There’s a fine line between defending your wife and sabotaging your career. Maybe not so thin, actually. But whatever that border, Jerramy Stevens has made a habit of routinely ignoring all checkpoints.
Just a month ago, the former NFL player was released from Los Angeles County jail for driving a football van while very drunk in Manhattan Beach with Hope Solo on the passenger seat. Solo was suspended from the team for 30 days over the incident. Stevens, like Solo, has a habit of drinking too much and flirting with disaster. He was involved in a series of car accidents, linked to reckless driving. He was arrested in 2000 – but ultimately not charged – for sexually assaulting a University of Washington student.
Stevens isn’t exactly the guy you’d choose to tame Solo’s character or his drinking. When it comes to destructive partnerships, one could argue that Solo and Stevens are starting to rank on par with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly.
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So perhaps it wasn’t surprising to hear Stevens imply USA Today Saturday that Solo had no problems, that she is a tough heroine persecuted by an indifferent and intrusive world.
“I think what’s difficult is that she’s the victim of something really scary and a really unfortunate incident,” said Stevens, who called the recent revelations a “witch hunt” and “unpatriotic.” “.
“(Her) being categorized even remotely close to Ray Rice and these other incidents of domestic violence is ridiculous and downright wrong,” Stevens said. “This part is difficult. But Hope is the strongest person I’ve ever known. She’ll be fine. Everyone is trying to dissect Hope, trying to figure out what makes her tick. No one likes to feel like a science experiment.
Stevens is unfortunately not just a husband. It is also a facilitator. It fuels the persecution complex Solo has expressed openly recently on talk shows and in the press, to his own disadvantage. If Solo had simply remained silent in recent weeks, instead of describing how she was the target of a “family betrayal,” it’s quite possible that the damning police report would not have been leaked to ESPN. Her domestic violence mess wouldn’t have gotten any more complicated.
U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati was forced Friday evening to issue an aggressive public defense of his federation’s response to accusations of domestic violence against Solo, in response to a critical letter from Richard Blumenthal posted online. The U.S. senator from Connecticut blasted the federation for “failing to take adequate steps to investigate” domestic violence accusations against Solo.
Specifically, Blumenthal wanted to know why US Soccer didn’t interview Solo’s half-sister and nephew about the incident. Gulati admitted that was the case, but insisted that the federation had gone to considerable lengths to investigate the incident, obtaining a redacted police report through a special request.
“US Soccer’s internal review revealed several inconsistencies in the various statements of the complaining witnesses,” Gulati wrote. “Based on the public reports of the incident and the partial police report, as well as Ms. Solo’s refusal to have public reports of the incident, US Soccer chose not to interview the complaining witnesses.”
Legitimate efforts were made by US Soccer to retrieve information. However, the relatives involved in this affair were not questioned by federation officials. They should have been approached by the federation, although US Soccer inevitably could do little to address their claims.
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From the beginning, Gulati knew very well that he was in a catch-22 situation on this issue as the head of a national federation. Had he unilaterally suspended Solo from the World Cup without a misdemeanor conviction, the team’s chances would have been mortally wounded and Solo could have sought an injunction against such action – just as Harding managed to end a ban of the Lillehammer Olympic Games in 1994.
A source told The News that Gulati warned Solo’s lawyer that the goalkeeper would be banned from the World Cup if she was found guilty of the charges, or if she took a plea deal or pleaded no contest. In order to maintain her eligibility, Solo had to be found not guilty or else the charges would have to be dropped – which happened, although there is now an attempt to take her to court again.
Solo’s lingering issues loom over the U.S. team, even as it prepares for its final group match in Vancouver against Nigeria on Tuesday. “We laugh about it,” insisted Carli Lloyd, her friend and teammate.
If too many people around her laugh it off or view the whole thing as a witch hunt, then it’s too easy for Solo to do the same. Just for once, it wouldn’t be bad for a husband to order his wife to get her act together – after doing the same.
