Shouldn’t Albert Devote This Time To His Defense?

Let’s just say Marv Albert is telling the truth, that he didn’t bite a woman’s back and force her to perform oral sex in an Arlington, Va., hotel room.

Let’s also say, just for argument, that the 41-year-old woman, a hotel clerk with a 19-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter, is a nut, prone to making physical threats against former boyfriends and coworkers.

It doesn’t take much of a legal mind to figure out that someone is lying.

“In light of the substance and source of the allegations that have surfaced in the last 48 hours, I would like to reassert my innocence and reiterate that all the charges against me are false and will be proven false in a court of law,” Albert said during a news conference.

Then why was Albert indicted last Monday on charges of forcible sodomy and assault?

This isn’t like the Frank Gifford affair, in which a tabloid newspaper paid a woman to entrap the ABC sportscaster and splashed the mess in its pages. Nor is it like the Dallas Cowboys affair, in which a television reporter aired a woman’s allegations about Michael Irvin and Erik Williams - triggering national media coverage - that later proved false.

She turned out to be a fraud, deserving of jail time, not because she lied about the two football players, but because she gave ammunition to those who believe sexual assault and harassment are figments of some women’s imaginations.

No, this case is different. A formal indictment has been made against Albert, handed up more than three months after the alleged Feb. 12 incident.

Albert said neither police nor prosecutors talked with him, and a grand jury didn’t hear from him.

“Had I spoken to the grand jurors, I would have told them what I am telling you now, and that is I am innocent,” Albert said.

First of all, police didn’t have to talk with Albert during their criminal investigation. In fact, most criminal attorneys refuse to allow their clients to face questioning from police or grand jurors.

Earlier in the week, a police spokesman said Albert failed to return telephone calls when the woman’s complaint was being investigated.

A court of law will determine, as best it can, what happened in the Ritz Carlton hotel room. Meanwhile, the public is forced to deal with this sleazy mess.

To its credit, NBC is standing by Albert, arguing that only one side of the story has been told. That’s laudable and demonstrates, once again, the risk employers face during situations involving criminal charges against one of their employees. If NBC suspended him, Albert could sue NBC for lost wages and public humiliation if he wins in court.

It’s also stupid. Put it this way: If Albert worked for McDonald’s and was indicted on serious charges, do you think it would trust him making happy meals?

No.

NBC shouldn’t have to make a decision on whether to allow Albert to call today’s NBA playoff game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat. He should have taken himself off the telecast to spend every waking moment building his defense.

Albert is a great broadcaster, but he is not the only play-by-play guy in the country. Right now, he is an embarrassment, the butt of jokes and ridicule.

He is the very thing he said he didn’t want to become - a distraction, a sideshow.

That is hard to do, especially considering that Dennis Rodman now looks somewhat normal in comparison. Rodman is clearly a freak, but no one ever charged him with biting a woman’s back.