Caught in flagrante delicto
John Levesque is on Linda’s Tripp
By: Malamute, 12 February 2003

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” Juxtapose Bill Clinton’s statement with Rick Neuheisel’s carefully prepared statement concerning Terry Donahue and the 49ers head-coaching job. “We talk occasionally about a number of subjects. I consider him both a mentor and a friend, but we have never discussed the opening with the 49ers.”

My, God, here we go again.

Remember the whistle blower Linda Tripp and the tapings of her phone conversations with Monica Lewinski? Now John Levesque of the Seattle P-I says he overheard bits and pieces of a phone conversation between Slick Rick, not Slick Willie, and his mother concerning a meeting with 49ers management.

“But I heard him (Neuheisel) have a cell phone conversation in which he described a meeting with 49ers management,” he writes. Levesque was sitting “about six feet” away from Neuheisel as they sat in a San Francisco airport waiting for a flight back to Seattle on Sunday night.

It’s too bad that Levesque couldn’t have shared more facts with us. Although the tapings were illegal, at least Linda Tripp had the good sense to tape her phone conversations with Monica Lewinsky. Just imagine if she had said that she’d overheard bits and pieces of a one-sided phone conversation between Lewinski and her mother, those bits and pieces barely audible inside of a busy airport. The mainstream media, including Levesque, would have laughed her out of town, while hee-hawing Lewinski out of her Watergate apartment, blue dress and all.

“My story, though I'm loath to share an overheard conversation with readers, remains the same. In a phone call to his mother Sunday night, Neuheisel discussed his meeting with the 49ers and said: ‘It went well.’"

At least Neuheisel used good English. I mean that’s better than saying it “it went good.”

 “After two or three noisy conversations, he made another call but turned away and lowered his voice considerably, making it clear he didn't want the rest of the concourse to be in on it. I remained in my seat but still managed to pick up parts of his conversation about meeting with the 49ers.”

John, would you care to share the other parts of the conversation with us, other than “it went well?”

"On sports-talk radio last night, one commentator even suggested the question of Neuheisel's honesty is a non-issue. And I wondered if it's a non-issue to Neuheisel's kids," Levesque writes.

Oh, for the plight of presidential children. I'll bet they're a non-issue to Levesque.

A long-time Neuheisel basher, Art Thiel of the Seattle P-I is piling on, joining his compadre in this new lynching of Washington's head coach, saying, "Now, he's in full denial of an event that 49ers sources have leaked anonymously to reporters and other sources in the Bay Area, Seattle and elsewhere."

Why are these sources always anonymous? At least, Linda named names.

Thiel writes, "For obvious reasons, Neuheisel didn't want word out if he wasn't going to get the job. But this time word is out, including the coach's own words overheard at the San Francisco airport by P-I colleague John Levesque."

Let's see, what were the coach's own words? Oh, yes, "It went well."

"Until he owns up and moves on, UW football will have a lingering headache and their head coach won't be credible with me," Thiel writes.

Thiel needs to worry about Levesque's credibility before he hammers Neuheisel's forthrightness and sincerity. Are we to believe that Levesque was just coming off vacation, needing to write a column for Monday's newspaper, "when Neuheisel plunked himself down in a chair about 6 feet from mine" on Sunday. Coincidentally, they were on the same flight.

This paparazzi-begging scenario must make Princess Di stir in her grave.

As to Thiel's alleged job interview with the San Francisco Examiner, a colleague of mine overheard Thiel saying that "it went well."

Reference:

Levesque, John, Seattle Post Intelligencer, 12 February 2003, "I know what I heard: UW fans should, too."