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Sports

Simone Biles, other assault victims seek more than $1 billion from FBI for failing to stop Larry Nassar

DETROIT — Former Olympic gymnasts, including gold medalist Simone Biles, are among dozens of assault victims who are seeking more than $1 billion from the FBI for failing to stop sports doctor Larry Nassar, lawyers said Wednesday.There’s no dispute that FBI agents in 2015 knew that Nassar was accused of molesting gymnasts, but they failed to act, leaving him free to continue to target young women and girls for more than a year.Advertisement“It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” said Maggie Nichols, a national champion gymnast at Oklahoma in 2017-19.Under federal law, a government agency has six months to respond to the tort claims filed Wednesday. Lawsuits could follow, depending on the FBI’s response. The Justice Department said in May that it would not pursue criminal charges against former FBI agents who failed to quickly open an investigation.AdvertisementThe approximately 90 claimants include Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, all Olympic gold medalists, according to Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, a California law firm.“If the FBI had simply done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he ever had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including me,” said former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy.Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics told local FBI agents in 2015 that three gymnasts said they were assaulted by Nassar, a team doctor. But the FBI did not open a formal investigation or inform federal or state authorities in Michigan, according to the Justice Department’s inspector general, an internal watchdog.Los Angeles FBI agents in 2016 began a sexual tourism investigation against Nassar and interviewed several victims but also didn’t alert Michigan authorities, the inspector general said.Nassar wasn’t arrested until fall 2016 during an investigation by Michigan State University police. He was a doctor at Michigan State.The Michigan attorney general’s office ultimately handled the assault charges against Nassar, while federal prosecutors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, filed a child pornography case. He is serving decades in prison.The FBI declined to comment in April when a smaller batch of claims was filed, referring instead to Director Christopher Wray’s remarks to Congress in 2021.“I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed. And that’s inexcusable,” Wray told victims at a Senate hearing.AdvertisementMichigan State University, which was also accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement.

Sports

Keegan Thompson won’t let his 1st bad outing of 2022 for the Chicago Cubs diminish his confidence: ‘I know I’m still good enough’

BALTIMORE — Keegan Thompson knows over the course of a season a pitcher will get roughed up at times.His time came Tuesday night at Camden Yards. Thompson’s start against the Baltimore Orioles was, remarkably, his first outing in 13 appearances this season in which he struggled.AdvertisementIt was apparent early Thompson wasn’t fooling the Orioles hitters in the 9-3 loss. He entered the game having allowed only three home runs in 54⅓ innings, but the right-hander matched that total Tuesday.The Orioles kicked off the bottom of the first with back-to-back home runs by Cedric Mullins and Trey Mancini on consecutive pitches. Jorge Mateo took Thompson deep for a three-run homer in the second.AdvertisementThompson exited after giving up seven runs in three innings. He had surrendered a combined six earned runs in his first four starts of the season.[ [Don’t miss] Alec Mills, in his season debut, saves the Cubs bullpen with 5 innings in a 9-3 loss to the Orioles ]“A lot of pitches to hit, a lot of stuff in the zone — just not a lot of bite to anything,” manager David Ross said.Thompson walked one, struck out one and hit two batters. Afterward he said he just didn’t possess his usual stuff.“Kind of work with what you have and try to make some pitches,” he said. “Tonight just didn’t work out for me. We’re going to have those nights every now and then. Not all of them are going to be good. Just got to wash it and move on.”Cubs starter Keegan Thompson pitches to the Orioles during the first inning Tuesday, June 7, 2022, in Baltimore. (Julio Cortez/AP)Thompson’s confidence isn’t wavering after one bad start. Last year’s struggles to close the season — a 7.11 ERA over the final six weeks — taught Thompson how to deal with adversity at the big-league level.“I mean, I know that’s going to happen and I know I’m still good enough to get guys out,” Thompson said. “So I think going through those struggles last year kind of helped me mentally getting through a night like tonight.”Thompson thought his stride Tuesday might have been a little shorter than normal, perhaps causing his arm to drag behind him. The small detail caught his attention when he looked at pictures of his delivery from other outings compared with Tuesday’s. Thompson planned to look more into his theory over the next day.Chicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.“It’s just looking at either standstill pictures of where my front foot was landing tonight versus other nights and see if that was the problem,” Thompson explained. “It just looked a little off to me in one of the pictures.Advertisement“If that’s the case, then I’ll work on that in the bullpen.”[ The story behind Frank Schwindel’s bond with a 7-year-old Cubs fan — and the quest to raise awareness of an unnamed disease ]With only 11 career big-league starts, Thompson could have been down about a performance like Tuesday’s, especially when there are no guarantees of how long he will remain in the rotation.But Thompson’s self-confidence and belief in his ability are important attributes at this level. Riding the highs too much and taking the lows too hard can derail a player. Thompson seemed to take the right approach on his off night.Ross wasn’t overreacting to Thompson’s start either.“It’s just about going back to the process of looking at the outing, analyzing where things might have (gone) wrong, what could he have done better — I think we could try to look at all those things in that light,” Ross said. “Stay true to his process; his process has been pretty darn good this season. “So, sure, we want to throw it away mentally and forget about the failures, but we also want to try to learn something from it as well.”

Sports

How the Houston Texans and a spa enabled Deshaun Watson’s massage appointments

The accusations have been frequent and startling: more than two dozen women have said football star Deshaun Watson harassed or assaulted them during massage appointments that Watson and his lawyers insist were innocuous.Two grand juries in Texas this year declined to charge him criminally and, while the NFL considers whether to discipline him, he has gotten another job, signing a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract to play quarterback for the Cleveland Browns this coming season.AdvertisementIt is time, Watson and his representatives say, for everyone to move on.Yet a New York Times examination of records, including depositions and evidence for civil lawsuits as well as interviews of some of the women, showed that Watson engaged in more questionable behavior than previously known.AdvertisementThe Times’ review also showed that Watson’s conduct was enabled — knowingly or not — by the team he played for at the time, the Houston Texans, which provided the venue Watson used for some of the appointments. A team representative also furnished him with a nondisclosure agreement after a woman who is now suing him threatened online to expose his behavior.Rusty Hardin, Watson’s lawyer, said his client “continues to vehemently deny” the allegations in the lawsuits. He declined to respond in detail to the Times’ questions, but said in a statement, “We can say when the real facts are known this issue will appear in a different light.”The Texans did not respond to specific questions about Watson’s use of team resources. They said in a statement that they first learned of the allegations against him in March 2021, have cooperated with investigators and “will continue to do so.”A spokesperson for the Browns said the team had no immediate comment. An NFL spokesman declined to comment, saying the Watson matter is under review.Watson has said publicly that he hired about 40 different therapists across his five seasons in Houston, but the Times’ reporting found that he booked appointments with at least 66 different women in just the 17 months from fall 2019 through spring 2021. A few of these additional women, speaking publicly for the first time, described experiences that undercut Watson’s insistence that he was only seeking professional massage therapy.The football star Deshaun Watson speaks to reporters after a grand jury declined to indict the Texans quarterback on criminal charges in Houston on March 11, 2022. (Callaghan O’Hare/The New York Times)One woman, who did not sue Watson or complain to police, told the Times that he was persistent in his requests for sexual acts during their massage, including “begging” her to put her mouth on his penis.“I specifically had to say, ‘No, I can’t do that,’” said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her family’s privacy. “And that’s when I went into asking him, ‘What is it like being famous? Like, what’s going on? You’re about to mess up everything.’ “Before Watson was drafted by the Texans 12th overall in 2017, he was a championship-winning quarterback at Gainesville (Georgia) High School and Clemson University.AdvertisementNFL teams widely viewed him as a prospective franchise quarterback with no known character issues, and he seemed to be living up to his billing. When Hurricane Harvey walloped Houston in August 2017, before Watson’s rookie season, he donated his first game check to stadium cafeteria employees who were affected by the storm.Since the first wave of suits were filed against Watson last year, the main allegations against him have become familiar. Women complained that Watson turned massages sexual without their consent, including purposely touching them with his penis and coercing sexual acts.It’s not clear when he began looking for so many different women to give him massages. Hardin has said his client needed to book appointments “ad hoc” when the coronavirus pandemic began, though Watson began working with numerous women before then.Not all of the women who gave Watson massages between October 2019 and March 2021 have detailed their interactions with him. Some who have shared their experiences say they had no problems with him. Others describe troubling — and similar — behaviors.The 66 women are:— The 24 who have sued him, including two who filed suits within the past week. In the most recent suit, the woman said Watson masturbated during the massage.Advertisement— A woman who sued but then withdrew the complaint because of “privacy and security concerns.”— Two women who filed criminal complaints against Watson but did not sue him.— At least 15 therapists who issued statements of support for Watson at the request of his lawyers and gave him massages during that period.— At least four therapists from Genuine Touch, the massage therapy group contracted with the Texans.— Five women identified by the plaintiffs’ lawyers during the investigation for their civil suits.— At least 15 other women whose appointments with Watson were confirmed through interviews and records reviewed by the Times.AdvertisementA deeper look at the lawsuits, including a review of private messages entered as evidence, shows the lengthy efforts by Watson to book massages and the methods he used to assure women that he could be trusted.One woman who sued Watson was a flight attendant who began taking massage therapy classes during the pandemic. She and Watson were in the same social circle, but Watson acknowledged in a deposition that they had never really spoken except to say hello.In November 2020, after a friendly exchange on Instagram, Watson saw that the woman was a massage therapist and sent a message asking for an appointment. As they struggled to work out a time, Watson told her, “Just tryna support black businesses,” a message he repeated later.Watson regularly presented himself as an ally to businesswomen. In a lawsuit filed this week, the therapist alleged that he told her that he “really wanted to support” Black businesses, and on another occasion, he left a woman perplexed when he purchased 30 bottles of her $40 skin cleanser.In messages to the woman whom he knew from his social circle, Watson asked to meet at The Houstonian, an upscale hotel and club where the Texans had secured a membership for him. She said she wasn’t comfortable going to a hotel because she knew Watson’s girlfriend — and indeed had once babysat her and her younger brother. The woman told Watson she wanted to keep things “professional and respectful.”“Oh most definitely always professional,” he texted. “I even have a NDA I have therapist sign too.” He was referring to the nondisclosure agreement he had received just days earlier from a member of the Texans’ security staff. Watson didn’t explain in the text how the woman would benefit from signing a document meant to protect him.AdvertisementFinally, the woman suggested they meet at her mother’s home in Manvel, a 30-minute drive for Watson. He responded, “Damn thats far,” but agreed to make the trip.In a lawsuit the woman filed against Watson last year, she said she was uneasy with his directions to “get up in there” during the massage, but chalked it up to her inexperience and agreed to work with him again. When he ejaculated during the second appointment and then asked her for another massage later that day at the Houstonian, she first agreed, then told him she could not make it. She eventually blocked his number.Most of the women Watson saw for massages did not sue or call police. But even some who did not complain said Watson came looking for sex.The woman who sold bottles of cleanser to Watson had a few appointments with him during the summer of 2020. This aesthetician, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her privacy, told Watson when he booked an appointment that she was licensed only to give him a back facial. But she said in an interview with the Times that he got fully undressed and directed her toward his groin. While she said there was no sexual contact, she believed that he was seeking more than a professional massage.Watson and his lawyers have said he was only seeking massages. The lawyers have acknowledged that Watson had sexual contact with three of the women who have sued him. But the sexual acts took place after the massages, they said, and were initiated by the women. Asked whether he was asserting that Watson never had sexual contact with any other massage therapists, Hardin didn’t respond.Another woman who spoke to the Times, a physical therapist who did not sue Watson, said he initiated sexual contact in all three of their appointments.AdvertisementThis woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect her privacy, said she began by working on Watson’s back. But when he flipped over, she said his demeanor and voice changed, and he began aggressively dictating where he wanted her to touch him. In their first session, she said he got into the happy baby yoga pose — on his back with his feet in his hands — and asked her to massage between his testicles and anus. She laughed off the request but said he grabbed her wrist and put her hand there.The woman said Watson twice initiated sexual intercourse, once by pulling down the scrubs she was wearing. She and Watson knew each other from around town and were on friendly terms, and she admitted she let him proceed with these sexual acts. “I just didn’t know how to tell him no,” she said.Hardin said in a statement: “It would be irresponsible and premature for us to comment on vague details put forth by anonymous individuals.”In June 2020, Watson began frequenting a spa in a strip mall off Interstate 45, at least a 30-minute drive from his home or work. He had found A New U Spa on Instagram and sent a message. The owner, Dionne Louis, became a resource for Watson, able to connect him with multiple women for massages.A strip mall on March 12, 2022, in Houston, Texas, formerly the site of A New U Spa, which was patronized by the football star Deshaun Watson. (Callaghan O’Hare/The New York Times)She looked out for him, she said in a deposition, sometimes arranging for a security guard when Watson came in, concerned the expensive cars he drove might make him a target for a robbery. She also got things from him. In November 2020, Watson paid her $5,000 through an app, she said, to buy spa equipment. Louis told one of her employees in a text, “I told you I’ll show you how to get money from men that’s my specialty.”Louis and her lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.AdvertisementDuring the months Louis and Watson worked together, she set up appointments for him with several women who worked there, none of whom was licensed in Texas to perform massages.One was the woman who said Watson begged her for oral sex.She described how he tried to build up to sexual acts, starting with his request that she work on his behind and go higher up on his inner thighs, which put her hands uncomfortably close to his testicles. When he flipped over, she said, he was exposed with an erection, but she refused his requests for oral sex.That woman did not sue Watson, but four other employees of A New U Spa did. They all said in their lawsuits that Louis gave him special attention.In June 2020, one woman said in her suit, Louis drove her to a hotel to meet Watson for a massage, during which he groped her and touched her hand with his penis. Louis was not in the room, but in text messages she later sent to this woman, she appeared to refer to Watson treating her employees poorly: “I been talking to Deshaun I just told his ass off he got it now.” Louis added in a second message, “I told him he can’t treat us black women any kind of way.” (In her deposition, Louis denied sending these messages, though evidence in the lawsuits indicates they were sent from her number.)Nia Smith, who also worked at A New U Spa, filed a lawsuit against Watson last week, the 23rd of 24 civil cases. Smith said that during their first massage, Watson asked her to put her fingers inside his anus, a request she said she told Louis about afterward. She said in the second session he asked her if she wanted his penis in her mouth, and that he repeatedly requested sex in their third and final massage. Smith also claimed that Louis knew Watson was seeking sex and told her she needed to keep Watson happy. In a deposition, Louis denied she knew anything about Watson’s sexual desires.AdvertisementIn early November 2020, after Smith stopped working at A New U Spa, she posted text messages from Watson along with his phone number and his Cash App receipts on Instagram. She included the message, “I could really expose you,” adding an expletive.Days later, when Watson went to work at the Texans’ stadium, he found an NDA in his locker. He later said in a deposition that Brent Naccara, a former Secret Service agent who is the Texans’ director of security, put it there after Watson told him about Smith’s Instagram posts.Watson began taking the NDA to massages that same week, giving one to the woman in Manvel, who signed it, and another to a woman who said in her lawsuit that she ended the session after he suggested a sexual act. Watson told her she had to sign in order for him to pay, so she did, according to her filing. Watson said in a deposition that he used this NDA only for massage appointments because he had lawyers and agents who handled his other business.It’s unclear whether the Texans knew how many massages Watson was getting or who was providing them. But their resources helped support his massage habit away from the team. Watson acknowledged in a deposition that the Texans arranged for him to have “a place” at The Houstonian. He used the fitness club, dined there and also set up massages in hotel rooms.At least seven women met him at the hotel for appointments, according to interviews and records, including two who filed lawsuits and two who complained to police.The Texans weren’t aware of the massage appointments at the hotel “that I know of,” Watson said. He also said that his access to the property was not under his name. One woman who gave Watson a massage at The Houstonian said she was told the room was registered to a member of the Texans’ training staff.AdvertisementTo preserve his reputation, his career and possibly his freedom, Watson hired Hardin, now 80, a veteran defense lawyer whose clients have included former pitcher Roger Clemens, evangelist Joel Osteen and, in the Enron case, accounting firm Arthur Andersen.Hardin has said the women who have accused Watson of sexual misconduct are lying. He had ample opportunity to make his case to the district attorney’s office. Through a public records request, the Times reviewed the communications between Hardin and the prosecutors in Watson’s criminal cases. These messages revealed extensive communication between the two sides and demonstrated, at the least, the value of a well paid and well connected lawyer.In early 2022, Hardin, a former prosecutor himself, began a regular dialogue with Johna Stallings, the Harris County sex crimes prosecutor handling the Watson investigation. In the two months before two different Texas grand juries heard the criminal cases against Watson, Stallings and Hardin met at Hardin’s office, spoke over the phone 12 times and exchanged more than two dozen text messages, according to public records.Some of their exchanges were peppered with congenial remarks about cases they were trying. Others were more opaque. One day, Stallings asked Hardin if he could chat. He said he was in trial, then asked, “Any problems?” They spoke over the phone twice that day.The amount of contact between the prosecutor and the defense was noteworthy, said Njeri Mathis Rutledge, a former Harris County prosecutor who is now a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston.“There are some well-known defense attorneys like a Rusty Hardin that may have gotten a little extra real estate in terms of time, but even given the fact that it was Rusty, that’s still a lot of time,” Rutledge said.AdvertisementThe Times also reviewed communications between prosecutors and the lawyers for the women suing Watson. There was just one exchange: In March 2021, Tony Buzbee, the plaintiffs’ attorney, alerted the district attorney’s office to the allegations in the civil suits. The DA asked if his clients had made police reports, and eight of Buzbee’s clients soon did. The prosecutors had some direct contact with these women, rather than going through Buzbee.In a statement, Hardin said it is “a standard practice” for lawyers to work directly with law enforcement and prosecutors.The Harris County DA’s office did not respond to specific questions about their prosecutors’ contacts with Hardin and lawyers for the women. In a statement, a spokesperson for Kim Ogg, the district attorney, said prosecutors “vigorously examined all the evidence and spoke at great length with accusers.”In March 2021, Stallings prepared to present her cases against Watson to the Harris County grand jury. She and Hardin exchanged more than a dozen calls and messages during the week of the hearing. Instead of putting his client in front of the grand jury, Hardin created a slide presentation arguing for Watson’s innocence and gave it to Stallings along with other documents he deemed important.“We will let our submissions to you on our client’s behalf serve as our presentation to the grand jury,” Hardin told her in an email. The grand jury declined to charge Watson, and a Brazoria County panel followed suit.Amanda Peters, a former Harris County prosecutor who teaches law at South Texas College of Law in Houston, said such submissions, known as grand jury packets, are not the norm for the average person facing charges. They are more commonly introduced in high-profile cases in which the client can afford an elaborate and costly defense.AdvertisementThe NFL’s discipline is likely the next step. Watson has been shuttling between Cleveland, where he is training with his new team, and Houston, where he met with NFL investigators and is giving depositions in the lawsuits. The civil cases, if not settled, will be tried after the football season. Through it all, Watson has been adamant that he did nothing wrong.In a deposition on May 13, Watson was asked about the text message he sent to Ashley Solis, one of his accusers, immediately after their appointment in March 2020. “Sorry about you feeling uncomfortable,” he wrote to her. Watson acknowledged that Solis was “teary-eyed” at the end of their session, but testified under oath that he still does not understand why.“I don’t know,” Watson said. “Like I told you at the beginning of this depo, I’m still trying to figure out why we in the situation we are in right now, why I’m talking to you guys, why you guys are interviewing me. I don’t know. Do not know.”c.2022 The New York Times Company

Sports

Column: Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa isn’t going anywhere, so just deal with it

Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa had a long talk during batting practice Tuesday with the man who controls his fate.General manager Rick Hahn was there too.AdvertisementThe strange dynamic that brought La Russa back to the Sox after 34 years is the same reason he doesn’t have to worry about being fired, no matter how much his team struggles to live up to expectations.Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is one of La Russa’s best friends. La Russa is not going anywhere.AdvertisementHahn knows it. La Russa knows it. And Sox fans know it.Reinsdorf didn’t fire Rick Renteria to rectify what he once called “the biggest mistake” of his baseball career — allowing Hawk Harrelson to fire La Russa in 1986 — just so he could fire La Russa two months into his second season.But that hasn’t stopped Sox fans from tweeting about it or talk-radio hosts from yakking about it or newspaper columnists from writing about it.And unless the Sox show some consistency, the subject is not going away, so La Russa should be resigned to hearing about it for the time being.[ Rick Hahn admits the 1st 2 months have tested his patience, but the White Sox GM also sees ‘reasons for optimism’ ]Every time a manager gets fired, as Joe Maddon was Tuesday by the Los Angeles Angels, the obvious question around baseball is “Who’s next?” And as manager of a sub-.500 team expected to compete for a championship, La Russa knows he’s a person of interest.In truth, La Russa doesn’t deserve to be fired after 53 games. The Philadelphia Phillies’ Joe Girardi and Maddon were fired for a collective inability to win over the last two-plus seasons. La Russa’s team has underachieved, but injuries and a lack of hitting by key players — including Yasmani Grandal, Yoán Moncada and Josh Harrison — have been the root causes of the Sox malaise.But La Russa is the perfect punching bag for disgruntled Sox fans, and 90% of them seemingly have blogs. Just Google “Fire La Russa” and you’ll get the following headlines from various blogs:“Tony La Russa Tries His Best to Get Fired, As the White Sox Beat the Rays.”Advertisement“Tony La Russa Should Be Fired Immediately.”“ChiSox Should Fire Out-Of-Touch Manager Tony La Russa.”“Woke Mob Wants La Russa Canceled for Patriotic Stance on Anthem.”(OK, I made up that last one, but you get the picture.)Some of the “Fire La Russa” stories were from last season, but the Google algorithm still keeps them near the top, along with a change.org petition from 2020 calling on La Russa to resign.Hahn was asked before Tuesday’s 4-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers if the Sox philosophy is not to fire managers during the season, a roundabout way of asking him whether La Russa is on the hot seat.AdvertisementWhite Sox manager Tony La Russa has a laugh with Steve Stone as Stone is honored for his 40th year in broadcasting before the Sox-Dodgers game at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)“Uh, no,” Hahn replied. “I’m trying to come up with a counterpoint to show my ‘no’ is appropriate and I can’t come up with one immediately in my couple of decades I’ve been here. Gene Lamont. I think I was in high school (in 1995), so I can’t take responsibility for Gene Lamont.”Fortunately, I was covering the White Sox when Lamont was fired 31 games into the 1995 season. Like La Russa, he was coming off a season in which the Sox were in first place, though Lamont’s ‘94 team was denied a chance to go to the playoffs when the players strike ended the season in August.General manager Ron Schueler blamed the players for Lamont’s exit, saying the team lacked fire during a showdown with Cleveland.“I gave them the benefit of the doubt,” Schueler said. “But if the team can’t get up for a series like the Cleveland series, obviously I thought I’d have to do something to change the atmosphere.”Trying to shake up a team usually is a good excuse to fire any manager, but this team doesn’t need shaking up. It needs better performances by talented players — and for Tim Anderson, Lance Lynn and Eloy Jiménez to return healthy and stay off the IL the rest of the season.The Minnesota Twins are a .500 team playing over their heads. When the real Sox show up, they should catch the Twins by the All-Star break and put them in the rearview mirror by Labor Day.AdvertisementOf course, waiting for the real Sox to show up has been agonizingly difficult, which is why the bandwagon has been much lighter in 2022 and why La Russa has borne the brunt of the criticism. It’s part of the job, which he knew coming in.[ [Don’t miss] 40 years in the booth: White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone celebrates his anniversary with an unplugged conversation ]Managers are hired to be fired, except perhaps managers who were hired 34 years after they were fired by the same owner who let him be fired in the first place. They have to leave on their own.It’s good to remember why the Sox let La Russa leave in the first place. Harrelson, whose one-year reign as general manager in 1986 set the franchise back five years, had a well-known rift with La Russa when he decided to pull the trigger in June.“The club has not responded,” Harrelson said that day. “It’s a baseball decision. He understood it. It was the overall standings and the performance of the club. We’re not talking about a personality conflict.”No one believed Harrelson then or now. Reinsdorf quickly regretted the decision and no doubt also regretted replacing the great Roland Hemond with Harrelson — who also fired vice president Dave Dombrowski, the bright, young talent who went on to win championships with the Florida Marlins and Boston Red Sox. Fortunately Reinsdorf also fired Harrelson after the season, saving the franchise from a total brain drain.La Russa was discussing his return to managing Sunday in Tampa with Sox beat writers, joking that if he had any business sense, he would’ve started a business after he retired from managing to keep busy.Advertisement“But this is the only thing I know how to do,” La Russa said with a grin. “Kind of. We’ll see if I still know how to do it or not.”This always was a World Series-or-bust season for La Russa and the Sox, and they still have four months to right the ship.“Whether it’s Jerry, Kenny (Williams), myself, the coaches, any White Sox fan — we’ve all had our patience tested,” Hahn said. “But the fundamentals of who this team is remain. We’re fortunate that baseball is a long season, and over the course of a long season, things tend to play out the way the talent permits. And we feel good about this talent.”But it’s going to be a turbulent voyage, so everyone should get used to the occasional tidal wave along the way.