JUST LIKE MURRAY AND RAMIS, WATSON FACING TOUGH QUESTIONS

By STEVE KING

It’s funny how art sometimes imitates life.

We take you to the Browns, and their trade to get embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson.

There was a scene in the iconic comedy movie from 41 years ago, “Stripes,” in which Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, their young lives going nowhere fast, decide to enter the Army as a — temporary at least — career choice. They are at the enlistment office when the recruiter, who is filling out the forms, asks them, “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?”

Murray and Ramis look at each other with a startle and, following a short pause, Murray, with a little smirk on his face, says, “No, uh, never convicted.”

It was obvious that they may well have committed a felony or two or three or more in their lifetimes, but it’s just that they had not been convicted of it, or them.

Sadly, I keep recalling that exchange when I think of Watson, who, though two grand juries have failed to indict him, is still facing the possibility of 22 women filing civil lawsuits based on their claims that he sexually assaulted them.

Is he really innocent of those accusations? Is he really guilty? Or is the truth somewhere in between?

That’s to be determined.

And what about the members of the Browns’ fanbase, especially females? Regardless of what has already happened legally with Watson and these women, or may happen down the road sometime, what do the fans say in the court of public opinion, which, like it or not, plays a role in how the Browns handle this and how it is viewed going forward? Right now, the Browns’ top people — owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, General Manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski — are waist-deep in hot to very hot water, and they know it, whether they want to admit it publicly or not.

Just like Bill Murray (John Winger) and Harold Ramis (Russell Ziskey), who knew the truth regarding their actions, so does Deshaun Watson in this situation.

And, unlike “Stripes,” there’s nothing funny about this.