When former Texans tackle Duane Brown said last year that owner Bob McNair expressed dismay and disappointment to the team after the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the Texans and McNair did not dispute the claim. Nearly six months later, McNair has taken issue with Brown’s remarks, essentially claiming that Brown is lying.
“I don’t go into meetings and express views like that,” McNair told the Wall Street Journal. “I never said that. He has no problem saying things that are not true.”
McNair likely would say that former Texans tight end Owen Daniels has no problem saying things that are not true, either. Because Daniels has confirmed Brown’s version of the events.
Appearing recently on ESPN 97.5 in Houston, Daniels said that, indeed, McNair made the comments in question to the team in November 2008.
“We’re in the middle of the season, and this guy gets elected, and it wasn’t the guy that he was supporting,” Daniels said of McNair. “But a lot of the guys on the team were very supportive of Barack.”
Daniels recalls thinking that the comments were “weird” at the time. Daniels said that, after having a chance to look back and reflect on it, “That was weirder than I was actually making it out to be back then.”
Here’s what Brown told PFT last October, after McNair’s “inmates running the prison” remarks came to light: “He came to talk to the team. He was visibly upset about [the election of Barack Obama]. He said, ‘I know a lot of y’all are happy right now, but it’s not the outcome that some of us were looking for.’ That was very shocking to me.”
McNair now dismisses Brown’s version of the events by claiming that “all Duane was trying to do was be a troublemaker.” Based on some of the comments McNair has made in recent weeks, however, he’s apparently making enough trouble for himself.
UPDATE 12:42 p.m. ET: Daniels appeared on ESPN 97.5 last month, before McNair denied the claim.