Steve Phillips, ESPN, and Sex: A Bonanza For Rumor-Mongering Lemmings

The current story about ESPN analyst Steve Phillips making the rounds is a prime example of what’s truly wrong with this society, and how web sites purporting to report news and instead dealing in little more than salacious gossip pollute the Internet like so much toxic waste.

It’s not about what Phillips did.

Rather about the hysteria in following a story where one thing is inescapably apparent to anyone with a single  brain cell firing.

This is not legitimate news worth covering past a one-time notice and nothing more.

This is not something any legitimate news outlet should spend one millisecond digging into, now that the initial story has been noted and documented.

This is absolutely nothing legitimate to waste a single syllable on past this initial reporting.

And therein lies the one word we need to focus on.

Legitimate.

Phillips has been forced to take a leave of absence from ESPN after allegations of having an affair with a much younger female network employee has come to public life. This is not the first time an ESPN baseball analyst has apparently been playing in the company pool, as we learned in the Harold Reynolds incident and subsequent firing.

Let’s take a step back here for a moment and break this down to its simplest form, shall we?

This is a story reaching hysterical proportions on a number of web sites carrying with them the tag of being very questionable when it comes to any real journalistic reporting skills. Yet are often taken as bible by more than a few people who disregard facts and checking sources as a necessary part of the reporting process. Most notably these web sites exist for little more than seeking to gloat over the more established and reputable networks. Fabricating and commenting on  stories and links used to plumb the depths of rumor, innuendo and personal attacks. Or because they have an ax to grind with ESPN and play childish games.

This is a story focusing on a former baseball player who talks about baseball on a cable sports network.

A former jock tossing out his opinions on the sport he played. On a cable network.

(CONTINUED)

The remainder of this commentary, featuring Phillips history, the ESPN response, and a reference to Bill Clinton's sexual dalliance, is available by clicking here.

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