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Suit: Talking to Kings' player led to harassment, her firing (DC's wife at it again)

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by dc rock, Jun 30, 2003.

  1. dc rock

    dc rock Member

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    http://famulus.msnbc.com/famuluscom/bizjournal06-30-010300.asp?bizj=SAC


    Suit: Talking to Kings' player led to harassment, her firing

    By Kelly Johnson
    Sacramento Business Journal

    Jun. 30 — A spokeswoman for the Sacramento Kings who was let go last autumn has sued the Kings organization, player Doug Christie and his wife, Jackie, alleging harassment and discrimination that she contends resulted from Christie's practice of avoiding contact with all women but his wife.

    Stephanie Shepard, who was assistant manager and later manager of media relations for the Kings over four years, accuses the team of reducing her responsibilities and eventually terminating her employment after Jackie Christie complained about her because she gave Doug Christie a phone message.
    The case is built on a rare set of allegations in workplace discrimination law, with an employee's family member accused, rather than a supervisor or co-worker.
    Her suit, filed May 27 in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleges sexual harassment, unlawful retaliation, gender discrimination, violation of civil rights, battery and infliction of emotional distress. The suit names Doug and Jackie Christie, Shepard's supervisor, Troy Hanson, Kings general manager Geoff Petrie, Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, Maloof Sports & Entertainment and Sacramento Kings Ltd. Partnership as defendants. She seeks unspecified damages, attorney fees and costs.
    Maloof Sports & Entertainment has not received documentation about the lawsuit and therefore cannot comment, spokeswoman Sonja Brown said.
    Doug Christie's agent, J.R. Harris, also declined to comment. "We're not talking about that right now," Harris said. Although Christie has never faced such litigation, Harris said NBA players must deal with frivolous lawsuits all the time.
    Shepard's attorney, John McGinnis of Pasadena, had no comment.
    Talk of the league: Christie, the team's swingman and an NBA all-defensive player, is known around the league for sending hand-signal messages to his wife from the floor during the many games she attends. According to published reports, he avoids conversation with other women out of respect for his wife. Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal created a local furor when he joked in public that Jackie Christie had massaged his feet to help him recover from an injury.
    On at least one occasion when Doug Christie played for the Toronto Raptors, according to a New York Times report, Jackie Christie confronted a young female fan who was seeking an autograph and kiss from her husband, telling her in a loud voice to back off because "she was touching someone she shouldn't have."
    Shepard is a "highly accomplished manager of media relations" whose career could have "continued its upward ascent if Doug Christie had never signed with the Kings," the suit contends. When Christie signed with the team for the 2000-01 season, Shepard alleges, she began experiencing "sex-based differential treatment and harassment."
    As the only woman working directly with players, Shepard was informed of the Christies' relationship and "warned about (their) discriminatory practices against women," the suit said. Shepard "was confident, however, that Maloof's supervisors and agents would prevent the (couple's) reputation for misogyny to effect the professional working environment in which she expected to continue growing. She was sorely mistaken," the suit contends.
    Don't speak to him: Trouble began, Shepard alleges, after she delivered a phone message to Doug Christie as one of her duties. "As a result, Jackie Christie aggressively approached Ms. Shepard the next day and instructed her never to speak to Mr. Christie, regardless of the professional circumstance," the suit says.
    Shepard alleges that her boss, Hanson, instructed her to avoid Christie, allowing "personal discriminatory preference to become (team and Maloof Sports) policy." Her work responsibilities, she contends, declined after Jackie Christie "made her wishes known" to Kings representatives.
    Shepard claims the number of players with whom she worked was cut and she was told to stay out of areas for family and friends of players, and hotel lobbies.
    The conduct escalated, the suit alleges, to "outright threats and physical intimidation. Jackie Christie physically 'bumped' Ms. Shepard on several occasions."
    Shepard was "terminated" last October. The lawsuit did not elaborate. As is the standard process, Shepard received "right to sue" letter from the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
    The crux of such a case is why Shepard was fired, said John Adkisson, a partner with the Sacramento law office of Hanson Bridgett who specializes in employment discrimination cases but is not involved in this case. Often, an employer can answer allegations in a case and explain why they did not constitute discrimination, he said.
    Raptors say they made no changes: The Toronto Raptors did not have to change anything operationally for Doug Christie while he played for that team, a Raptors spokesman said. "We didn't do anything out of the ordinary. We didn't need to," the spokesman said.
    An August 2002 account in The New York Times by Mike Wise, a former Sacramento journalist, on the Christies and their relationship said Jackie Christie was uncomfortable with female employees of the Raptors in the team locker room, so Doug Christie changed clothes in an adjacent room.
    "With few exceptions, Doug Christie does not look at other women, avoiding dialogue or even eye contact," Wise wrote. "'Every conversation I've ever had with a woman since we've been married besides my wife she knows about,' he said."
     
    #1 dc rock, Jun 30, 2003
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2003
  2. Baqui99

    Baqui99 Member

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    I wonder if Christie is allowed to order his own dinner from a waitress? Or does he request a male server instead? What about at the grocery store, or the mall? What a f*cking r****d.
     
  3. adrian

    adrian Member

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    Can someone post a picture of this wacko.

    AC
     
  4. DaDakota

    DaDakota Balance wins
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    This is unbelievable.

    No wonder Christie is a choker...he has no nads.

    What a joke.....

    DD
     
  5. CBrownFanClub

    CBrownFanClub Member

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    Hoo-freaking-ray. Chucky Brown Karma strikes again. Stephanie Shepherd tried to block all CBFC access to the man himself while he was in Sacramento -- against the orders of the man himself -- and was totally rude to us every time we talked to her.

    Luckily, her boss overruled her and apologized to me (called at 11:00pm to assure us that it was not Sacramento Kings policy to prevent nationally-recognized fan clubs from delivering baked goods to role players), but she needed to be taken out anyway. I side with the Kings on this one. What a humiliating way to go, though -- via Doug Christies wife? The Chucky Brown karma is so cruel.

    I am actually going to call and see if I can testify in support of the Kings and Doug Christie's wife.

    CBFC
     
  6. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    Man, I wish I could listen to Rome today...I bet he's having a field day with this!
     
  7. fadeaway

    fadeaway Member

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    LOL -- that's great. :)
     
  8. R0ckets03

    R0ckets03 Member

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    Damn, can anyone think of a guy more whipped then Dougie?
     
  9. OverRRated

    OverRRated Member

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    Honestly, Doug must be the biggest joke in ALL of the NBA locker rooms by now.
     
  10. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    I thought that infamous article was so awesome I saved it on my computer:

    Christies Keep Temptation at Bay
    by Mike Wise

    In the final minute of an N.B.A. playoff game on Monday night, Doug Christie raised his left fist, extending his pinkie and index fingers toward the rafters of Arco Arena. Christie, a lanky swingman for the Sacramento Kings, appeared to be calling out a play for his teammates.

    But the message was actually intended for his wife, Jackie, seated in the stands. He often makes the same hand signal at least 50 times a game. "That's just to let my wife know I love her, and she and family are bigger than basketball," Christie said.


    Christie's wife Jackie rides in a car behind the team bus, talking to Doug on his cellphone until he arrives at the hotel or arena.

    Jackie Christie said she and her husband began communicating with each other during games a while ago. "When I make this sign, it means drive to the hole," she said. "When I make this sign, it means smile because you look a little sad on the bench. He started making this sign and said, 'This means I love you,' and it developed from there. It makes me feel real special."

    Reporters who cover Christie's former team, the Toronto Raptors, were so intrigued by the couple's sign language that they created a betting pool when the Raptors played at Sacramento last November. By their count, Christie signaled his wife 62 times during the game.

    "Sixty-two," Jackie said, shaking her head in a pleased manner recently as she clutched her husband's hand on the couch in their home in suburban Sacramento. "That's beautiful."

    When the Kings flew to Los Angeles today for Game 3 of the Western Conference finals against the Lakers on Friday night, Jackie was seated next to Doug, as much a part of the postseason experience as any family member in the N.B.A.

    In the frenetic world of major professional sports, where athletes have trouble balancing their personal and public lives -- and the perception of don't-ask, don't-tell marriages is sometimes a reality -- the Christies have gone to great lengths to make sure their own vows are kept sacred.

    With few exceptions, Doug Christie does not look at other women, avoiding dialogue or even eye contact. "Every conversation I've ever had with a woman since we've been married besides my wife she knows about," he said. "She's been there. But what are we talking about? Banking? Mortgage? Other than that, I don't have anything to say to anybody. It's taking up my time and my time is limited to basketball and my family."

    The Christies, who have been married for eight years and have three children, get married on July 8 each year, their anniversary. It is not a mere renewal of their wedding vows, but an actual wedding -- replete with friends, family, cake and a reception.

    This year, they will be married on the foundation of their new, not-yet-completed home in Bellevue, Wash. Christie's agent, Bradley Marshall, who is also a minister, has married them the past two years.

    "At first I thought this was a little bit much, but when you see the dividends it pays, you understand," Marshall said. "They invite other married couples to the wedding, and they're very encouraged by the whole process. It's very emotional."

    Jackie said she attends 25 to 30 of the Kings' 41 regular-season road games, riding on the team's charter.

    "I used to tell people I was married to an athlete and they would give me that look, 'Oh, we know what he's doing,' " she said. "I don't try to explain anymore: 'Yeah, but he's different. And I travel with him and he's not like the rest.' I just know Doug is faithful."

    When Christie played for the Raptors, his wife once confronted a female fan seeking an autograph and a kiss in Toronto. "A security guard grabbed her, but I put my hand up and told her to back off really loud," she said. "It scared me, because my voice sounded like a demon. It just came out. She was a pretty girl, very young. But she was touching someone she shouldn't have been."

    Some wives of professional athletes focus on the perks of life in the big time: affluence, public attention, premium seats at sold-out games. Jackie Christie sees a different reality, one in which her husband and other players are battling the seduction of women who wait after games and prowl hotel lobbies.

    "You see so much of that going on, you think, 'Is that going to happen to me?' " she said. "I'm fine now. I gave up trying to change things. People are going to be the way they're going to be. Now, my attitude is, whatever we have to do to keep our circle tight. Just respect what we have and our commitment."

    Sustaining relationships can be difficult for N.B.A. players, said Charles Smith, a former player who was a union vice president. "Nine times out of 10, when a player gets married early in his career, he's still growing and his spouse is still growing," Smith said. "Then you have kids, and it's a very difficult juggling act. If you don't have a firm foundation to fall back on, it doesn't work."

    Rick Fox, the Lakers' forward, and his wife of three years, the actress and singer Vanessa Williams, sometimes put up with a bicoastal relationship. Williams is starring on Broadway in "Into the Woods."

    "I admire any N.B.A. couple that takes steps to make their relationship work because, let's face it, there are a lot of people out there who want to disrupt what we have," Fox said. "This is not the healthiest environment for a marriage. You've got to have a lot of trust to be married to any professional athlete."

    Many of the game's most prominent players have taken part in the league's extravagant lifestyle. Magic Johnson acknowledged after announcing in 1991 that he had contracted H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, that he had been promiscuous. Patrick Ewing testified last year in a federal racketeering trial in Atlanta about sexual favors he received from dancers at a local strip club.

    Jackie Christie arrives before games with her husband and leaves with him afterward. She sends him a note in the locker room before each game, taken there by a team attendant. He writes a reply and sends it back. Sometimes on the road, Jackie will ride in a car behind the team bus, talking to Doug on his cellphone until he arrives at the hotel or arena.

    Doug Christie says he is a willing participant in these rituals. "It was hard for me to do the interview about this and say this is my life," he said. "Because some people will say: 'That's a bunch of garbage. He's lying.' But this is who I am and who we are."

    During Christie's time in Toronto, Jackie was uncomfortable that women working for the Raptors went into the locker room to distribute statistics after games. So Doug began dressing in an adjacent room. An Eastern Conference team official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that he had warned the Kings about obtaining Christie two years ago because of some of the issues his wife had raised in Toronto.

    "I just felt I needed to protect my territory in the beginning," Jackie said. "So I had a lot of issues. I have a jealous bone in my body, yes. It's probably as big as me. I'm very easygoing until I feel a threat."

    She added: "Doug is allowed to look at females. I would prefer he didn't."

    Jackie sometimes has made it clear to her husband and team employees that certain female reporters should not be allowed to interview her husband unless she is present. "If she wants an interview, I will attend it with my husband so there can be no games," she said.

    Some of the Kings kid Christie about the hand signals. "Hedo will flash the sign at my wife from over on the bench," he said of Hedo Turkoglu, the Kings' swingman. "They have fun with it, but they also respect and accept it."

    Christie is a versatile 6-foot-6 player who made the N.B.A.'s all-defensive team because of his long arms, quickness and desire. Off the floor, he is a laid-back 10-year veteran. Introverted outside the locker room, he is thoughtful and well read. Born to a biracial couple -- his father is black, his mother white -- Christie grew up in Seattle.

    He met Jackie, a former part-time model, at a sports bar through a friend before he was drafted out of Pepperdine in 1992. He said his lifestyle was much more carefree and rambunctious before his marriage.

    "Each of us has to go through and find our own way and mine was the route that I took," he said. "We all have choices, and the choices I was making back then were not the ones I would want to teach to my children."

    Asked if he considered his current behavior drastic, Christie shook his head no. "It's not that I'm not allowed to look at women, it's just respect," he said. "I choose this. There is nothing out there for me to want or try to go after. That's not what I'm trying to be about."

    The Christies say their behavior has not been influenced by a religious sect or a life-altering event.

    "I really can't explain it to you, except one day we were in the driveway of our Seattle home before I got married and all of a sudden all these revelations started coming to me in 1994," Christie said. "It came from God. I used to tell her, 'I know where I want to go, but I don't know how to get there.' Everything became clear when I told her I wanted to marry her. The life I was leading before I didn't want anymore."

    Jackie looked approvingly at her husband and smiled. "I get a lot of women who asked me, 'How did you get Doug to act that way?' "

    He said: "Our love is boundless and free. For me, it doesn't feel like a restriction. It's a lifestyle, the way we live. So it's easy. It's not, 'You can't do this, you can't do that.' "
     
  11. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    There she is on the right:
    [​IMG]

    And here she is putting doug in his place!

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Drexlerfan22

    Drexlerfan22 Member

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    Damn, this sucks. Doug is just a wonderful guy, but his wife is such a raging b****! I can't decide whether I want that employee to get anything out of this: Jackie deserves it, but it would come out of Doug's pocket, and he earned every penny! :( :mad:
     
  13. red

    red Member

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    ahah what a loser...

    and CBFC...you rule!
     
  14. finalsbound

    finalsbound Member

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    Kind of creepy. Sounds like she has some kind of overzealous OCD.
     
  15. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

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    I don't know why Christie has to get so much **** about his wife.
     
  16. PhiSlammaJamma

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    One thing you don't want in the NBA is a jealous wife. That's for sure. The wife has got to be confident or forget about it.
     
  17. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    Did you read that article. I don't know about you but don't you hate people pushing their relationship in your face. Why do I need to see Christie putting that signal up. And why does he need to. It's nothing but typical superficial showmanship of his love for his wife and its just pointless annoying crap.

    Can you imagine if your teamate was on the phone with his wife while she was right behind you guys on the team bus. That's just overbearing to everyone else around. She isn't comfortable with women in the organization. That affects others, and its just plain silly. You're right it doesn't affect me, but I bet it affects his team.
     
  18. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    trust in a relationship, particularly a marriage, is a good thing.
     
  19. dn1282

    dn1282 Member

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    It's safe to say Jackie Christie has ZERO trust for DC behaving.
     
  20. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    That's how it all started, D.C. has acknowledged his promiscuity before meeting Jackie. He acknowledges that he is trying to prove he's a changed man. The only problem is, I'm sure most of the rest of the world doesn't care so can he please tone it down.
     

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