Favre sued by two massage therapists for racy texts

 

When news originally broke about the Brett Favre/Jen Sterger “sext scandal”, there were also whispers about team massage therapists also being propositioned by the hall of fame QB. At the time, it was believed that the NFL would not look into these allegations because the therapists were considered independent contractors, as opposed to team employees.

The therapists, however, took matters into their own hands according to the New York Daily News. Yesterday, the two therapists sued Favre and the Jets for allegedly ignoring their claims that Favre sent them inappropriate messages trying to arrange a sexual encounter.

According to reports, these messages occurred in 2008 during Favre’s season with the Jets. This was also the same time that he was propositioning Sterger. The two therapists in question were hired by the team to provide massages to the players during training camp. Following a massage, a therapist not involved in the suit also received a text from Favre asking her to arrange a 3-way with the other massage therapist and Favre. According to the lawsuit, one text read the following:

“Brett here. You and Crissy want to get together? I’m all alone. Kinda of lonely tonight. I guess I have bad intentions.”

For those following the rumor mill surrounding Favre since the Sterger allegations came out in August, this is old news. But the lawsuit is certainly news and it’s just yet another of the repeated hits to Favre’s precious legacy.

Brett Favre will be fined, no supsension

 

 

According to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, the Commissioner will render his final decision on the Favre/Sterger saga within the next 48 hours. It is said to include a fine of an undisclosed dollar amount at this point and no suspension. Obviously, with Favre finally at the end of the road in his illustrious career, what good would a suspension really do anyway?

The fine is reported to be no more than $50,000 and likely less than that. With no suspension looming, it clears Favre to play in perhaps his final ever game this week against the Lions, if in fact he passes his concussion tests.

Brett Favre: “Why play? Not worth it.”

 

Apparently the ‘Ol Gunslinger has finally had enough of the game of football. The old man who so often looked like he was a kid playing a game in the backyard has finally conceded that he can no longer handle the game at the NFL level.

After a shoulder injury and disgustingly purple hand ended his precious streak at 297 games, Brett Favre surprised everyone by inserting himself in the lineup at the last minute last week in an attempt to come up with one more magical Monday night against the Bears.

For one drive, it appeared that he would come through one more time as he drove the Vikings offense right down the field for a score. But Favre was knocked out of the game, and apparently was knocked unconscious on a hit that may have ended his career for good this time. No, seriously.

Now, I have learned to never believe a word that comes from this man’s mouth, but for a couple different reasons, I tend to believe this quote. When asked about a return to the field this week or next, Favre added the following:

“Why play? Not worth it.”

He then went on to confirm that he was knocked unconscious for 20 seconds following the hit by Wooten last week. I’m not sure I believe that part as we’ve also learned that Favre loves to exaggerate his injuries in an attempt to manufacture and enhance his “tough guy” persona.

But here is why I think he probably won’t play again. For starters, the Commissioner is close to ruling on the Sterger case and from everything I’ve heard, he has done enough to get suspended if the Commissioner has the balls to do so. I predicted a while back that the Commissioner would have a conversation with Favre convincing him to stay off the field and ride off into the sunset so Goodell can quietly conclude the investigation rather than issuing disciplinary measures.

In addition, it started a couple years ago, but never has it been more evident that Favre just doesn’t look like he wants to be out there. He doesn’t look like he wants to be in the cold, deal with the hits, or practice. Even with his incredible year statistically last season, you could tell that he really didn’t want to get hit in the NFC Championship game against the Saints. Not that I blame him… he got CRUSHED!

Given these circumstances, and since he hasn’t been able to finish a game lately, I honestly believe he’s done and the video below will show the final play in his illustrious and sometimes notorious career.

Goodell-Sterger meeting “Heated”

 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been called into question as of late due to the suspiciously delayed investigation and accompanying ruling on the Favre “sexting” scandal with then Jets sideline reporter, Jen Sterger. Sterger initially delayed meeting with the NFL presumably to allow Favre time to pony up some “hush money”. When Favre stood strong and denied, Sterger finally agreed to meet with the NFL in late November.

News is now out that Sterger met with Goodell again last thursday to discuss the allegations. It was reported on Yahoo Sports that this meeting lasted 2 hours, much longer than the meeting Goodell had with Favre on Monday prior to the game against the Bears that is reported to have only lasted a few minutes. Hmm, Favre only lasting a few minutes? Maybe that’s why Sterger is so upset….

But it is being reported by multiple sources that this meeting was, at times, “Heated”. Perhaps Sterger is upset that the NFL is placating the legend or maybe Goodell is upset that someone is actually holding him accountable and he’s not able to just arbitrarily do whatever he wants for once.

The New York Daily News reports that Sterger will not pursue legal action against Favre if Goodell punishes him and implements a league-wide sexual-harassment policy. I find it extremely hard to believe, and troubling that the NFL doesn’t already have such a policy in place. According to the Daily News, the NFL is currently working on this policy and expects that it will be finalized by the end of the season.

For a multi-billion dollar industry to just now be implementing a sexual harassment policy is absurd, irresponsible, and flat out stupid. The NFL is actually lucky that Sterger won’t have a majority ownership in the league by the time this is all said and done!

 

Video: Goodell Adresses Delayed Ruling on Favre Scandal

 

NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell has drawn some criticism about his handling of the Brett Favre “Sexting” scandal. Some would say that he and the NFL have purposely delayed the investigation and issuance of the final report to allow Favre to play out his last season without facing any further distraction or discipline.

Given the timeline and Goodell’s elusive and sometimes irritated responses, something sure doesn’t add up. Some will say that Sterger didn’t cooperate which delayed the investigation. I don’t buy it as I believe they had enough evidence without speaking to her to render a decision, but even so, she met with the league office more than a month ago. It has taken the Commissioner’s office more than a month to finalize the report that was only missing the Sterger interview.

Then, Goodell has had the final report for over a week, going on 2 weeks now and seems to be continuing to delay. When asked about the status, he now says that he’s asked his people to follow up on some things. If you don’t think Goodell was involved and aware of the investigation every step of the way, you’re fooling yourself. If there were pieces missing, he would have known as it was happening and wouldn’t first come across them when he saw the report last week.

I can’t say for certain that he’s delaying this on purpose, but doesn’t it seem a little off? Listen to his comments and keep the timeline in consideration. Is it possible that he’s delaying the report until Favre can retire to save Favre and the NFL a lot of embarrassment?

 

 

 

 

 

Favre Concussed; Last play ever?

 

In a surprising turn of events, Brett Favre decided that he could give it one more go last night after being declared as “OUT” on the Vikings injury report. I guess the allure of the first outdoor game in Minnesota in 29 years and his last opportunity to play on MNF was too much to pass up. He began the game and actually looked pretty good leading the Vikings down the field for an opening touchdown.

He would only throw 7 passes however and would be forced to leave the game early after suffering a concussion. Favre was wrapped up by a Bears defensive lineman and when he was thrown to the ground, his head hit the hard turf. Favre would lay on the field for a moment and then walk off under his own power. The final word on the injury was a concussion and this adds doubt to Favre being able to suit up for the rest of the season.

So, was this the ‘Ol Gunslinger’s final play of his incredible NFL career?

Roger Goodell should be fired!

 

Roger Goodell has made a name for himself and has continually preached honor, integrity, discipline, consistency, and protecting the shield among other mantras since taking over for Paul Tagliabue as NFL Commissioner. For the most part, he’s been a very good commissioner, but his actions as of late are a complete embarrassment for the NFL that he aims to protect on a daily basis.

By now we’re familiar with Goodell’s attempt to clean up the league and to take the NFL’s personal conduct policy to a whole new level disciplining the likes of Plaxico Burress, Adam (Pacman) Jones, Tank Johnson, Chris Henry, Ben Roethlisberger and others. He has made it clear that whether convicted of a crime or not, the mere appearance of embarrassing and/or inappropriate behavior can lead to fines and/or suspensions for violation of the league’s personal conduct policy.

In addition, he has taken a strong stance on the NFL’s “Defenseless Player” rules in an attempt to curb catastrophic head and neck injuries. So much so, that he’s levied enormous fines toward the likes of James Harrison for plays that occurred in the field of play while issuing minor fines to players like Richard Seymour who took a blatant cheap shot to the head of Ben Roethlisberger after the whistle.

But that’s not even in the same stratosphere of the hypocrisy, unprofessionalism, and flat out fraudulent behavior that the Commissioner may have taken part in over the past few months. As we know, allegations about Brett Favre’s “sexting” scandal with then New York Jets employee, and temptress, Jen Sterger came to light in August of this year (there is also reason to believe that Sterger actually spoke of this in February of 09). The League Office didn’t even acknowledge it until the story picked up steam in October of this year.

For a league that wants to so proactively “protect the shield” and fairly and consistently apply the personal conduct policy, wouldn’t you think they would’ve wanted to carry out their own investigation BEFORE the national media caught wind of this? I don’t buy for one second that they weren’t at least aware of the whispers prior to October. If that weren’t bad enough, the NFL began their own investigation sometime in October and as I write this, it’s December 16th and the NFL has failed to issue a ruling of any kind. The NFL has tremendous resources and I find it hard to believe that it could take 2-3 months for them to gather information and sit down with all parties involved. Keep in mind that Sterger actually sat down with the NFL a little less than a month ago today.

Roger Goodell received the NFL’s final report on the matter last week and has yet to render his decision. I can’t say that I know the league’s process for it’s investigation and issuance of the report and I don’t know what the Commissioner’s role and responsibilities are as it relates to reviewing the report and issuing a ruling. But I can say that for such a critical issue, it’s an embarrassment that it takes the Commissioner a week to review the report and render his decision. And that’s IF you believe that it’s legitimately taking this long to work through the process.

It’s a bit shady to me that not only was the investigation dragged out for months after the matter had been ignored for months, if not years, but the decision is also being delayed. It’s entirely possible and even plausible that Goodell allowed the investigation to drag on as long as possible so as to avoid potentially suspending Favre during the season and ending the precious streak.

I know, some apologists will say that the investigation actually took this long and it has nothing to do with Favre or his streak. Do not be naive. There are just too many coincidences, and the timing is too suspect, for this to be legit as far as I’m concerned. The NFL ignored the problem until they were forced into action. The investigation coincidentally concluded AFTER Favre’s streak was already over (or close enough to the end that the NFL had reason to believe that it was over). Goodell’s decision was coincidentally delayed until AFTER the streak ended. I won’t be surprised at all if there is no punishment issued at all, but if it is, I hope everyone sees through it for what it really is. Any punishment at this point would be disingenuous, dishonest, and a complete joke as we all know Favre isn’t coming back next year and he definitely wouldn’t come back if there were discipline in place.

I believe that the NFL’s investigation turned up enough information to prove that Favre violated the personal conduct policy (if not the Jet’s sexual harassment policy) and he delayed his decision until Favre was done for the year. I predict that Goodell will finally come out and say that no punishment will be issued to Favre but it wouldn’t surprise me if it occurred after a private conversation with him. Is it possible that in exchange for not publicly disciplining the hall of famer, Favre will agree to finally retire so it won’t become an issue? Honestly, what is the point of handing down discipline or details of any kind at this point? Favre is done, he won’t be playing anymore and a fine or suspension at this point would be asinine and it would bring more embarrassment to the league.

If Goodell were going to take any action he should have done it weeks, if not months ago. We’ll never know for sure, but it ‘s likely that the NFL covered up and delayed this to protect Favre as much as possible and until he could ride off into the sunset. And coming from Goodell, who has been a complete hardass toward other players, it sickens me to see it. If this actually happened this way, it’s the most egregious and despicable cover up that we may ever see in professional sports.

Goodell promised that his decision would come this week and I’ll be curious to see what discipline, if any, is handed out and what specific language is used by Goodell or the league office. I love the NFL and I honestly hope that I’m wrong and this is all one big coincidence. But given the way Favre has been coddled and canonized for years, I’ll be surprised if I’m wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favre takes Viking “Spirit” too far? (A Favre story with a twist)

 

On the day after Brett Favre‘s consecutive games started streak ended at 297, there are an abundance of articles, columns and blogs centered around the selfish egomaniac we’ve all come to know and “love”. I don’t care about Brett Favre or his streak since it has taken a solely selfish perspective for at least the last 3 years (I think longer). But one thing that I did think was both interesting and disgusting was Brett Favre’s hands. Especially his right hand.

Just take a look at the ‘Ol Gunslinger‘s hands in the picture above. There are 3 reasonable and equally likely causes for just what in the world could cause his hands to look that way and I think they’re worth detailing.

3. Injury

Favre sprained his throwing shoulder in his last game against the Bills which lead up the final “will he-wont he” drama. At least as it pertains to the streak. The injury was severe as it actually caused him to miss a game and end his beloved streak which I never envisioned happening. He played the media as he always does over the weekend texting Ed Werder that if the game were to be played on Sunday he wouldn’t have been able to play. Despite God’s best efforts to postpone the game for about 18 hours, the injury proved serious enough to hold him out. Can a sprained shoulder cause your hands to turn “Viking Purple”?

2. Team Spirit

Since Brett was missing his first game since 1992, is it possible that he was trying to support his team in his own, bizarre and unique way? Did Brett Favre dye his hands purple as a way of supporting his teammates? I mean c’mon… we all know the ONLY reason he even came back this year was for his teammates. Everything Brett has ever done in his life is for the betterment of the team. So maybe he thought if he died his skin deep purple it would fire up his teammates and lead to a victory.

1. Loneliness

By now we all know about the Jen Sterger sexting scandal where the ‘Ol Gunslinger sent racy pictures and texts as well as several voicemail messages to the temptress. Given the course that this scandal took, I think it’s safe to say that she turned him down. And given the publicity that this has received, I think it’s safe to say that things haven’t been all that great in the Favre household. So maybe, just maybe Favre’s hand is that disgusting shade of purple because it’s been so ridiculously overworked for the last several months. Just sayin’….

Who knows the true reason for this disgusting shade of purple that we saw on Favre’s hands last night… but if we have learned anything since 1992 it’s that Brett isn’t shy about whining about his ailments, so it’s likely that we’ll find out via Ed Werder soon enough.

 

 

Vikings vs. Giants: “Likely” to be Played at Ford Field

In case you haven’t heard by now, the Metrodome, which is the home stadium for the Minnesota Vikings had an inflatable bag that is a part of the roof of the dome collapse at about 5 AM local time this morning. This game has already had it’s issues due to the Giants being stuck in the Kansas City airport due to weather. This delay caused the game to be moved back from today to Monday night. But with the collapse of the roof at the Metrodome, the game was in jeopardy of even being played monday night.

The options for how to get the game played included the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ outdoor stadium in Minnesota, Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis, and Ford Field in Detroit.

Rich Eisen of the NFL Network has reported that it is now “likely” that the game will be played tomorrow night at Ford Field. I’m not sure if the Giants have gotten out of Kansas City yet, but Detroit is close enough in proximity that it is the most plausible and logical answer. There are several issues with playing the game at the local college field which makes it extremely unlikely.

The hash marks are different, the goal posts are different, the seating is said to be an issue, and the Giants left New York expecting to play in a dome. I highly doubt that they brought the proper spikes for the cleats to play on a grass field, in the elements.

The other impact of the game being postponed involves Brett Favre, which I could care less about. But since everyone seems to care and since every seems to be reporting on the fact that “God wants Favre to extend his streak”, I have to mention it. Favre is quoted as saying that if the game were to be played today, he wouldn’t have been able to go. First of all, I don’t believe a single word that comes from that man’s mouth. EVER. He would say anything to hype up the streak and try to play up his “toughness”. But the reality is, hundreds of NFL players play every week with ailments equal to or greater than what Favre plays with and yet they keep it quiet. They don’t leak their injuries to Peter King or Chris Mortensen, or Ed Werder each and every week. I don’t care how many games he’s played, that doesn’t equal toughness in my book.

But anyways, the game being delayed by at least a day will at least improve the chances of Favre extending the streak that no one outside of the Favre household and ESPN cares about.

Here is a video of the roof collapse.

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2010/12/12/nr.metrodome.collapse.cnn

ESPN: The Beginning of the End (for Credibility)

 

We’re all familiar with the SportsCenter commercials that started years ago that featured various athletes in mostly funny skits. At the time, it just appeared to be a great way to get exposure for the athletes and to provide a little humor with the sports programming. But little did we know that it would foretell the beginning of the end of ESPN’s credibility.

ESPN is certainly the worldwide leader in sports entertainment. They are massive and have an inordinate amount of leverage and power in the sporting world. They can actually make or break an athlete with their programming. And that’s the problem. They literally have the ability to sway public perception about an athlete with their “down your throat” “24-7″ programming and Capitol Hill-like spin.

It has gotten progressively worse since ESPN was acquired by the entertainment giant, Disney. For anyone even a little familiar with Disney’s programming and marketing power, just reference Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and Justin Bieber. I sincerely apologize for having to mention these people. Please, please forgive me. But this type of marketing that Disney has employed to force these “talents” upon the world and create their stardom, not based on talent, but based on the enormous resources allocated to them and the constant and almost brainwashing programming.

For ESPN, the downward spiral began well before the acquisition by Disney as the foundation was laid when they started to get into bed with athletes. Once they stopped reporting sporting news and started creating news, spin and more of an entertainment focus than a journalistic focus, it was all downhill. Once they entered into more of a business partnership relationship with athletes as opposed to a professional and journalistic relationship with athletes, the Axis of Evil was born.

Anyone with even a little objectivity can cite dozens, if not hundreds, of examples of incredible bias, spin, and inappropriately allocated programming towards ESPN favorites like Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, LeBron James, etc. There is no denying that each are incredible athletes. No argument, whatsoever. But there is also no denying the tremendous spin and bias that ESPN employs in regards to these players in order to maintain their “investment”. ESPN builds up these athletes’ popularity and stature so as to build a long-term audience. They then tailor their programming to be heavily dedicated to these people so it’s in their best interest to spin and alter perception to uphold these athletes’ stature, and keep public perception positive.

Just a handful of weeks ago, ESPN began an effort to control the damage to LeBron’s image after the fiasco that was “The Decision”. Not only did LeBron James’ image take an incredible hit due to his actions over the summer, but ESPN was called into question for their role in the debacle. ESPN not only dedicated its programming (as usual) and began heavy spin control to re-establish their “investment” as a positive figure in the NBA and in the sporting world in general, but they sent reporters and camera crews to Cleveland in an attempt to alter public perception.

They literally sent reporters to Cleveland prior to the beginning of the NBA season and asked a series of questions that were clearly in an attempt to re-allocate blame for “The Decision” and other LeBron mistakes on the City of Cleveland and Cavaliers fans (
http://bit.ly/dks0cT
). The questions also were a direct attempt to blame Cavaliers fans for the way LeBron James behaved. They also tried their best to portray Cavs fans as a bitter, ignorant, and uneducated fan base. It was consistent with LeBron’s recent marketing strategy to paint himself as a victim as they were also portraying him as a victim and they were making excuses for his behavior. As always, LeBron is never at fault, and he is never responsible for anything.

All of this is fine, and it’s actually a savvy and proven business strategy. The issue arises, however, when ESPN portrays itself as a news entity and as a credible journalistic source. It is clear that they’ve moved well past the arena of sporting news and journalistic credibility and have become almost solely an entertainment entity.

Looking back on it now, after we’ve seen the unprofessional, unethical, and inappropriate way ESPN has dealt with the likes of Tiger Woods, Ben Roethlisberger, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Lance Armstrong, and Brett Favre, this old commercial is strangely prophetic. ESPN has gone out of its way to try to protect these and other athletes. Examples include Brett Favre’s “Sext Scandal” with Jenn Sterger where information was literally available for months that it had occurred and they waited until the last possible minute in an attempt to not have to address it. Their editors pulled a story about LeBron in Vegas over the summer after they saw that it had some information that painted LeBron in a negative light (even though it was completely accurate and was completely consistent with the purpose of the story).

This type of behavior has been going on for years, seems to be getting worse, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. The funny part about this commercial as well, is ESPN has a HUGE list of former commercials on their website, but I was unable to find this one on there. It appears that they pulled it, perhaps because it’s not as far fetched (or humorous) as it maybe once was.

In this commercial, Dwyane Wade is given “Final Cut” authority over his highlights. Funny at the time as it was clearly done in a joking and unrealistic manner, it is now sadly and strangely prophetic. Given LeBron James’ pull over how ESPN reports on him, this type of thing isn’t all that impossible anymore. And that’s sad. There is no question that LeBron James’ people got the Vegas story pulled much in the same way he had Nike confiscate the Jordan Crawford footage. You can’t tell me that Tiger, Favre, etc. don’t have a forum by which to provide “feedback” that steers the programming and discussion at least to some extent.

Favre, for instance, has multiple ESPN reporters on speed-dial that he uses to leak whatever information suits him at the time. He knows they will run with whatever information he wants at any time and dedicate an incredible amount of programming. Whether it be retirement, un-retirement, injury, etc. The last time he “retired” and sent a text to a teammate saying he was done, ESPN literally dedicated a full day of programming to discuss the move and in tribute to Favre’s career. Does this seem appropriate or ethical?

This particular commercial had to have come out at least 4 or 5 years ago in a time where this did seem far fetched and in good fun. Unfortunately now, given the dark road ESPN has traveled down, it’s not so far fetched any longer. Take a look. You’ve probably seen it before, but when I saw it again with a different perspective, it kind of made my skin crawl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

bias 
http://bit.ly/9biLof