Saints seek to shield PR help to church in sex crisis
NEW ORLEANS >> 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.”
The Saints organization and its attorneys emphatically disputed any suggestion that the team helped the church cover up crimes. In a statement Friday, the Saints said the archdiocese sought its advice on how to handle media attention that would come from its 2018 release of its list of more than 50 clergy members “credibly accused” of sexual abuse.
ANTONIO BROWN RELEASED ON BAIL BY FLORIDA JUDGE >> NFL free agent Antonio Brown was released on bail Friday after a night in a Florida jail, where he turned himself in to face charges that he and his trainer attacked the driver of a moving truck that carried some of his possessions from California.
Broward County Judge Corey Amanda Cawthon set a $110,000 bond and imposed conditions including surrendering his passport, wearing a GPS monitor, possessing no weapons or ammunition, and agreeing to a mental health evaluation and random drug testing. Brown was released a few hours after the hearing, his lawyer said.
GIANTS’ ELI MANNING RETIRES >> Eli Manning ended his 16-year NFL career on his own terms. He was classy, well-prepared and walked away as a New York Giant. In a roughly sevenminute speech touched with a little humor and almost no emotion, the 39-year-old Manning officially ended his career Friday at a packed news conference surrounded by his family, friends and former teammates and coaches and the two Super Bowls he delivered to the storied franchise.
“From the very first moment I did it my way,” said the low-key Manning, who followed in steps of Archie, his father, and Peyton, his brother, as NFL quarterbacks. “I could not be someone other than who I am. Undoubtedly, I would have made the fans, the media, even the front office more comfortable being a rah-rah guy. BROWNS’ KAREEM HUNT CITED FOR SPEEDING, MARIJUANA IN CAR >> Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt was cited for a traffic violation, and police say they found marijuana in his car.
He was pulled over Tuesday afternoon in Rocky River, Ohio — on Cleveland’s west side — while driving on Interstate 90. An incident report said officers smelled marijuana in the car. Hunt, who was suspended eight games by the NFL last season for two physical altercations, was put in a police cruiser while his vehicle was searched. Hunt was cited for speeding only and released.
MLB
DONALDSON’S OPTION PRICE COULD ESCALATE BY $4 MILLION >> Josh Donaldson’s 2024 option with the Minnesota Twins can escalate an additional $4 million based on awards he earns during the first four seasons of the deal.
Donaldson and the Twins finalized a $92 million, four-year contract on Wednesday. He gets a $3 million signing bonus payable March 15, an $18 million salary this year and $21 million in each of the following three seasons.