I almost didn't post this, because Sean Salisbury has been through enough these past few years, but I figured I had to for closure. After vehemently denying the claim that he photographed and mailed a picture of his "nether regions", he confirmed to USA Today what everyone already believed. He really did do it....

Other than its decidedly 21st-century angles, Sean Salisbury's story is timeless: Show spur-of-the-moment stupidity, deny it in hopes it will be forgotten — then find it follows you around instead.

"I was ashamed, and I didn't want to say anything," says Salisbury, who was an NFL quarterback for eight years and an ESPN NFL analyst for 12. "I thought it would go away and let my ego get in the way. Since then, I've beat myself up about it more than 10 baseball bats could. A stupid mistake can cost you, and this has really cost me. I should have been having this conversation a long time ago."

But what Salisbury, 46, is admitting simply substantiates what's already an urban legend on the Internet: that he took cellphone photos of his private parts and showed them.

Yuck. Salisbury says it only happened once — "a sophomoric mistake" in a Connecticut bar in 2006 — for which ESPN suspended him for a week for then-unspecified reasons.

Now, Salisbury feels better from having had anger-management therapy — "I needed help. I had a lot of inner anger for years." He says he's trying to champion the cause of accuracy in online reporting in a lawsuit against Deadspin that he insists is anything but frivolous.

"It was stupid —dumb!— but not malicious," he says. "How can it ruin a good career? … I've gone from being on six days a week to disappearing. And it's not like I wanted to disappear. … But it feels good getting it off my chest."

Well there you have it. Someone who went on the Internet to deny the claim, and wanted you to feel sorry for him, has no come out to say that all reports were true and he wants you to feel sorry for him. I wish Salisbury no ill will, but if you make your bed....you have to lie in it. There's always someone out there to replace you, and don't expect people to miss you when you're gone.

Salisbury aims to move on after admission (USA Today)