Jim Brown's domestic abuse (1 Viewer)

Recently Deadspin posted a profile article on Jim Brown, originally written in 1981 by Pete Dexter.

From the article:

A week before, a 20- or 21-year-old girl had talked to him about 10 minutes and suddenly said, "I'd like to go with you tonight, but if your thing is, you know, beating up women ...." He had laughed.

"People meet me," he'd said later, "they don't know what's goin' on. They're always waitin' for me to jump up and down and kick somebody's ###."

[...]

In a period of three months in 1965, Brown was accused of beating and sexually molesting two teenage girls. One dropped the charges, the other one went to court and lost. She filed a paternity suit then and lost that, too.

People who know Brown say that if he had done what she said, he wouldn't have gone to court and lied. "There's been lies written about me," he says, "there's been some truth, too. I'm no angel, but what I do, I tell the truth about."

In June of 1968, he was arrested and charged with assault with intent to commit murder when his girlfriend, a 22-year-old model named Eva Bohn-Chin, was found semi-conscious beneath the balcony of his Hollywood apartment. The neighbors had heard an argument and called the police.

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There was also a case in 1999 where Brown was convicted of smashing his wife's car window. He refused counseling and served a six-month jail sentence.

Jim Brown is widely considered one of the very best players in the history of the league, but in light of the Ray Rice incident and generally changing social mores regarding domestic abuse, do people now reasses his legacy?

Link to full article: http://thestacks.deadspin.com/jim-brown-wont-let-just-anybody-in-1633448671/all

Is Brown going to get suspended? How many games?

He's great on the Fox pregame show.

Thanks for posting this info. Have dropped him from my dynasty team, don't want guys like this on my teams

Life is always showing us about life itself. This "new" awareness around domestic abuse has been going on since the beginning of time so to speak. Now, it's gotten our attention and perhaps will lead to change for the better, which I believe will. I am sure there are plenty of domestic abuse skeleton's in the closet, Brown being one of many.

No reason to point fingers at anyone or judge them. He who has not sinned cast the first stone. Life evolves...

If there's no video what he did don't mean diddlyo

Good to see such early, immediate signs of people missing the point.

Alex P Keaton said:

Good to see such early, immediate signs of people missing the point.

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Maybe so, but that's okay.Another item out there is NFL films recutting a Deacon Jones interview where he discusses his move to get around offensive lineman, called the head slap. The move is now considered a penalized infraction of the rules. Jones is describing the head slap and how when you use the move on a man, or a woman, etc. In the re-edited NFL Films clip the "or a woman" portion has been removed. Occasionally, Adam Carolla will mention this clip, and play the original, on his podcast.

Beliefs of right and wrong are always reassessed, and accordingly our opinions of the people do as well.

I heard babe ruth ate a lot of hotdogs

JohnnyU said:

Is Brown going to get suspended? How many games?

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x2

In a period of three months in 1965, Brown was accused of beating and sexually molesting two teenage girls. One dropped the charges, the other one went to court and lost. She filed a paternity suit then and lost that, too.

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I thought Brown later admitted that the daughter (Shellee Ayers) was his after all.

I saw a list of like 10 incidents for which Jim Brown was arrested or charged. Every single time acquitted or charges dropped. For example, the girl he threw off the balcony? Turns out she actually slipped. Etc.

BobbyLayne said:

I saw a list of like 10 incidents for which Jim Brown was arrested or charged. Every single time acquitted or charges dropped. For example, the girl he threw off the balcony? Turns out she actually slipped. Etc.

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Sounds like one, very extreme, bad rap.One of the comments in the Deadspin piece had this...

Well he does say in his memoir Out of Bounds:

"And the toughest thing I did to Eva was slap her."

And he knows that was wrong. "I have also slapped other women," he wrote. "And I never should have, and I never should have slapped Eva, no matter how crazy we were at the time. I don't think any man should slap a woman. In a perfect world, I don't think any man should slap anyone. . . . I don't start fights, but sometimes I don't walk away from them. It hasn't happened in a long time, but it's happened, and I regret those times. I should have been more in control of myself, stronger, more adult."

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So it's not all easily swept under the rug. For a woman, or 10, to press charges over a long period of time, when charges were much, much less likely to be filed, seems statistically improbable. If not impossible.

Progress is progress. We can't undo the past.

The NFL has these men that are incredibly strong and play a mean game. If someone gets under their skin and they "lose it," bad things are gonna happen. I'm surprised we haven't heard of a bad agent being beaten for losing a player $. Anyhow, they're too strong in the real world. If they smack a man, he could fold like bricks.

Lou Ferrigno and Andre the Giant used to discuss their size and strength and adjustments they made in life and it was this whole process where in some grade they realized they were bigger and it carried on from there. Many NFL fans and many players and writers act as if these NFL guys just woke up and got big one day. That attitude always reminds me of Lou and Andre.

Suppose Arnold has a brother and gave him a black eye and broken jaw with a slap when they were in the 6th grade because he was an adonis back then too. MAYBE that's got a hint of forgiveness because he didn't realize his size and it's effect.

Beating a woman has never and will never be OK "in my book." I can hear arguments(while sitting in my fan judicial seat) of this male fight or that male fight, but Rice doesn't get the time of day.

If Brown beat some woman, I hope she's well but I don't think the NFL, it's fans, Brown, or that woman gain anything by him being penalized now.

maybe his records need an asterisk

trader jake said:

Recently Deadspin posted a profile article on Jim Brown, originally written in 1981 by Pete Dexter.

From the article:

A week before, a 20- or 21-year-old girl had talked to him about 10 minutes and suddenly said, "I'd like to go with you tonight, but if your thing is, you know, beating up women ...." He had laughed.

"People meet me," he'd said later, "they don't know what's goin' on. They're always waitin' for me to jump up and down and kick somebody's ###."

[...]

In a period of three months in 1965, Brown was accused of beating and sexually molesting two teenage girls. One dropped the charges, the other one went to court and lost. She filed a paternity suit then and lost that, too.

People who know Brown say that if he had done what she said, he wouldn't have gone to court and lied. "There's been lies written about me," he says, "there's been some truth, too. I'm no angel, but what I do, I tell the truth about."

In June of 1968, he was arrested and charged with assault with intent to commit murder when his girlfriend, a 22-year-old model named Eva Bohn-Chin, was found semi-conscious beneath the balcony of his Hollywood apartment. The neighbors had heard an argument and called the police.

Click to expand...

There was also a case in 1999 where Brown was convicted of smashing his wife's car window. He refused counseling and served a six-month jail sentence.Jim Brown is widely considered one of the very best players in the history of the league, but in light of the Ray Rice incident and generally changing social mores regarding domestic abuse, do people now reasses his legacy?

Click to expand...

Brown was well before my time. While I didn't know any details before the article, I had always thought of him as "probably not a good dude" based on blurbs and things I remember being said about him growing up. I knew he served some jail time after he retired and his legacy always had some off the field domestic violence associated with it.Others may have had a different view, but aside from the actual details, this isn't new news.

Being a lifelong Browns fan I have a love/hate relationship with Jim Brown. Loved what he brought to the field when he played, just a man amongst boys. Off the field he's been pretty much a complete ##### for as long as I can remember. I respect his on-field accomplishments but I wouldn't shake his hand or go out of my way to meet him.

beer 30 said:

Being a lifelong Browns fan I have a love/hate relationship with Jim Brown. Loved what he brought to the field when he played, just a man amongst boys. Off the field he's been pretty much a complete ##### for as long as I can remember. I respect his on-field accomplishments but I wouldn't shake his hand or go out of my way to meet him.

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This. I've always thought he was one of the most self righteous, pompous a-holes on earth. With skeletons in his closet.

Kool-Aid Larry said:

I heard babe ruth ate a lot of hotdogs

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Babe Ruth was NOT gay!

Judge Smails said:

beer 30 said:

Being a lifelong Browns fan I have a love/hate relationship with Jim Brown. Loved what he brought to the field when he played, just a man amongst boys. Off the field he's been pretty much a complete ##### for as long as I can remember. I respect his on-field accomplishments but I wouldn't shake his hand or go out of my way to meet him.

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This. I've always thought he was one of the most self righteous, pompous a-holes on earth. With skeletons in his closet.

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Agreed. Browns fan here, and Jimmy B is a total D-bag in pretty much every way