Vicodin Scandal: Plaintiff Santini Hints There's More to the Story

for anyone.

Concern-o-meter is rising. so is the BS-o-meter with this guy. All of this hits the mainstream well after the Saints win the Superbowl. Why didn’t he bring this up last August? I think he is trying to cash in at their expense, and if sniffle, sniffle judges and juries side in his favor, then I think this is definitely going to tarnish anything the Saints did in the past year. I actually think that is the intent of the whole affair. The Saints won the Superbowl, they had an entire country rooting for them against one of their most beloved player’s kid, and they went 3 sure fire Hall of Fame caliber quarterbacks to win it all. We can’t have this. This is the Saints we are talking about. Let’s make people hate them again. Brett Favre and Jerry Jones both paid this guy off to bring up BS allegations.

Ok, now that emotion is out of the way, I do honestly think this is going to get ugly, messy, and lead to suspensions, fines, and banishment from the NFL for management people involved if the civil suit goes south. That is the light part though. If the civil suit goes against the Saints, I look for criminal charges and Jail Time if anyone is found guilty.

. . . of the theft? It seems to me, that if the company, headed up by Mickey Loomis, is not willing to press charges against the alleged thieves, then this issue can’t be treated as a criminal case. I know I must be missing something, but I can’t figure out the relationship between the custodianship of the narcotics and the Saints organization. As far as I can understand, this seems like it should be a simple wrongful termination issue.

Any lawyers care to enlighten?

I guess it would be a bummer if the performance of the team was affected because coaches are suspended or something worse like jail time. But seriously Vicodin is a pussy drug, I can get way more high by drinking a bunch of beers than I can by taking half a dozen Vicodin. Even if someone like Coach Payton was taking Vicodin illegally, I do not care so long as he keeps it under control and can continue to coach the team at a high level, which he clearly did. I’m not going to assume Sean or others are taking Vicodin but if it helps them relax after some intense coaching and doesn’t compromise their mental or physical health then so be it, and let the man live his life. In the end I am very against the persecution of “weak” drugs. Which are the drugs whose pernicious effects are comparable to the drug known commonly as alcohol… marijuana is a good example. As long as this stays merely a moral situation I don’t care, so lets hope the performance of the team isn’t affected by a criminal prosecution or NFL suspension.

On a random note. Last year I chose Jonathan Casillas as my favorite (aka most expected to succeed) undrafted free agent and I would like to put on record that this year Jay Ross is my favorite undrafted free agent.

Agree with MtnE. He’s just trying to stir the pot, keep up interest in the story and try to force the Saints to settle. It doesn’t mean that he really has that much evidence against the Saints that he can’t fit it all into one interview.

we’ll just hear one side of the story. No doubt Santini’s attorney wants to settle and will put pressure on the front office. He probably won’t get much help from the local media, so he goes to national outlets. Trying cases is always a gamble. Even when you know your case is solid, trials are still a huge risk, especially putting the Saints GM and head coach on trial in front of a New Orleans jury right after they won the first Super Bowl title in franchise history. My only fear is that the Saints didn’t settle because they couldn’t get a non-disclosure agreement from Santini in the deal because they think he may end up as a witness in a criminal prosecution. In a case like this, the only impetus to settle for an amount that the Saints could probably get between the couch cushions in the front office waiting area is to shut up the plaintiff. That’s just my paranoia speaking. I’m still taking this with a huge grain of salt.

because of the alledged crimminal activity how can Santini sign a non-disclosure agreement. Would he not be required by law to testify and submit the evidence about the case to whatever agency. Would he not be just as guilty as someone who failed to report a crime? I was under the impression this is still a civil suit and it follows a different set of rules than a crimminal case.

and he was saying that this was a typical lawsuit filed by a disgruntled employee. He didn’t want to get into too many details, but he did produce gold. He said that he thinks the reason Santini is disgruntled is because he resigned last year and then we won the Super Bowl. He went on to say that he would have been mad too if he had resigned and then the team won with Rita as the owner. It was funny.

we’ll REALLY never know what actually happened. The Saints can say what they want about it, and Santini can say what he wants (which won’t be much because of the confidentiality agreement), and neither can be proven wrong…unless criminal charges get filed or the “much, much more” Santini alluded to gets unearthed somehow…

Oh, and Santini might get paid, too.

story yet….I suspect we will eventually get it somehow

I figure that the truth is always somewhere in between