Clay Travis over at the FanHouse brought up some issues that I had on my mind yesterday. Albeit, he did so is such a manner that is a bit more eloquent than I could have.
Yesterday, Deadspin seemed to unleash an assault on ESPN and some of their employees. The catalyst was of course the news that broke about Steve Phillips. Travis goes into some of the potential legal ramifications that Deadspin or any blog might face in this situation.
After the original story was posted. AJ Daulerio made note that he had received a tip a month and a half ago regarding Phillips possible infidelity.
From their Deadspin unleashed, what they called, their “ESPN Horndog Dossier”. This was about a half dozen posts that ripped not only ESPN personalities but essentially ESPN itself.
I was a bit surprised to see this since, as Travis mentions, ESPN was in 
Bristol late this Summer with some other major sports blogs. In addition, ESPN just sponsored the Blogs With Balls 2.0 event in Vegas.
Back to this particular incident with Steve Phillips. Everyone thinks it is shocking and wrong on a number of levels. However, I briefly pointed out yesterday that this seems to be in the culture over at ESPN–these guys are living the rockstar life.
If you think about it, these unfortunate incidents that keep popping up over in Bristol are predictable. These people are on TV 24/7. They are famous and get recognized everywhere they travel. Furthermore, many of them are on the road for extended periods of time.
What else are you going to do after covering a college football game in some crap college town? The Texas Tech game in Lubbock might have been sweet but there is a good chance you are going to find a local college bar; maybe hang out with your staff that includes young production assistants; or simply send dirty pictures of “yourself” to people after the game ends. In any case the combination of these actions can lead to trouble (some more than others).
No one is surprised when an athlete cheats on their spouse. It’s a given, it happens. On the other hand, when a middle-age ESPN analyst does so it is considered much more bizarre. Both the athlete and the analyst are on the road, away from their family and have to fight temptation on a daily basis. Some people can’t handle it regardless of their age or status.
This culture breads this behavior. However unacceptable it might be, it is the truth.
[...] on an unfortunate incident that occurred at ESPN. Well, apparently, if you believe the stories, a culture within ESPN that led to a series of situations that are not in keeping with workplace best [...]