Depends on who's version of events is true. If Beach's version is true, than the incident is certainly much more serious than sexual misconduct.
That's the thing every single article I've read says the same thing. Aldrich made unwanted sexual advances on Beach and Beach perceived his job and career threatened. If there is something else to the story, I'd love to hear it. But I can't seem to find any more details anywhere.
And based on THAT specific rendition of circumstances, I think many men have a difficult time understanding Beach's position or perception of events and why he felt so powerless. And why he allowed it to go in whatever direction it did. I'm not saying it didn't effect him or it didn't happen. Just that it's very hard to understand how a 20 year old man in a situation like that would react as he did. Now if he were 14 or 15, it would be more understandable.
And this isn;t to say I blame Kyle, I mean, he is who he is, whether that be naive, emotionally immature at that age, not the brightest guy or whatever. And certainly Aldrich should be held accountable to whatever extent.
And what the normative narrative suggests is that Kyle was duped by this guy asserting more power and influence than he actually had. And Kyle was fooled by that.
But nothing I have read suggests he physically overpowered Kyle and forced himself on him.
So it's a bit confusing calling it "sexual assault". As even if there was unwanted contact, that still isn;t overpowering someone. So what we are then really discussing here is a naive young man who got fooled by an older coach who he perceived to have more power and authority than the coach actual had in reality.
And if THAT is the extent of it, then it seems like its being blown out of proportion. So I'm not even sure what Beach is claiming beyond that. But I'm open to reading more if there is something that can actually explain all the seemingly hyperbolic responses to the situation and all the hate the Hawks org is getting.
And as someone who worked in bars in their youth, including a few gay bars, I can't tell you how many times others have made unwanted contact, or tried convincing me to do something I didn't want to. Or tried asserting some false authority to intimidate me. So again unless he was physically overpowered, this is difficult for me to grasp I suppose. I am willing to accept that he was naive enough though to think this video coach had this kind of power and influence, which sucks, and yea, it's wrong.
But from the Hawks e perspective at the time, it's also easy to see why they took their time with this and didn't overreact out of the gate. Because I don't think most young players in that same situation react as Kyle seems to have. So to that extent, its understandable why the Hawks might have been suspicious as well of the claims.
