Brett Favre seems to have been intercepted again.
This time it was a different kind of pick though, one that will and should cost him his already tarnished image. Deadspin.com broke another part of a story today about an alleged set of incidents where Favre sent text messages of his junk to former Jets sideline reporter Jenn Sterger.
According to Deadspin and Sterger’s comments to the Web site, Favre began to call her early on during his 2008 season with the Jets and leaving strange, friendly messages. Apparently Sterger didn’t want to act on it because Favre is Favre, he was married and Sterger worked for the Jets, so she was afraid she’d lose her job.
Then things got a little weird. And by a little weird, I mean Woogie’s foot fetish from “Something About Mary” weird. In an ironic twist, Favre was in that movie.
Sterger started receiving picture texts, of um, certain areas Brett shouldn’t really be exposing. Apparently, he knew all about “Pants on the Ground” before he started doing that ridiculous locker room act with the Vikings last year.
Again, according to Deadspin’s report, the pictures kept coming, one of Brett taking care of some personal business, another of him holding his junk in one hand, his wristwatch he wore during his first retirement in the other.
Now, the problem is no one can actually confirm if it’s Brett. The Jets won’t talk and apparently Brett got Sterger’s number for an intermediary. And Sterger won’t comment on it, the voicemails and pictures Deadspin has were acquired through a third party. Basically, the story is breaking, but not to the national media like ESPN. It’s possible it could be someone trying very hard to appear like Brett Favre – which, as Deadspin points out, would require voice lessons, a Mississippi cell phone number and implicate people with the Jets for no other reason than to mess with a sideline reporter who worked Jets games but wasn’t employed by the Jets?
I wanted to cover all that (to give proper credit and cover my rear) before I got to this: If it’s indeed Brett, prepare for a scandal of epic proportions. Tiger Woods scandal got so big, involved so many women and so much weird information about his preferences and quirks we became numb to it.
“Oh, Tiger’s number might be triple digits? Huh, interesting. Can you pass the sugar?”
But Mr. Wrangler? He’s comfortable in Wranglers and apparently comfortable sending naked pictures of himself to a 25-year-old who’s just a few years older than his oldest daughter. His wife had breast cancer a few years back. And even weirder? Jenn Sterger looks a lot like a younger Deanna Favre.
This could ruin Favre’s season. It could ruin Randy Moss’ return to the Vikings. It could turn the whole Brett Favre saga into something more than just his indecisiveness. And certainly, that’s a story in and of itself.
It could also ruin his family, his children’s lives and his marriage.
Hey Brett, Bumblebee Tuna.
Is it our business? Is it our job to care that a nearly 40-year-old man sent pictures of his twig and berries to a young sideline reporter two years ago? I really don’t know. But you put a story like that out there, for a nation of sports fans and consumers, we’re going to laugh for a few minutes (c’mon, it’s just funny Favre would even do it), before we turn our internal thoughts to how weird it is. And stupid.
It’s not necessarily to debate if you can get away with it, but why you’d even contemplate it?
Jason Whitlock said on Twitter, “Think about it: do we really wanna live n a society in which a middle-aged man can’t showcase his junk n pursuit of a younger woman?”
Perhaps Whitlock was being sarcastic, which I would imagine. But in the larger scheme of things, what’s going on here? Why is this even a discussion. Yes, it’s inappropriate. Don’t give me this nonsense about the old days and how many athletes cheated on their spouses or got drunk and made bad decisions. It’s not 1960. You can’t tip a bellman $20 to keep it quiet. Everyone’s got a cellphone. Messages are saved, sent and posted.
A lot of my friends could have cared less about Tiger Woods extramarital affairs. It was a joke. Woods gave new meaning to the word “foursome.” We’re just numb to it because we hear it all the time, right? It’s not so much about morals and values as it is common decency and common sense. Well, it may be about those things to me, but I’m not getting on a soapbox and proclaiming they behave.
Just do us a favor: just stop getting caught so we, in turn, can stop hearing about it and having to explain to children younger than 12 why everyone’s now weirded out by these guys.
My son, who’s 8-years-old, asked me if I liked Tiger Woods during Ryder Cup highlights last week.
“He’s a talented golfer,” I said.
“Do you still like playing his video games, Daddy?” he replied.
“Um…haven’t bought one in a while, bud,” I answered.
“Why not?” he continued.
“Just haven’t…hey, let’s hustle up, we gotta get to school,” I said, doing my best to change the subject.
If you don’t have kids, you might not get it. It’s just that it becomes our business when the media break the story and then cover it like it’s the only thing to talk about for three weeks. Word gets around and suddenly your kid’s asking why you don’t play Tiger Woods Golf anymore.
And it’s not just the seedy sexual stuff. We live in a world where Daunte Stallworth can run over and kill another human being and spend less than a month in prison. And we’re all OK with it. Now I’ve got to explain to the boy why the TV announcers are talking about how this wide receiver for the Ravens ran over a guy, killed him and is still playing football.
There’s no right and wrong, morally or just in general, anymore. It’s all just various shades of gray.
We shrug this stuff off, but then get mad, bitter and angry when it seeps into youth athletics or just high school. Why cry foul at coaches who yell at our kids and don’t coddle them on the playing field or in practice, but it doesn’t bother us when Latrell Sprewell chokes his coach and simply gets traded to another team?
Go look up how many NFL players have DUIs or DWIs in the past 12 months. Then go tell your kids or if you’re a coach, tell your players, “don’t drink and drive.”
Yeah, but they do it – and nothing bad happened.
We tell our kids to be honest, to do the right thing and then laugh when Derek Jeter pretends to get hit by a pitch so he can get on base. That’s just good baseball, right?
Is there a difference, or is it all just various shades of gray?
Let’s find out and see what happens with Favre. And let’s watch how America reacts.
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