Sean Salisbury went from ESPN analyst to, online mogul, to radio host, in a brief period, and unfortunately controversy followed him each place. Everyone knows the ESPN alleged story about "Lil Sean" and a cell phone camera, while Sean's latest problems (after being let go by a radio station in Dallas) are rumored to be along the same lines, Salisbury is apparently suing everyone on the planet. Via Deadspin....

This is salisbury and I just want u to know ur guys lies and carelessness about CBS and espn stories has not only ruined my reputation but has cost me jobs so prepare urself for a lawsuit so big I will own deadspin u will be asked to give up ur sources so since u guys have cost me more than alot of money my only goal in my career is to ruin u like u have me. Sadly I tried to be honest with you and you have continually written lies. So you and a few major media networks arebeing sued. And put this on ur careless website. I kept a journal for 13 years at espn and a tell all book will be released in months to come. Book title: espn exposed. The truth inside the r rated company. So ur lies about a cell phone incident that is a lie and the reason I left CBS radio that u guys lied about. The time has come and I won't stop until the truth is told and deadspin is exposed.

Well then. Obviously, if the rumored cell phone incidents aren't true, then Salisbury has some leverage. Buuuut....these things have followed them everywhere, and the original ESPN employee is on record as confirming the story. It seems like big talk from someone who's frustrated with his current situation, but I'm definitely going to keep an eye on how it plays out.

(Side note: If you read that whole email exchange on Deadspin, the amount of spelling mistakes is atrocious. It wouldn't surprise me that this is/was a hoax.)

Sean Salisbury Has A Few Things To Get Off His Chest (Deadspin)

Ever since ESPN decided to make a non-issue of this, I've been intrigued by the Roethlisberger civil lawsuit. Well today, Roethlisberger made a short, yet very confident statement, denying the allegations of Andrea McNulty. For as much as ESPN ignored the story, they predictably aired the press conference, and discussed the issue with one of their many law consultants. Here's a clip....

He was pretty adamant there, and since Nevada authorities aren't pursuing criminal charges, you can expect either a trial in the near future or a dismissal of the case. I'm personally expecting the later to happen.

See what happens when you take a few days off? Apparently some hotel employee takes a peephole video of America's favorite sideline reporter, and said sideline reporter has since threatened a lawsuit against the maker of the video. Both the lawyer and ESPN have made statements, and here they are....

LOS ANGELES, Calif., July 17 /PRNewswire/ — With respect to recent Internet postings of Erin Andrews, she has authorized her attorney, Marshall B. Grossman of Bingham McCutchen LLP, to issue the following statement:

“While alone in the privacy of her hotel room, Erin Andrews was surreptitiously videotaped without her knowledge or consent. She was the victim of a crime and is taking action to protect herself and help ensure that others are not similary violated in the future. Although the perpetrator or perpetrators of this criminal act have not yet been identified, when they are identified she intends to bring both civil and criminal charges against them and against anyone who has published the material. We request respect of Erin’s privacy at this time, while she and her representatives are working with the authorities.”

ESPN's statement: "Erin has been grievously wronged here. Our people and resources are in full support of her as she deals with this abhorrent act."

Obviously there's a way to download the video, but there's not a chance in hell that I'm going to promote a criminal act like this on this site. It's a flat out violation of a persons rights, and the person who filmed it should definitely be charged with assault. I hope this goes away quickly for Andrews, and hopefully anyone who gets their hands on such filth, has the decency to not give it any play.

The "4th and Long" PR people have been great in sending out info and videos to get the word out on the new show, but I bet they'd been trying to keep this bit of news under wraps. The Dallas Morning News is reporting that three individuals are suing Michael Irvin, and the producers of the show, for stealing the idea from them....

Three men are claiming interference against Michael Irvin in a lawsuit, saying the former Cowboys star stole their football reality show concept and turned it into a cable TV program.

The men say they approached Irvin in 2007 to pitch their show titled “Guts to Glory,” featuring contestants competing for a spot on a professional football team, according to a lawsuit filed in Dallas County District Court last week.

Irvin’s Dallas-based attorney, Larry Friedman, said his client had thought of the concept several years earlier after he watched the first episode of the reality TV series "American Idol." Irvin met with dozens of people regarding a reality football program, Friedman said.

The men presented their concept to Irvin and his agent and representative in August 2007, according to the lawsuit, obtained by Courthouse News Service. In the following months, they negotiated an agreement regarding how much money each side would receive.

The agreement first proposed that Irvin and his agent receive 25 percent of a producing fee in connection with the show. In March 2008, Irvin’s representatives told the plaintiffs he wanted 95 percent of the fee, the lawsuit states.

Fourteen months later, “4th and Long” appeared on TV.

Cases like this are rarely found in favor of the plaintiff, but it sounds like these three have a pretty good case. You can read more of the actual report here, and I'll try to keep you all updated on the case as it goes along.

3 sue ex-Cowboys star Michael Irvin over '4th and Long' TV show (Dallas Morning News)

If this was yesterday, I would almost certainly think that this was an April Fool's joke, but alas....it is not. Greg Gumbel is suing a company called Encore because they used his likeness in informercials, instead of what was agreed upon. Apparently his voice was supposed to support a line of educational products, but instead was used for time shares, and get this....magnet therapy. Via the Huff Po....

CBS Sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel claims in a lawsuit a television producer tricked him into hosting a series of Internet infomercials.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale. The suit claims Paul Douglas Scott, owner of Deerfield Beach-based Encore Television Group Inc., told Gumbel he would be announcing introductions for educational programming. Instead, Gumbel says his introductions were used in infomercials for time-shares, magnet therapy and other products.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and to have the videos taken down.

Gumbel's attorney would not comment on the suit. A telephone number listed on Encore's Web site had been disconnected.

That's just crazy, but seriously though....what's wrong with magnet therapy? I mean, I don't exactly know what it is, but money is money. In fact, if Greg doesn't want his voice on the infomercials, I know someone who needs the work. His brother, Bryant.

Greg Gumbel says he was tricked into infomercials (Huffington Post)

Well that's one of the odder headlines I've ever written, but it's true. TMZ is saying that ESPN owes the city of Los Angeles over $40,000 business license for X Games, and they're suing the WW"L".

Kaleeeefornia and parts thereof are broke-ass broke -- and ESPN may be partly to blame.

It all boils down to this: ESPN allegedly stiffed the City of LA out of $43,159.50 in back taxes from 2004-2006. Details are a bit sketchy, but the taxes were assessed as part of production on the X Games.

In the lawsuit against ESPN filed Friday, the City claims it mailed the bill to network offices in Bristol, but nobody ever sent a check.

ESPN has since told TMZ that the "check is in the mail", but it'll be interesting to see how this one plays out. It's certainly not the time to be messing with someone's money, let alone an entire city.

Update: I mistakenly said $40 million when first posting, and after getting word from ESPN, have changed it to the correct total of $40K. That seems like a total that should be easily taken care of, and is ultimately just a miscommunication.

ESPN Accused of Screwing Los Angeles (TMZ)

While the Angels are trying to wait and see if their offers are enough to land Mark Teixiera's services long-term, the organization does have a victory in the off-season of note: a four-year legal battle over their mockery-worthy full name is just about over now. A California appellate court has decided that the Angels can call themselves the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" without violating an agreement with the city of Anaheim.

It's a battle of ownership changes -- Disney agreed to the Anaheim Angels name in exchange for public funding to renovate Anaheim Stadium, but when they sold to Arte Moreno, he wanted to expand the fan base and potential money from broadcasters by trying to make it more of a regional team -- although everyone out West with any suss considers the Dodgers the real Los Angeles team. Anaheim sued the franchise when the name change was first made in 2005, and the "of Anaheim" bit isn't likely to survive when the lease runs out.

So, our jokes an mockery are still good for the next six or seven years until the Angels can opt out of the lease. To note: if you're going to pump public money into any stadium/arena project and you want some naming choice, make it legally airtight -- considering the recent overtures of moving by teams, there's a very real chance we will face the "Oakland Athletics of Fremont" or the "San Francisco 49ers of Santa Clara" rather soon.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim win case to keep name [Los Angeles Times]

I didn't really pay much attention to this whole exchange when it went down, but it's reached a level now that I can't ignore. Both Barry Melrose and the Tampa Bay Lightning took shots at each other recently, but since Melrose fired the first one, the Ligntning's Ownership is looking to take him to court for a breach of contract. Seriously....

The Tampa Bay Lightning ownership group is contemplating filing a charge with the league claiming Barry Melrose breached his contract when he spoke out Tuesday against his former team.

If the Lightning go ahead and the league supports the claim, they can than refuse to pay Melrose the remaining $2.25M owed on his 3-year deal.

"Finally the guys in charge decided they wanted to coach and they got rid of me. That's what it comes down to. It obviously wasn't a hockey decision, because it's not like they've set the world on fire since they got rid of me...Now they've got guys in charge that let them do what they want and obviously that isn't working out very well either."

When pressed about who he was referring to with his comments, Melrose said he had a lot of respect for co-owner Oren Koules, but didn't want to talk about other co-owner Len Barrie when asked directly about him.

While I don't think Melrose should have been dropped so soon, there's something to be said for "not burning any bridges". If the team is still going to be paying you money, it might not be wise to bash them in the media. Just saying.

Bolts look to strike down Melrose (Sportsnet)

Obviously it won't be as dramatic and/or controversial as his 1995 trial, but at least one network has decided to air OJ Simpson's December 5th sentencing. OJ is facing multiple charges stemming from an alleged Las Vegas robbery back in September of 2007, and (THE) ESPN will be airing the sentencing live this Friday!

ESPNEWS and SportsCenter will televise live the sentencing of O.J. Simpson on Friday, Dec. 5. The court appearance in Las Vegas is currently scheduled for noon. Legal experts Lester Munson and Roger Cossack will provide analysis. In September 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas and on October 3, 2008 found guilty on multiple charges.

So if it's at Noon that means Flores and McKendry will be on the call. I don't know what kind of pull ESPN has these days, but they really should bring out Judge Ito out of hiding for at least a brief appearance. He might be tough though. Hmmm, I wonder what Kato Kaelin is upto these days? Actually I wouldn't be surprised if he's already booked on First Take that day. That's a win-win!

(Via ESPN PR)

It's been a few days since a Federal Jury ordered that the NFLPA was to pay over $28 million dollars to former players for using their likeness various years on Madden's video game franchise, and the announcer has yet to make a comment regarding the suit.

The back story is simple, and if you've ever played the game you'll know exactly what the lawsuit refers to. For years the Madden games would have "All-Time" teams that used just former player's numbers and likenesses, but not their names. A group sued on their behalf and it even came out in testimony that one official even told EA to "scramble" the players names and numbers so they couldn't be paid.

Now that they've been awarded the money, some of the ex-players want to hear at least some comments from Madden himself. Via Fox Sports....

The class-action lawsuit was filed in 2007 on behalf of 2,062 former NFL players, about 570 of whom were found to have appeared in various versions of "Madden" without compensation. The games include 142 vintage teams, among them the '66 Packers, the '71 Cowboys and a seemingly inordinate number of Raider teams. According to a plaintiff's exhibit, the Madden '05 Collector's Edition for PlayStation 2 includes every Raiders team from 1967-1977 except '73. Anyone who played for Oakland in those years played for Madden. In fact, the plaintiffs include any number of storied Raiders, guys like Ken Stabler, Jim Otto, Dave Casper and Ben Davidson.

"If John Madden knew that they were scrambling us, it's a disgrace," said Herb Adderley, a Hall of Fame defensive back who initiated the suit. "If he didn't know, well, no blame to him. ... But I'm sure he's seen some of these video games himself. I mean, I played against the Raiders in the Super Bowl. He can obviously see that the guy on '66 Packers and the '71 Cowboys is Herb Adderley.

"He should say something. It would really help if he would come out and say something to heal the animosity between the current and the retired players. It's been a real bad thing."

I never really thought things like this were a big deal, but if someone were to use my likeness in say a blogging video game and I didn't get anything out of it, I'd probably be a little upset too. And I'm pretty sure a Sports Blogging video game probably wouldn't approach the profits that Madden has. It'll be interesting to see if Madden discusses the issue, but if I were Herb Adderley, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Madden can be agent for change in NFL union (Fox Sports)

No, it's not for comparing every quarterback in the NFL to Brett Favre, it's actually an existing matter from one of his other business ventures. Ron Jaworski has a ton of non-Football related ventures and one of those is apparently called Ron Jaworski Golf Management. Well, the owner of Running Deer Golf Club in Elmer, New Jersey is taking Jaws to court and claiming that the MNF analyst deceived him and forced the club into bankruptcy. From NJ.com....

The suit depicts how the Monday Night Football broadcaster and motivational speaker convinced Carman in early 2008 "that he would never do anything to hurt (them)" and allow his family to continue operating the club.

"Jaworski intended (Carman) rely on representations of his good intentions," according to Greiner. "Carman believed that he was dealing with a future partner rather than someone hostile to his interests."

Greiner said Jaworski offered at first to either enter into a near equal partnership so Carman could continue operating the club, or purchase the mortgage and resell it to Carman for a small profit. Jaworski, 57, the CEO of Ron Jaworski Golf Management of Blackwood, apparently reneged on his offer, instead opting for outright control by seeking to buy the mortgage from Sterling Bank for $3 million and make an unreachable proposal to Carman, according to the suit.

The mortgage package included the course and the Carman home, Greiner said.

Wow. Now I know that someone with a handful of small businesses like Jaws often runs problems of this nature, but that reads pretty bad for the analyst. Hopefully it was just a misunderstanding and that Jaworski wasn't trying to snake his way to steal a man's livelihood and home. If any of you lawyers out there want to weigh-in, feel free to do so in the comments.

Course owner suing ex-Eagle (NJ.com)

At the time of his resignation from the Sun-Times, Jay Mariotti talked all big and bad about staying in television and finding an Internet position somewhere on the web. Well apparently he couldn't find a website, or that was just a cover up, because last week strong rumors surfaced about him attempting to gain employment with rival paper, the Chicago Tribune.

I'm here today to tell all of you Chicagoans that that's not going to happen and that Sun-Times lawyers have put a kibosh to the whole idea....

Discussions between former Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti and Tribune Co. about a possible role at the media company have ended, Mariotti said late Tuesday.

He said lawyers from the Sun-Times threatened to sue if he joined the company, claiming a jump to the competing news outlet would violate a non-compete agreement.

Mariotti and Tribune "talked about television, about the Internet, about the newspaper,'' he said. Mariotti said that discussions about working for Tribune Co.'s Chicago Tribune newspaper became a stumbling block. "The Sun-Times' lawyer threatened me with a lawsuit in 64-point type. Things sort of stalled,'' he added.

"At one point last week, there were lawyers on both sides looking into this,'' Mariotti said. "It's daunting to put together a deal. This [lawyer's letter] got thrown out in the middle of everything. We both decided that we can't do what we wanted to do.''

So you've got that going for you Chicago, which is nice. Seriously though, I know you have to do what's in the best interest of yourself at times, but that's one slimeball move right there. You re-sign with the Sun-Times back in June, head to Beijing for the Olympics, comeback saying you want something new and that newspapers are dying, you resign, you wait not even a month before trying to sign with the city's rival paper. You would think that the media in Chicago would be sick of him by now, but I guess controversy brings readers.

Oh and if you really want to have some fun this morning be sure to read the comments on the page linked below. Here are just a few....

If Mariotti goes to the Trib, then I might as well get all my news from The Onion.- JTO

I never thought I'd ever say this but: HOORAY FOR LAWYERS!- Uncle Bouncy

I would stop reading the Trib if they hired that sleazeball.- Dennis

Former Sun-Times columnist Mariotti not joining Tribune (Chicago Tribune)

I know I said I was never going to mention Shrutebag's nonsense on this site again, but this is just about the funniest thing I've ever read. Remember the guy that sued all of those stars from jail trying to get $25 Million? Well he's back and he's going after Shrutebag.

In fact this is a pretty accurate description of Cowherd and his show.

Via Deadspin.... (Click for Larger)



There's so many good items in there, but my favorite has to be, "Cowherd has a secret affair with Amanda from the show, saw them at a Ohio State Best Western together. Fish comes from the bottom of Salt Lake, Cowherd lies on the show, claims he goes to the gym after work, instead I saw him at Starbucks with Lloyd Carr."

Hi-Lar-E-Us. Someone needs to get this guy his own TV show.

Inmate Sues Schrutebag For "Ear Poisoning" (Deadspin)

HR update time and this one is a biggie. Over the weekend Harold dropped a huge bomb on the case by providing the press with a statement blaming his firing on racial issues.....

Reynolds’s filing in state court in Hartford described instances of sexual harassment and lewd and drunken acts by white employees in which the punishment fell far short of termination. Reynolds has said that he only gave a hug to a female intern, who later complained.

“ESPN’s rush to its decision to terminate Mr. Reynolds was affected by racial bias,” the filing said. Reynolds now works for mlb.com.

The incidents listed included one in which an analyst showed a cellphone photograph of his genitals to male and female employees and received a one-week suspension. In June, a makeup artist for “Cold Pizza,” a defunct talk show, sued ESPN, saying she was fired after complaining about sexual harassment by the host, Jay Crawford, and an analyst, Woody Paige.

In a statement, ESPN said “Mr. Reynolds’s new claims represent a litigation strategy designed to deflect attention from his own conduct.”- NY Times

While I'm normally inclined to agree with Harold....isn't one of the people that has been brought up repeatedly Mike Tirico? And isn't Mike Tirico black as well??? Seems like a calculated lawyer type move, but we'll see how it plays out in a year and a half!!!!!

Update: Here's ESPN's official response....

In a statement, ESPN said it will “respond to these allegations in court and vigorously defend against them. We will not publicly discuss personnel matters other than to note that Mr. Reynolds’ new claims represent a litigation strategy designed to deflect attention from his own conduct”- Sports Business Daily

Harold Reynolds Court Date Set For Not Near Future (Awful Announcing)
Breaking News: Harold Reynolds Wins Round One In Court (Awful Announcing)
Harold Reynolds Says Race Played a Role in His Firing (NY Times)

No probably not the entire state (like us and Ohio), but the people that voted 1971 Nebraska and 1995 Nebraska into ESPN Classic's Playoff of the Top 32 Teams in College Football.



The whole thing isn't that funny until right at the 4-minute mark Herbstreit "gooses" Rece Davis.

"Do Not touch me like that again."- RD

Kirk Herbstreit is Pissed (We Are The Postmen)