should have to remind the New York Times about. How can the Times and The Athletic run another story condemning a domestic abuser when they won’t condemn or even touch White?

     This is known as selective editing. Why protect White? Are they afraid of him, recalling how he threatened legal action and verbally shredded a Times reporter who questioned UFC’s “spotty” enforcement of 2020 coronavirus protocols? “F—k that guy. F—k that guy,” White roared at a post-fight news conference. “You know what happened with that guy? That guy who’s never covered the sport was writing a story about Endeavor and then the UFC was one of the Endeavor … you know. And what happened when this guy and this paper covered the UFC — when they’ve never covered it before? What do you think happened? This f—king story was huge. They did killer traffic.”

     Therein lies the problem. Media companies want White for his money, his influence and his killer traffic. UFC, heaven help us, might be the future of sport in America and beyond. Younger media executives might look the other way when viewing his video, knowing he’s a man with clout who keeps score and understands how to manipulate media.

     As White eyes his next fight card, Beard is in Austin contemplating legal action. Only hours before he was dismissed, ESPN — yes, ESPN was covering Beard but barely covering the sacred Dana White — obtained a statement from the Travis County District Attorney’s office. An investigation of Beard remained open. The university could have waited for it. “The matter is still under review, and our prosecutors are evaluating all of the evidence, including recent statements and all evidence collected by law enforcement," the statement said. “Our office takes all allegations of domestic violence seriously; in each case, we are committed to working through the unique challenges presented.”

     Nah, why let due process interfere when the eyes of Texas were upon Beard and his fiancee? That quickly, a fully guaranteed, seven-year contract — worth $7 million a season — was killed off in Year Two. The school can say it was ashamed by Beard’s behavior. Trouble is, what exactly was the extent of Beard’s behavior if the university doesn’t want to know all the details? (Here is where I issue my standard disclosure. In the distant past, lies were told about me in a case in which I pleaded no contest, by design. I ultimately prevailed in a civil proceeding — money was the end game — that we successfully and completely defended in quick order. Not one media outlet has reported the conclusion. Thus, I am uniquely equipped to write about this topic and the media’s shortcomings.)

     Then we have the impending announcement from “Blue Heaven on Earth,” aka Chavez Ravine, where the Los Angeles Dodgers are debating whether to bring back Bauer or eat about $22 million in 2023 salary. He never has been arrested or charged with a crime for his role in a rough-sex drama. Last month, an independent arbitrator told Major League Baseball that his 324-game suspension will be reduced by an entire season. He’s eligible to pitch Opening Day, and an L.A. Times poll indicates more than half of those responding want him on the roster. Would the Dodgers let him leave so another suitor — a certain Steve Cohen might be monitoring from New York — can sign him for one season at MLB’s $720,000 minimum salary?

     They’ve yet to say so. I suppose Dana White can claim he wasn’t arrested or charged, either. But he’s on tape. Bauer is not.

     And here we thought the biggest issue with American soccer was the inability to kick a ball through a goal, which shouldn’t be difficult when the FIFA apparatus is eight feet high and 24 feet wide. Our men’s national team managed the feat with its assortment of feet only three times in four games at the World Cup. To hear Danielle and Claudio Reyna, the demotion of their son, Gio, by the coach, Berhalter, is why the USMNT lost in the Round of 16.

     I doubt it. But I do know that a successful coach/manager in any sport — including reigning champions Steve Kerr, Dusty Baker, Sean McVay and Kirby Smart — doesn’t let decisions about playing time erupt into laughingstock-level soap operas. That is where we’re at today, 3 1/2 years from America’s hosting duties for the world’s biggest sporting spectacle, and countries that already look at us sideways — politics, societal conflicts, the Kardashians — wonder why they’re coming here for the planetary religion/romance.

     How sad that Berhalter and Claudio Reyna, who’ve known each other since they were kids learning the game in New Jersey, allowed their differences over Gio’s diminished role to reach this lunatic juncture: Danielle sought revenge by telling the coach’s boss, U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart, that Berhalter kicked his future wife outside a college bar in 1991. She said she contacted Stewart to protect her son, who was criticized by Berhalter at a New York City leadership summit days after the U.S. was eliminated by the Netherlands. The coach didn’t mention Reyna by name, but it wasn’t necessary. It was hardly a secret that the team had pondered sending him home from Qatar for immature distractions.

     In a statement, Danielle said, “I thought it was especially unfair that Gio, who had apologized for acting immaturely about his playing time, was still being dragged through the mud when Gregg had asked for and received forgiveness for doing something so much worse at the same age.”

     So she went back in time, 32 years, and forced Berhalter to perform a public mea culpa. He and his future wife, Rosalind, then a roommate of Danielle at the University of North Carolina, put the incident behind them months later and have been married 25 years. They have four children.

     During the World Cup, the Reynas made it known in the gossipy soccer community that they weren’t happy with Berhalter. Who knew gossip would turn to cutthroat sabotage? The coach, not naming names, compared the pressure to extortion. So he came clean Wednesday on Twitter.

     “During the World Cup an individual contacted U.S. Soccer, saying that they had information about me that would ‘take me down’ — an apparent effort to leverage something very personal from long ago to bring about the end of my relationship with U.S. Soccer," Berhalter wrote.

     “In the fall of 1991, I met my soulmate. I had just turned 18 and was a freshman in college when I met Rosalind. One night, while out drinking at a local bar, Rosalind and I had a heated argument that continued outside. It became physical and I kicked her in the legs. The lessons learned from that night over three decades ago became the foundation for a loving, devoted, and supportive relationship, which we honored and celebrated with our 25th wedding anniversary this past weekend.”

     The story will not end there. Berhalter’s contract as national coach also expired last weekend. U.S. Soccer is investigating the 1991 incident and the alleged takedown attempt in Qatar. Danielle Reyna doubled down after reading his post, saying, “Without going into detail, the statements from yesterday significantly minimize the abuse on the night in question. Rosalind Berhalter was my roommate, teammate and best friend, and I supported her through the trauma that followed. It took a long time for me to forgive and accept Gregg afterward, but I worked hard to give him grace, and ultimately made both of them and their kids a huge part of my family's life. I would have wanted and expected him to give the same grace to Gio. This is why the current situation is so very hurtful and hard.”

     Berhalter should not lose his job because of a collegiate mistake three decades ago. He should lose his job because he allowed family friends to make a farce of a long-underperforming national initiative. Reyna was Berhalter’s best man once upon a time. Now, he and Danielle are trying to ruin the groom and his bride? How can he challenge France and Argentina in 2026 when he can’t rein in the Reynas?

     All of this madness while Dana White, who didn’t kick his wife in the legs but slapped her in the chops, laughs all the way to the “Power Slap League.” Maybe he can show the contestants how it’s done.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.