From Cam Cole's article ...
Toxic? Radioactive? In some circles, yes.Because two weeks ago, the 52-year-old Tillman — who began his career as a pro football GM here in Vancouver — was a lukewarm candidate carrying too much baggage to be considered a frontrunner for the big job on a community-owned club. “Lukewarm” is the polite word. “Toxic” and “radioactive” were other options suggested in recent days by my colleagues in the column-writing business.
Are the Eskimos giving Tillman a second chance out of the charity they feel in their hearts? Or does it have more to do with desperation, a floundering football team, and a BOG and President who are willing to endure a backlash of unknown proportions by bringing in a good football man who has committed a deplorable act?“Do I believe this community believes in giving people a second chance? Yes, I do, and I've seen it,” LeLacheur said at a morning news conference to introduce Tillman. “Do I believe that Eric Tillman deserves that chance? Yes, I do. Will people in this community give him that chance? We're asking them to. And Eric is committed to doing everything possible to earn their support.”
In the long run, the forgiveness of the family and of the girl is key.The demons, you've read about. The 2008 charge of sexual misconduct involving his children's 16-year-old babysitter. The guilty plea. The absolute discharge, with no criminal record. Murky details emerging in court, an admission of bad judgment, a “terrible mistake” while ostensibly under the influence of two types of medication.
Not everyone bought the excuse, but never mind.
Despite the discharge, despite the family's forgiveness, the Saskatchewan Roughriders — the team he built, a team that went to two Grey Cups, winning one of them and nearly both during his time there — decided it could not have his public image and the club's intertwined any longer. He was dismissed, and no one else called.
"the quest for victories overruled the Eskimos' moral compass ... "It is difficult not to put two and two together and conclude that the quest for victories overruled the Eskimos' moral compass. It is difficult not to bemoan a franchise that used to find its own uncut diamonds and shape them into legends — the Norm Kimballs, Hugh Campbells, Ray Newmans, Frank Morrises — but now finds itself all out of ideas, bereft of contacts in the football world, reduced to recycling someone else's problems, accepting their warts and all.
Yes, some would say that.
How much damage to the image and brand of the team will be suffered? Who knows?LeLacheur admitted that probably two-thirds of the calls and e-mails the Esks received from the public regarding the hire had been negative, and there were the usual threats to cancel season tickets and refuse to support the team because of Tillman's history.
If it works out well on the field, it will be interesting to see if this becomes a test case of forgiveness of a prominent person, for an action that most find extremely difficult, if not impossible, to forgive.“Some people forgive easier than others,” he said. “A lot of people will take a wait-and-see approach and I understand that. There will be others who feel strongly, and not only do I understand that, I respect it. I have a family, I have a daughter, I understand that girls and women are precious. I understand that this community not only values winning, but just as much they value the good name of the organization.”