Deadspin: "The Chargers' Doctor Is A Drunk Quack. Why Haven't They Fired Him?"

[Gothamite]

Read this and see if you can keep from shaking with rage.

Bad enough that the CBA doesn't allow for a full review of him (did the players win *anything* in that debacle?), but I can't believe the Chargers would keep this guy in the organization.

We've long heard that the Spanos run their club like a family business. Looks like the favoritism part of a family business is alive and well.

[rams80]

The Junior Seau part is damning.

[BigMac12]

The last time I hear the term "Quack" was in a Homestarruner.com cartoon.

[dbadefense1990]

The last time I hear the term "Quack" was in a Homestarruner.com cartoon.

Last time I heard "quack" as a noun was when Abe Simpson lost his cool and Dr. Nick insisted on electrostatic therapy.

[dbadefense1990]

If this whole sham is true, then curse the 'Bolts for the whole Junior Seau saga. And it would partially explain the Chargers' reluctance to can Ryan Leaf and his drug-filled lifestyle.

[Sodboy13]

Let's not forget Philip Rivers' strangely persistent knee problems, shall we?

[pmoehrin]

Its troubling, but at the same time I doubt the NFL would wind up with a multi billion dollar class action suit against them from retired players if they were employing people that followed proper medical procedures.

What I don't get is why they bang the table in defending these guys. There's plenty of other qualified doctors out there. It should not be that difficult to interview and find a competent one in a short time frame. Then again maybe some of them would call out NFL teams on their crap. Keep your mouth shut and do what the higher ups want could very well be part of the program.

If that's the case which I think it has been to a large degree, then I would hope the NFL gets taken to the cleaners in that lawsuit.

[Lights Out]

This organization has been pathetic and cheap from top to bottom for decades. Charger fans have known for years that the team doctor is a complete fraud, but he works cheap and Dean Spanos is deathly afraid to change anything so he gets to stay. It's embarrassing to say the least.

That being said, the NFL is just as complicit. They were supposed to investigate this guy this offseason. The NFLPA even called for his firing.... but nothing was done by the team or the league. Yet another example of how when Goodell preaches about "player safety," he really is just BS'ing in the hopes of ducking more lawsuits.

[nash61]

People hate on Deadspin all the time, but this article, combined with the Manti Teo story, have shown some serious investigative work.

Bravo, Deadspin, bravo.

[IceCap]

This is.....this is just damning. The whole organization really needs to be turn apart and rebuilt.

[NJTank]

Deadspin is a terrific site that breaks a lot of stories the other media wont touch, and this is very troubling to say the least. It is clear the Chargers don't give a damn about their players and need new ownership ASAP.

[CS85]

Deadspin had some really great articles regarding ESPN and Tim Tebow as well.

Can anyone give me a TL;DR version of this?

[TheOldRoman]

Deadspin had some really great articles regarding ESPN and Tim Tebow as well.

Let me guess, the Tebow articles were essentially "Please please please be secretly gay! We will pay $1,000,000 for anyone with pictures of Tebow having sex, preferably with men! $10,000 for pictures of him doing drugs!"? And most of their ESPN coverage is just flat-out penis envy, basically them obsessing and throwing tantrums that ESPN is considered legitimate sports media and they aren't. I haven't clicked a Deadspin link since their tour de force of "Oh! Here's a picture of some random woman you've never heard of who works for ESPN. She slept with some coworkers, so we'll ruin her life to further grind our axe."

They do put out 1-2 great exposés per year, but they spend the other 363 days posting athlete dick pics and crap like "Is Payton Manning a swinger? We have no proof, but a guy said he heard it, so we'll print it anyway", and that keeps them down.

[IceCap]

Deadspin had some really great articles regarding ESPN and Tim Tebow as well.

Can anyone give me a TL;DR version of this?

The Chargers' doctor is a drunk who is constantly being investigated by the state or being sued by patients but the team keeps him around because he's pals with the owner and drinking buddies with the players. He also kinda-sorta-maybe-probably had a hand in Junior Seau's death. The NFLPA wants him fired, but the team and NFL are standing by him for............

reasons.

Anyway this is big enough to get me to consider switching allegiances.

[njmeadowlanders]

This is journalism at its absolute finest. Bravo Barry Petchesky.

[CS85]

Deadspin had some really great articles regarding ESPN and Tim Tebow as well.

Let me guess, the Tebow articles were essentially "Please please please be secretly gay! We will pay $1,000,000 for anyone with pictures of Tebow having sex, preferably with men! $10,000 for pictures of him doing drugs!"? And most of their ESPN coverage is just flat-out penis envy, basically them obsessing and throwing tantrums that ESPN is considered legitimate sports media and they aren't. I haven't clicked a Deadspin link since their tour de force of "Oh! Here's a picture of some random woman you've never heard of who works for ESPN. She slept with some coworkers, so we'll ruin her life to further grind our axe."

They do put out 1-2 great exposés per year, but they spend the other 363 days posting athlete dick pics and crap like "Is Payton Manning a swinger? We have no proof, but a guy said he heard it, so we'll print it anyway", and that keeps them down.

[The_Admiral]

Everything he said after the first sentence is right, though: the life-ruining, the dick pictures, the baseless speculation about irrelevant personal crap.

The grand irony of Gawker and Deadspin is that while they go to great lengths to [rightly] assail social conservatives, the joy and zeal with which they expose and shame people left, right, and otherwise for their personal shortcomings and sexual proclivities hints at a sort of neo-Victorianism, this idea that we must all be on our best behavior at all times lest the internet karma police bring us down, that's just as pernicious as what the conservatives are up to. It's just a matter of whether you're ruining lives for God or for Nick Denton.