An apparently drunken Auston Matthews was caught with his pants down in Arizona and, in doing so, probably cost himself the captaincy of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The announcement was expected to come early next week, just before the NHL regular season is to begin.
But how do they do that now?
How do they do that when Matthews is facing a disorderly conduct and disruptive behaviour charge stemming from an incident last May, according to the Scottsdale Police Department?
How do they do that in this changing world of MeToo and anti-harassment, with a hockey team run by the politically correct general manager Kyle Dubas? How do they look the other way?
And how do the Leafs, in the wake of the Matthews news breaking late on Tuesday afternoon, reward idiocy?
The Maple Leafs naming Auston Matthews as captain now must be in doubt following news Tuesday the star forward is facing a disorderly conduct and disruptive behavior charge. (GETTY IMAGES)
They can’t look away when a position that’s all about leadership and maturity — and, even more than that, that’s historically symbolic for a signature franchise — is trampled on by immature hijinks, and a lack of judgment … if the Scottsdale police report is to believed.
None of the allegations have been proven in court and none are of the major-crime variety. More than anything, the real crime here is both stupidity and entitlement. A court of law doesn’t have to prove that. He is already guilty of being an ass, likely a drunken ass at 2 in the morning.
“The Toronto Maple Leafs are aware of the complaint of disturbing the peace against forward Auston Matthews,” the Leafs began in a released statement on Tuesday that didn’t accurately portray the situation. The Leafs’ statement didn’t indicate Matthews was being charged with anything.
“Auston is cooperating fully with the relevant authorities but neither he nor the Club will comment any further out of respect for the process involved.”
The incident apparently took place at 2 a.m. on May 26 outside of the condo in which Matthews lives in Scottdale.
The building’s security guard, a woman named Fayola Dothizee, was sitting in her locked vehicle when she was startled by the sound of someone trying to open her car door.
According to the police report “she jumped out of her vehicle to find out who was trying to get in her car … and noticed it was Auston and his friends.
“She confronted them and the response from Auston was they wanted to see what she would do and they believed it would be funny to see how she would respond.”
They thought it was funny.
“Fayola found this very disturbing and (it) put her on edge. Fayola said she’d told Auston and his friends, ‘I am a female, I am a military vet with sever(e) PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).’
“She also told them it wasn’t funny and how could they think it would be funny to try and get in a female’s vehicle at 2 a.m. in the morning.”
According to the security guard, Matthews found the whole thing funny and the apparently upset Dothizee told them “to just leave.”
A friend of Matthews, unidentified according to the report, tried to intervene and asked Dothizee not to tell (building) management. Dothizee said the incident was on camera, and would be reported.
A report from the Scottsdale police department.
“(And) as the friend was speaking to Fayola, she said Auston began to walk away and after he walked some distance, Auston pulled his pants down, bent over and grabbed his butt cheeks.”
Dothizee said he was not fully exposed, keeping his underwear up. The police report said a security video tape shows a man walking away with his pants around his ankles.
This isn’t the first time — and it won’t be the last — that a prominent professional athlete is caught with their pants down. But it changes the perception of Matthews, this close to the start of the new season. It changes the likelihood of him being named captain.
John Tavares and Morgan Rielly are now the likely candidates to get the nod as captain. But the Leafs might put off any announcement in wake of the public circumstances.
But the ‘C’ doesn’t seem anywhere near as important as the poor decision-making displayed by the player the Leafs will pay $11.6 million a year for the next five seasons.
They have to be terribly disappointed in Matthews. They expected more — and should expect more — from him.
Auston Matthews signed to a five-year, $58.17-million contract extension with the Maple Leafs back in February. (VERONICA HENRI/TORONTO SUN)
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September 25, 2019 at 08:23AM
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