Brett Favre Should Be Suspended
By chris
I don’t usually write about other teams because, frankly, I don’t care about any teams other than the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, a situation has occurred which I think pertains to the Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger, and Roger Goodell’s absolutely ridiculous suspension policy.
Deadspin is sort of the National Enquirer of sports websites. They delight in catching athletes in compromising positions and love spreading the latest gossip. But their unique position often allows them to break stories which the major networks, who are at the mercy of the sports leagues and their players, do their best to ignore.
A few months back, Deadspin broke a story involving Brett Favre propositioning former Playboy model Jenn Sterger. Sterger, who some of you may know as one of the hosts of Versus daily sports show The Daily Line, was hired by the New York Jets as the team’s “Gameday Host.” She was basically the team’s own personal Erin Andrews, someone hired to stand on the sidelines and give useless nuggets of information while looking hot. Sterger’s hiring coincided with Favre’s being traded to the Jets from Green Bay.
Yesterday afternoon, Deadspin supposedly posted proof of Favre’s vile behavior. They have emails Favre sent to Sterger, desperate (rather pathetic) voice mails he left her, and (allegedly) pictures of his penis sent in an effort to entice her. They compiled all these things in a video you can watch by clicking here. Warning: For those of you who do not wish to see the Gunslinger’s love gun, the uncensored pictures appear toward the end of the video.
I think it’s safe to say the Gunslinger is not slinging a Magnum.
To Sterger’s credit, she refused Brittfar’s crass advances. Displaying the kind of morals that the skank down in Milledgeville did not have, she also didn’t whine to her bosses or file a lawsuit. Even though if these emails, messages, and photos are authentic she would have had CONCRETE PROOF, she still chose to keep this information to herself. Only prodding and investigative reporting by Deadspin brought this issue to light.
I bet Deanna Favre is real happy right now.
What does this have to do with the Steelers, you may ask? Big Ben was suspended for “violating the league’s personal conduct policy.” What was his violation? Being arrested for sexual assault? He wasn’t arrested. Being charged with sexual assault? He was never charged.
Ben was suspended because he went to a college bar, bought some sorority girls drinks, and then propositioned one for sex. Period. There is absolutely not one shred of credible proof he did anything other than that. And he was suspended for doing what I believe about 500,000 horny men do every Friday night at bars all across this country.
What did Brett Favre allegedly do? Sterger was an employee of the Jets. Brett was also an employee. But in practical terms, Brett was her direct superior. Without Brett’s cooperation, how was she supposed to report on the team? How long would a “Gameday Host” last if the team’s star quarterback refused to talk to her?
If you’re somebody’s boss and you ask them to sleep with you, that’s sexual harassment. If you or I had an underling and we sent them suggestive emails or desperate phone messages, we’d be fired. If we sent them pictures of our dicks, we’d be slapped with a lawsuit.
There isn’t one single bit of proof Ben did anything different than other normal guys do on their night off. His fame and celebrity caused a hysterical sorority girl to trump up a bunch of phony baloney to justify her loose morals. And because of this girl, Ben was suspended for four games by the Ginger Dictator.
Is there concrete proof that Brett Favre sexually harassed a member of the media in the most disgusting way possible? No but there is a helluva lot more evidence against Brett than anybody had against Ben. If this is not a violation of the NFL’s personal conduct policy, I ask what is? Unless Roger Goodell feels it’s perfectly okay for a highly important player to solicit sexual favors from a woman covering his team, Brett Favre MUST be suspended.
After all, fair is fair.