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Monday, January 4, 2010

Tillman's Apology

Eric Tillman apologized for his actions today in a Regina courtroom. Here is what Tillman had to say courtesy of the Regina Leader-Post.

“In terms of apologies, I would like to first and foremost apologize to (the teenaged girl). She is wonderful to our children, our children adored her, she had a great relationship with my wife, and I think it’s been documented throughout all of this, we treated her with absolute respect the year that she babysat for us, and this would not have happened in a hundred million years had I not put myself in the position to be on medication. Nevertheless, my heart goes out to her and my apology is profound.
To her mom and dad. I know this is your daughter. I have a little girl. I know that women and daughters are precious, and my heart goes out to you. I thank them for extending me grace by accepting my apologies.
To my wife, who’s been amazing through all of this, who didn’t deserve this public humiliation, you are tremendous with our children who I love dearly, and who’s been subjected to so many false rumours and so much ridicule. There are no words.
To my mom and dad, who raised us with a moral compass, who always taught us the value of other people, who always taught us to treat other people with dignity, and I’ve tried to honour them by living my life this way, the way that I have. It pains me beyond words that 10 or 15 seconds of my life could impact them so significantly, and I’m so profoundly sorry.
To Jim Hopson, who hired me, to Rob Pletch and the board of directors, Kenny Miller, to the coaches and players, the people that I’ve worked with and share my love of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, I apologize.
And, last but not least, to the good people of this province. One of the things I’ve said many times about moving here is that the wonderful thing about raising children here is the sense of pride, the sense of family, the fact that people care about things that matter here. I know people here care about not only their good names, but the good name of this province, and I’m profoundly sorry that I brought embarrassment to not only the organization and my family, but to people throughout this province.
As Aaron said several times, this has been incredibly painful for me. That said, it should be noted I should be last on that list. I take full responsibility for my actions, and my emotion today is for other people that I know have been impacted. It’s been painful for them.
And while there are no adequate words, I apologize, your honour. It was very wrong.”
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BLOGGER NOTE: There have been many unkind comments about this situation today that have not been published. Those where a name was attached or it was someone with who I am familiar did get their comments on. The judge will make his decision on this matter tomorrow morning. Until then, I will not be posting any comments regarding this story. Once the decision has come out, I will only post comments from those who attach a name to their comments. The thoughts of Mr or Mrs. Anonymous will not be accepted.

2 comments:

Mike from Vita, MB said...

In light of Mr. Tillman's guilty plea, I will be VERY surprized if the Riders continue to employ his services much longer. Not that he doesn't deserve the opportunity, but because of the nature of the charge, I doubt very many women would be comfortable with him around.

Anonymous said...

The Riders have no choice but to relieve Mr. Tillman of his duties. While this incident was very minor and I'm sure very regrettable, the bottom line is Tillman violated the very code of conduct he helped draw up. There is no way the team can excuse him from this. Eric Tillman has done tremendous things for the Rider organization, but for the organization to allow him to stay after this would be the wrong decision and it would send the wrong message.

Patrick C