10.22.09 DEADSPIN IS DOING THE LORD’S WORK

The Steve Phillips scandal at ESPN has been one of the bigger stories of the week, and it’s launched a full-scale expose’ over at Deadspin, who has published other alleged sexual goings-on in Bristol. And there’s been a bit of griping about it. Isn’t it unfair that Phillips and others are having their personal laundry strung out over the internet for all to see? Isn’t it poor practice to be citing unconfirmed rumors about “back of the house” employees? I’d answer, “Yes and no.”

Deadspin is getting all of these tips for a reason, and I don’t think the submitters are out only to slam these people in public. I suspect that they’re just tired of double standards like this:

The rumor circulating through Bristol — and our inbox — is that [Senior VP of Marketing Katie] Lacey infuriated a lot of people when she began doinking David Berson, an ESPN programming VP at the WWL.

On-air talent had been scolded for similar or lesser indiscretions, yet this relationship went unchallenged, infuriating some Bristolites. No leadership pickles for you, Lacey!

Anyone working in a large corporation expects to be treated fairly and disciplined equally. These rumors popping up on Deadspin (only now, seemingly after sitting in editing purgatory for some time) indicate that the aforementioned equal-opportunity intercourse isn’t happening. And yeah, I think it’s terrible for those involved to get cut down in public like that (presuming that those rumors are true), but I think cheating on your spouse–and somehow not keeping everyone from knowing about it–is even worse.