*Scott Michaels Takes the Stand

[dropbear]

It has been brought to former Yeti GM Scott Michaels' attention that New Orleans Second Line GM @JuOSu is pursuing charges against him for alleged tampering, in the form of speaking with a player about a trade without their consent.

First of all, I do not deny speaking with the player in question, Borkus Maximus III (@bovovovo). Nor do I deny that I did not get (NFL Voice) "expressed written consent" from JuOSu before contacting him.

With that said, here are the details surrounding this incident that are pertinent to the investigation.

JuOSU put bovo on the trade block, and I began trade talks with her. After some initial conversation, I went back to my own war room to propose the idea to that group. The general idea was to have a quality QB replace McCormick (this was pre-Baltimore trade when we expected to compete the following season) so that infinite could recreate and we could get a jump-start on his new player without losing QB performance.

Given this information, it should be clear to anyone reading that a crucial issue was whether bovo intended to retire at any time in the near future. Wanting to keep the momentum of the trade going, and offer assurances to my fellow GM and our captains, I reached out to bovo in good faith to clarify whether he was going to retire soon, whether he was OK with even coming to Colorado and being an interim QB, and whether he had any issue with us handling his regression (after he stated he was now effectively inactive).

At no point was this in any way malicious. I approached bovo with the sole intent of furthering trade talks. I would like to call upon two other GMs who I have dealt with as character witnesses to confirm that as a GM I value being responsive, easy to deal with, reasonable and fast-acting. I also expect the same out of the GMs I deal with in return. The people I'm referring to are @SwagSloth and @speculadora.

Given that this is the expectation I have for GM talks, I jumped head-first into the deal and was doing everthing in my power to check off the necessary boxes so that the conversation with JuOSu could progress. Such good intentions did I have that it wasn't until I was contacted by HO within the last hour that I even considered any sort of wrongdoing had occurred.

The next thing I would like to bring to light is that, based on what I have been told by HO, JuOSu spoke with bovo the day our trade talks occurred to confirm whether I had reached out to him (which he confirmed). She did not mention this to me, or indicate it was an issue with her. That was on the 29th of March by Australian time.

Trade talks fizzled from there as the Yeti's season did not progress as intended and we ended up trading away major pieces of our roster. As such, the need for an interim QB was no longer present. Fast-forward to the 20th of April (my time) when I am contacted by JuOSu:

juosu04/20/2019
till interested in the trade?
dropbear04/20/2019
For Bovo? I don't think so but I can double check
juosu04/20/2019
ok
dropbear04/20/2019
Yeah nah we're all good we're gonna go with McCormick again next season
juosu04/20/2019
can i ask what changed
dropbear04/20/2019
We're not looking to compete next season. The initial talks were before the BAL trade
juosu04/20/2019
ah

That was the end of the messages. I can confirm based on contact with HO that she then, on the same day, contacted them to lodge a formal complaint.

It is clear, then, that JuOSu kept the information to herself that I had spoken with bovo, which she came to know on the 29th of March, until such time as she was certain that she couldn't get the trade over the line. At such time, she complained to HO, despite never speaking with me and hoping to resolve the issue (that I was completely unaware of) amicably and reasonably.

While I openly admit my wrongdoing in the technical sense, I vehemently deny any malicious intent. Rather, I acted out of good will and a desire to be an ideal trade partner as a GM - something I expect in return.

I will wear whatever punishment that is given to me. However, I would strongly urge any GMs reading this to be very wary of dealing with @JuOSu, and also urge any rookies or new users to be mindful when dealing with her.

You never know when she'll spin an innocent conversation to her own benefit.

[Dangles13]

I would expect no less tbh.

[dropbear]

For transparency's sake:

dropbear03/28/2019
Hey! What're you looking for to move Borkus?
How does this sound for a post-Ultimus deal
COL Receive
Borkus Maximus

NOLA Receive
COL S15 R4
Micycle McCormick (retired - one final season)
dropbear03/28/2019
What're your thoughts?
juosu03/28/2019
Discussing with war room. Just a question, if Mccormick is retired, and we do the deal post ultimus, what's the point?
dropbear03/28/2019
Because if it's post ultimus he stays around for one more season
So you guys don't have to put a QB who's not ready in or use a bad FA
juosu03/28/2019
gotcha, that is what i was wondering, it just sounded like he was already retired
dropbear03/28/2019
Nah sorry I meant he would retire post ultimus too
juosu03/28/2019
Gotcha.
Yeah i will discuss with war room and such today
dropbear03/28/2019
No worries. I'm about to hop into bed so will be online again in like 8 hours but if you have an update or wanna get the deal done, infinite knows what's going on
juosu03/28/2019
Sure thing
juosu03/29/2019
We'd need a pick higher than fourth round id say.
dropbear03/29/2019
A 4th in this draft is likely an active though, and I spoke with Bovo and he said he is essentially inactive, so given Borkus is already in regression then he will quickly lose his value.
I'd imagine we'd be the only team to offer something for him

[NOTICE HERE THAT I ADMIT TO JUOSU I SPOKE WITH BOVO, AND SHE CONTINUES TRADE TALKS]

juosu03/29/2019
I understand what you are saying, but he is still a great player and will be for a while still. A 4th isn't necessarily bad. But either we would want a round higher or an additional later pick.
dropbear03/29/2019
He only has S14 and S15 as a good player remaining. He'll only have 252 TPE in S16
juosu03/29/2019
Better than not having him
dropbear03/29/2019
We have McCormick who has more TPE lol
But we wanted a transition guy. It doesn't harm us at all not having Bovo, but the trade benefits us both. I don't see you getting anything for him otherwise
dropbear03/29/2019
Anyway, it's all good. I'll leave that offer with you and we can come back to it later in the season

dropbear03/28/2019
Hey man. How long are you gonna keep borkus on life support? Would you consider being our interim QB between infinitie retiring and Longshaw starting? 2 - 3 seasons?
Bovo03/28/2019
I'm ia now tbh so however longer he lasts lol
dropbear03/28/2019
Ok cool, so we could do you regressions etc.?
Bovo03/28/2019
yessir

[JuOSu]

Alright, before this gets out of hand let me comment from my own side of things.

First off, you can spin it as being innocent or whatnot as much as you'd like, but it clearly wasn't. I have been GM in this league and another for quite some time now and not talking to another team's player about joining your team is pretty much number one rule of tampering. And in every other situation in the past, the other GM would say "hey, is it ok if i talk to this player and ask him some questions" and I would have no issue with it. Even Bovo himself pointed out that he assumed I had given you permission to speak to him.

Secondly, I alerted HO of this the day this happened, once Bovo confirmed that you had written him. They knew from that point forward.

You claiming you wanted to be an ideal trade partner is silly at best. An ideal trade partner could have easily asked to speak to him.

Urging rookies and other GMs to be vary of me is also a ridiculous thing to say. Jesus christ. I may not have many fans, but I don't think any other GM has ever complained about me in any sense. Look into the mirror, this is not the first time you have been a problem.

[SwagSloth]

I feel like this is a very SwagSloth way to respond to a punishment.

* gets fined X amount of money *
* writes article worth X amount of money discussing the punishment *

Granted, I think we need like 3000 more words, but the spirit of the idea is there.