The author, a native Detroiter, formerly worked for The Detroit News and New York Daily News and as head writer for ESPN's Quite Frankly With Stephen A. Smith. He currently resides in New York. This column first appeared on his Substack, "Michael James Writes." To subscribe to it click here.
By Michael James
Fired Coach Sherrone Moore, 39
OK, WORLD! EYES OPEN! LET ME SHOW YOU THE TROUBLE WITH SEX-RELATED CRIMES AND FAMOUS MEN IN AMERICA AND THE WORLD OVER: MEN PROTECT MEN...
In the case of the shocking firing and subsequent jailing of former Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore - a BLACK man, no less - there is just ONE reason that you don’t know more of the salacious details already surrounding how he went from losing one of the most prestigious jobs in American sports to a jail cell.
It’s because MEN who run sports departments and newsrooms and police stations and law offices and everything else that MEN run, are reluctant to talk about the sexually-related misbehavior of OTHER MEN - until they absolutely have to.
Which is why WOMEN are reluctant to report rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment by men.
Which is why in America and the world over it seems that no matter what a man is accused of when it comes to women, steps are taken by other men at every juncture to minimize the misbehavior of that man, which often results in him being able to walk away with his dignity relatively intact, and in many cases, completely unscathed.
Which is how you end up with a United States president accused of rape by numerous women and rumors that he IS actually a pedophile.
Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein
And why don’t we have confirmation that Donald Trump is or is not either a rapist or a pedophile.
It’s because RICH AND POWERFUL MEN ARE HELPING DONALD TRUMP HIDE HIS SEXUAL MISBEHAVIOR!
In the same manner as Trump has helped hide the sexual misbehavior alleged against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Secretary of War Peter Hegseth, Director of Health and Human Services, RFK, Jr., ex-Florida representative Matt Gaetz and others.
See, when it comes down to it, MEN look at the sexual misdeeds of other men almost as though they are private affairs - no matter the physical harm or damage to reputation done to women.
This allows men to most always resume their lives and careers almost as though nothing untoward ever occurred.
Conversely, the women, often no matter if their role in the sordid saga was willing or forced, are marked for life.
Monica Lewinsky doing a TED Talk
Think Monica Lewinsky...and Bill Clinton - who until this day STILL gets invited to the best barbecues - while Lewinsky, who was taken advantage of by the then-most powerful man in the world while she was a very inexperienced young woman, is STILL hearing jokes about semen-stained Little Blue Dresses.
As though the dress is more of an issue than where that semen came from...
In the case of Sherrone Moore, y’all, let me tell you who is included on the list of MEN who have thus far helped hide from you how nasty and salacious this story is:
1. All the men at The University of Michigan, who only told you that Moore was fired after two seasons for CAUSE: which was having an affair with a subordinate.
2. All the men in the know at The Ohio State University, who allegedly have been gossiping about Moore’s adulterous affair as long as FIVE WEEKS AGO, and some subsequent tales of Moore STALKING the woman, whom it is alleged he impregnated and pressured to have an abortion.
3. All the men at The Pittsfield and Saline Police Departments near The University of Michigan, who probably let details of a lot of other things slip - but don’t want to risk the ire of the favored and powerful Michigan Brand by revealing that the fired Moore was sought after and jailed for breaking into the home of that staffer and threatening her as well as holding up a knife to his own neck and threatening to kill himself.
4. All the MEN at all the major sports outlets in America - like ESPN and Fox Sports - two of the largest such outlets, and untold numbers of men who work outside mainstream media but whom are connected to sports in various ways all over this country.
5. And this last group of men protecting the alleged dignity of Sherrone Moore, will surprise you: probably most of the more than 100 YOUNG MEN who play and are associated with the Michigan football team - all of whom knew that the WHITE, YOUNG, BLOND AND BEAUTIFUL ASSISTANT TO MOORE WAS OFF-LIMITS - BECAUSE THEY KNEW SHE AND MOORE, WHO IS MARRIED WITH THREE YOUNG DAUGHTERS, HAD A THING GOING ON.
So, why don’t you know the details of this sordid tale, just like you don’t know the details of The Jeffrey Epstein Files or Sean “Diddy/Daddy/Puffy” Combs or Bill “Cigar” Clinton or, hell, even the dalliances/abuses of Marilyn Monroe by powerful brothers, president John F. Kennedy and his attorney general brother, Robert F. Kennedy.
It’s for the same reason many Americans have never heard the story of Mary J. Kopechne - a woman the other brother, Ted Kennedy, left to die in a watery grave after the vehicle the married Kennedy was driving veered off a small wooden bridge in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts, in the wee hours of a 1969 morning.
Kennedy escaped.
Kopechne didn’t.
The incident was covered up by powerful men protecting another powerful man from scandal - and Ted Kennedy only suffered the loss of his presidential aspirations while a woman lost her life.
What men do to protect other men is what you are looking at here in the case of Sherrone Moore - who I mentioned earlier is Black for this reason: even rich and powerful and famous Black men get the same secret reputational protection that White men of equal status do.
Which is why I hated working in mainstream media sports, where I was not allowed numerous times to disseminate verified tales of bad behavior of men, sexual and otherwise. That happened while I was at ESPN and The New York Daily News and The Detroit News where I started.
Because at every turn MEN more powerful than I had the final call.
Do you think for even ONE second that Disney/ESPN’s $100 MILLION DOLLAR MAN, Stephen A. Smith, doesn’t know what I know about Moore as he talks about the story to ESPN insider Dan Wetzel on the Internet - neither addressing these things I know and am writing about in my underwear in my New York City home?
Do you think ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who is taking heat for intimating that part of the REAL story is that Michigan was looking for ANY excuse to part ways with Moore - while ignoring the tales of sexual impropriety and abuse Moore has allegedly committed - is unaware of these details?
Do you think Barstool Sports, Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, The Pat McAfee Show and all these others companies owned and operated by MEN don’t know these facts, details and rumors that I know?
Of course, they do.
But none of the MEN who know want to tell you the misdeeds of another fallen powerful man who cheated on his wife, had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a subordinate whom he is alleged to have impregnated, then pressured to have an abortion, then essentially bribed by DOUBLING her salary, then relentlessly STALKED for months, then pressured to lie to Michigan officials in a bid to cover up the affair, then once-fired, he broke into her house, threatening her and threatening to take his own life.
You don’t know this because MEN almost never tell you the misdeeds of other men.
Until they are forced to tell you.
And then they ALL will pile on.
And tell you how disgusting (INSERT MAN’S NAME) is.
And then they will mention the name of the woman in this case - Paige Shiver, daughter of Chicago Bears scout Jerry Shiver - and essentially ignore her part in this story as they trip all over themselves to tell the cautionary tale of yet another FALLEN MAN.
Whose name this time happens to be Sherrone Moore.
And they will tell us how men like him should have known better...
And never even considered for a moment that the reason Moore didn’t know better - or thought he could get away with what has ensnared so many men before him - is because Sherrone Moore knew that MEN, for the most part, never tell these tales.
Until they absolutely have to.
