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.
Nobody seems to be sure whether or not Brett Favre has actually signed with the Minnesota Vikings, but everyone seems pretty sure that, at some point, the deal is gonna go down and Favre will get his two games against his old team. Whether he’s “sticking it” to them or not isn’t something I really care about, but I know that if I had an old boss that was making my life miserable, I’d be eager to return the favor. The best revenge is living well, while working to ruin that other person’s life. I think I read that somewhere.
Anyway, people have been giving Mike Florio at PFT grief for breaking this report two days ago about how someone in Iraq told him that Favre had already signed with the Vikings, but that both parties were sitting on the news.
If accurate, this means that the Vikings have a signed contract that they have yet to submit to the league office. Setting aside for now the question of whether league rules permit such tactics, it puts into perspective recent developments such as Favre’s use of “we” when discussing the matter with [Joe Buck], the visit by a Vikings trainer to Favre to check on his arm, and reports that coach Brad Childress wanted to see Favre participate in some of the offseason workouts.[...]
After hitting a dead end [in trying to confirm the tip, we got in touch with a source who would know the truth. The source explained that no information could be given, adding “I will not deny it either, I will leave it at that.”
Yeah, I want to wipe my shoes off after reading that, too. But now Canadian news outlets (?) are reporting something that make this deal seem to be a foregone conclusion (if it wasn't already):
The Minnesota Vikings have reportedly reached a deal with Reebok to start producing Brett Favre No. 4 jerseys, suggesting the Vikings are on the verge of signing the veteran. ]The jerseys are not listed on NFLShop.com as of this writing. –Ed.]
Look, Favre is going to play for the Vikings in 2009. It’s going to happen. Florio is now reporting that the Vikings will announce the news on July 3rd, when they expect a dampened media reaction. That’s fine with me. I’ll probably be laying in a ditch somewhere that weekend, dampening my pants from alcohol-induced relaxation.
UPDATE: Obviously this went down Friday, but yeah, Gillispie is now gone.
From the outsider’s perspective, the only true qualification that Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie seemed to have was that he was whiter than Tubby Smith. Smith, you’ll remember, was ran out of Lexington in 2007 after fans had to suffer through second round exits in the NCAAs. Gillispie has fared no better, and in fact led his team to a fantastic collapse to end his second season with the team, and Kentucky missed the Big Dance for the first time since they were on probation in 1991. And now a report from Score on the Leo Weekly blog (thanks, flubby) says that Gillispie will be fired when his season ends. It’s credible enough for us to run here, which means absolutely nothing:
The termination, I’m told, will happen soon after UK’s last game.
I’m told that a player mutiny was afoot, that as many as five underclassmen declared their intention not to return if BCG did. And that the school’s administration is disinclined to let that happen. Especially since the coach has been a PR nightmare since he stepped on campus.
I’m told that UK president Lee Todd himself made the decision.
So there. For the record, Kentucky beat UNLV last night to advance to the field of 16 in the NIT last night. And they couldn’t even play the game in their own arena, as the place was rented out for the state high school championships. It was fitting, as the Kats hadn’t played in that gym since 1976; their last NIT appearance before last night came in 1979.
Originally posted March 18, 2009
It's not too often you can read sports news here at With Leather before major media outlets, but a handsome anonymous tipster has reported to me that Odell Thurman, the Bengals' embattled linebacker, has once again run afoul of the law.
According to the tipster, Thurman attended a house party in his hometown of Monticello, Georgia Saturday night. At around 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, he was grinding on another partygoer's girlfriend, which upset the partygoer in question. Said partygoer asked Thurman to stop, then returned his attention to a game of pool. The rest of the story, according to the email I received:
Big mistake. Thurman ran up to the guy, pushed him down, and kicked the shit out of his face knocking the guy out. He then left, and moments later came back with his entourage carrying guns. Some of the people there were able to calm him down, and get him to leave for good.
The Monticello Police Department couldn't provide me with any details, and I got voicemail when I called the county courthouse. But you can expect to see charges filed against Thurman by the end of the day, and Len Pasquarelli will probably have the full story sometime later this afternoon. You know, if this is all true.
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with the host of the party. Although he was upstairs when the fight began, he corroborated the story above. And to be fair to Thurman, it appears that he returned with guns and friends with guns only after people at the party pulled guns on him.
SECOND UPDATE: A tipster sent along the picture below, which is supposedly of the victim's cut lip, courtesy Odell's foot. I've also received word that Thurman tried to buy his victim's silence. And just for fun: it was on Friday that Thurman got sentenced to six days in rehab with two years probation for his DUI conviction.
