UPDATE, 1/5: Chris Beard got fired. Coverage on that here.
The situation with Chris Beard is as follows:
- On December 12th, Chris Beard was arrested and charged with felony family violence. He had a bail hearing later that day.
- On December 23rd, Chris Beard’s fiancée released a statement saying Chris Beard did not strangle her, which at least somewhat contradicts the arrest affidavit, on which she was reported to say he had put her in a headlock and couldn’t breathe for about five seconds. No mention was made of other matters on the arrest affidavit, such as the allegations Beard had bitten her.
- On January 18th, a hearing is scheduled.
Theoretically, Texas could reinstate or fire Beard at any time. I’m unaware of any legal qualifications prohibiting either of those things. I don’t think Texas will do this—I would guess that if they haven’t fired or reinstated Beard yet, they’re waiting for the January 18th hearing—but I believe they’re running their own investigation, and it’s theoretically possible the timing of that could be independent from Beard’s legal process.
What I’m less sure of is whether there’s any chance there will be a change to the charges before that January 18th hearing. I think the January 18th hearing is to determine whether or not Beard will be brought to trial for the charges. I think the judge at that hearing will make the decision on whether or not there’s probable cause, and will then decide whether the case will proceed or if charges will be dismissed. I don’t know if the charges could be reduced, or if the county is locked into the specific felony charge from the bail hearing.
We’ve reached out to some sources about both sets of questions, but nobody we’re talking to has a lot of concrete answers. Which is cool and all, but leaves us with a lot of unknowns. January 18th—two weeks from today—seems to be the next big day. But, again, news can break before then.
Texas Lost Badly
In the meantime:
Kansas State owns the Moody Center now. Rules are rules. Kansas State came to Austin, the Moody Center is now on a flatbed headed up I-35. It stinks for Austin, we’re all disappointed, but again, rules are rules, and if you score 116 points in someone’s sparkly, brand-new arena and you were a significant underdog? It’s your arena now. They call this conquest.
Jersey!
There is an immense amount of ugliness in the Gregg Berhalter/Gio Reyna/Claudio Reyna/Danielle Reyna situation, and I think we can all agree that domestic violence should be taken seriously. If you’re not up to date (I wasn’t until immediately before writing this), the situation is this:
- The latest alleged U.S. Soccer savior, Gio Reyna, didn’t get as much playing time at the World Cup as many wanted.
- At a private event after the World Cup, USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter said he almost sent a player home for not meeting on and off-field expectations. These comments were predictably leaked to the public.
- Gio Reyna confirmed the next day that he was the player in question, taking responsibility but also kind of saying, What the hell, Gregg? I thought that was in the past. (I’m paraphrasing.)
- Yesterday, Berhalter and his wife, Rosalind Berhalter, released a statement saying that in 1991, Gregg kicked Rosalind in the legs. Both were eighteen years old, both were students at UNC, they’d been dating for four months. Gregg was a soccer player there. The statement says Gregg sought counseling after the incident, and that the couple reconciled seven months later. They’ve been together since.
- Why did the Berhalters release this statement? They alleged they were being blackmailed, more or less. Forget if they used those exact words.
- Immediately, the rumor became that Reyna’s dad, Claudio, was the blackmailer, with multiple sources reporting to ESPN that Claudio Reyna had threatened to share information from Berhalter’s past with U.S. Soccer.
- It turns out, the rumor was true! Kind of. Claudio did text friends at U.S. Soccer with World Cup complaints, but he says he didn’t threaten to release the story about the violence. Instead, it was allegedly Danielle Reyna, Claudio’s wife and Gio’s mom, who was threatening to share the story. In a statement today, 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.” This is weird logic, but we could have assumed it would be weird given it was the logic behind blackmail.
The obvious question is how the Reynas knew, and the answer, I have learned, is that Claudio Reyna and Gregg Berhalter grew up together! They were high school teammates! In New Jersey!! (Also, Claudio Reyna is evidently Austin FC’s sporting director, which sounds like a general manager in other sports, so I could hypothetically run into him on the street and ask him about this myself, but I’ll probably not do that.)
The one great thing about this—and obviously, most of it is very bad and sad—is that New Jersey still knows how to blackmail. We were worried it lost its fastball. Hell yeah, Jersey.
Carlos Correa Remains Unsigned
It’s very possible no team wants Carlos Correa. Why else would the third baseman remain unsigned in MLB free agency?
Sens
The Sens whooped the Blue Jackets last night and now get two or three whole days off. (I thought it was two but I now see a report it might be three? Dramatic turn of events.) Which is too bad. Because the Sens are hot. The hottest, in fact. No hockey team is hotter than the Sens right now, in my subjective opinion. Not even, I don’t know, the Phoenix Suns. And the sun is a hot place!
**
Our evening itinerary (after we take Fargo to the park for her birthday [probably Petco—it’s gotten late, think we’ll do the park tomorrow]):
9:00 PM EST: Illinois @ Northwestern (BTN)
If you’ve been salivating over this Game of the NITe, you’re not alone. It’s the evening Illinois shows the nation who it is, by which we mean it’s the night Illinois’s struggles reach meltdown territory. Chaos is on its way to the Champaign ecosystem, and we can’t wait.
7:00 PM EST: Penn State @ Michigan (BTN)
More good stuff from the Big Ten, which has come a long way in making itself NIT-relevant again. Its secret? Just needed to get a little bit worse. Not a lot. Just a little bit worse. Hope for us all.
6:30 PM EST: Auburn @ Georgia (SECN)
7:00 PM EST: Miami @ Georgia Tech (ESPN+)
7:00 PM EST: Texas A&M @ Florida (ESPNU)
7:00 PM EST: Duke @ N.C. State (ACCN)
7:00 PM EST: Iowa State @ Oklahoma (ESPN2)
7:00 PM EST: Tulsa @ Tulane (ESPN+)
7:00 PM EST: Saint Joe’s @ Dayton (ESPN+)
9:00 PM EST: Clemson @ Virginia Tech (ESPNU)
9:00 PM EST: Wake Forest @ UNC (ACCN)
10:30 PM EST: Colorado State @ Nevada (FS1)
Hell of a NITe toNITe, and we’re leaving off some impactful games, but only because we want to motivate those teams by disrespecting them. Between these ten games, we’ve got three Teams Who Could Win the NIT, eight more who are seriously in our NIT sights, and Josh Pastner because we love looking at him.
8:00 PM EST: Nets @ Bulls (League Pass)
One thing about the Bulls is that I should like them. They’re doing the thing you want professional sports teams to do, which is to try to compete even when there’s no clear path to a title. They’re trying. That’s good.
The problem is that in the NBA, it’s not about trying. It’s about being good enough to win a championship, and then doing enough to make the playoffs, after which point you try. It’s a dumb setup. Nothing like the NIT (please do not think about this for more than a couple seconds). In the NBA, it’s dumb for the Bulls to try.
Anyway, the Bulls play the most unlikeable team in the modern NBA tonight, which is a wild thing to say in the LeBron James era. Go get ‘em, guys.
