ESPN Drops Steve Phillips After Affair With Assistant Producer

Phillips Voluntarily Admitting Himself To An In-Patient Treatment Facility

Baseball analyst Steve Phillips is "out at ESPN, less than a week after his brief but stormy summertime affair with a 22-year-old production assistant came to light," according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. ESPN said in a statement, "Steve Phillips is no longer working for ESPN. His ability to be an effective representative for ESPN has been significantly and irreparably damaged, and it became evident it was time to part ways." Phillips' rep Steve Lefkowitz last night in a statement said Phillips is "voluntarily admitting himself to an in-patient treatment facility to address his personal issues." Best notes Phillips "had risen steadily on ESPN's depth chart, joining Jon Miller and Joe Morgan in the game booth" for "Sunday Night Baseball" this season (NEWSDAY, 10/26). ESPN today indicated that Brooke Hundley, who had the relationship with Phillips, has had her employment terminated by the company (THE DAILY). In N.Y., Dan Mangan notes Phillips while serving as Mets GM in '98 "admitted having sex with an employee who wound up suing for sexual harassment," and ESPN was "having none of the sexual shenanigans this time around." That "may not bode well for other ESPN employees, either." Mangan notes ESPN Senior VP/Marketing Katie Lacey and VP/Programming David Berson "have been featured in recent media reports for their escapades together," and Lacey's former assistant Nicole Thompson recently spoke to the N.Y. Post on the record about the relationship (N.Y. POST, 10/26).

BLOG BASH: In N.Y., Richard Perez-Pena notes Deadspin Editor A.J. Daulerio last week posted "rumors of sexual liaisons and harassment involving several other ESPN employees," and "even in the free-for-all of the Internet, this was a bracing position for a well-known site that ... gets more than 150,000 visitors daily." Daulerio: "Do I bend the rules a little bit? Of course I do. We're still a blog at the end of the day, a Gawker Media blog. The larger truth out of this, outside of my temper tantrum over getting scooped out of a story, is that this is the worst-kept secret in sports media." ESPN in a statement said Deadspin's "self-admitted rumormongering is despicable behavior by any standard and shows callous disregard for its impact on people's lives" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/26). AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Brian Powell wrote of ESPN dropping Phillips, "I really hope they didn't feel pressure from Deadspin's stunt near the end of last week, but there was really no other choice" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 10/25). But SPORTINGNEWS.com's Dan Levy writes, "This isn't an athlete who can still hit a fastball. This is a guy in a suit who gives his opinion. And when his voice or his face makes people, at best, chuckle, and at worst, change the channel, it stands to reason that he'd be fired" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 10/26).

Salisbury Files Petition For Civil Defamation Lawsuit

STRIKING BACK: In Texas, Danny Gallagher reported former ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury "filed a petition for a civil defamation lawsuit in a Denton County court against Gawker Media for publishing several false stories on their sports blog Deadspin.com that cost him several jobs, ruined his reputation and made it difficult to find gainful employment." Salisbury's attorney Jeffrey Tillotson in the petition said that Deadspin "has waged a 'long-running smear campaign' against his client" since January '07. Salisbury's attorney Todd Harlow said, "What we hope to prove is that blog sites like Deadspin are accountable." Deadspin Senior Writer Tommy Craggs said that he "could not comment on the lawsuit at this time." Gallagher noted Deadspin "first alleged on Jan. 6, 2007 that ESPN suspended Salisbury for taking indecent photos of himself with his cell phone and showing it to several female co-workers" (MCKINNEY COURIER-GAZETTE, 10/24). The GLOBE & MAIL's Bruce Dowbiggin wrote an "abiding concern with new media is accountability for defamation." Compared to major media organizations, many bloggers and Web sites "have few or no assets to be seized if found to have slandered someone." Critics said that this "has led to websites such as Deadspin knowingly trading in office gossip and rumour" (GLOBESPORTS.com, 10/25).