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)

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)

It's no secret that I extremely despised Sean Salisbury as an analyst on ESPN. You never want to see someone lose their job, but with the way he handled himself at times, I certainly wasn't sad when it happened to him. After some trying times, Sean is trying to reinvent himself these days and in doing so actually talked to Deadspin at length about everything that has happened over the last two years. I'm sure you already read it, but it need a spot on this site....

On ESPN Not Renewing His Contract: "They gave me a platform . For a guy that was an average quarterback, to be a broadcaster for 12 years…whenever you do something for 12 years whether it’s marriage, or job, or family you’re drawn to it. So those people treated me great and I have no qualms about leaving it, at the time I needed to do some other things. But these last five months for me have probably been as peaceful as I have had in a long time. And this is the longest I’ve been without work for a while so it was time to go back and get a job. And fortunately with OPENSports, I’ve got the beginning of something special and this is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time."

On The Alleged Cell Phone Pics: "It NEVER happened. And I have written proof at my house on an ESPN document that states that it didn’t happen. And, A.j. …let’s think about this now: What in the world would anybody stupid enough…first of all, I wouldn’t know the difference between an intern and a p.a. I know they’re more talented than I am.....

Hey, I’m not perfect. As far as that one situation? Do I think that the suspension should have happened? Absolutely not. Was I suspended for “other stuff” than what other people speculate about? In my mind, yes. I can guarantee you, I know for a fact, had other situations surrounding that not had happened – I don’t know if I’d still be at ESPN because that was two years ago and I should have been long gone and somebody put legs on it. That had nothing to do with according to them and me with me leaving ESPN."

On The Infamous Super Bowl Party: "I don’t have that much game. Irvin, superstar, great guy. Stu Scott, talented guy, he’s won many Emmys and then….It’s like Sesame Street. "One of These Things is Not Like the Other"? Then there’s Sean. I’d like to say it was my ruggedly handsome good looks and my charming personality. I just think we were at a small place and there were people around, it was after Sports Center, and we go over there and are trying to help a guy out. Put it this way: I had a good time and had a lot of laughs. Nobody hates eye candy and I just wish I was a little more of it."

Again, I'm sure most of you have already taken the time to peruse the interview, which is why I tried to keep those quotes as short as possible, but if you haven't....it's a must read. The whole thing comes off like a conversation with someone who is just beyond manic at this point. He was always a high energy guy, but I can't even imagine what the phone call was like.

I honestly wish him the best of luck with Open Sports (whatever that is), but you really do get back what you put into this world. There are many documented cases of him being combative and unbearable to work with, but I think this clip sums up his time at ESPN the best.



Hopefully he's learned to channel that energy and aggression in a different way and can put it to good use at his new job.

Sean Salisbury Has A Lot On His Mind (Deadspin)
Back in your grill! (Open Sports)
Breaking News: Sean Salisbury Out At ESPN (Awful Announcing)

Most everyone knows that Sean Salisbury got his start in Broadcasting by being an "analyst" on the the show Battle Bots. If you didn't watch the show think 40 something nerds/geniuses making robots who's sole mission was to cripple another similar robot. There was even classes ala Boxing (Lightweight, Heavyweight, etc.).

ESPN, who fired/let go Salisbury a few weeks back is actually interested in bringing back the show. Via Deadspin...

ESPN has made BattleBots an offer: BattleBots will hold a Collegiate BattleBots Championship, featuring robots built by students enrolled in institutions of Higher Education. The Collegiate BattleBots competition will air as a series on ESPNU and ESPN2. This competition will be open to Colleges and Universities, and Student Teams who are enrolled in institutions of Higher Education. This will be a middleweight (120 pound) competition as governed under the current BattleBots rule set -- But, BattleBots is allowing an additional 40 pounds to be added as bonus weight, thus making the total weight 160 pounds! So get creative.

Dagger! You not only take away his job but you bring back his first love a few weeks after nixing him from your network. Evil, very evil....but hilarious none the less.

ESPN And Salisbury: The Unkindest Cut Of All (Deadspin)
ESPN & BattleBots: Gearing Up For College And Pro Competitions (Battle Bots)

Those quotes that ESPN released last night seemed so nice and both parties seemed okay with the decision. Well that's not the case this morning. Sean Salisbury is now claiming that he was underpaid, unappreciated and he was "tired of it". Via the LA Times....

"I'm a free agent," he said. "I've been liberated. I knew this was coming, but I couldn't be happier.

"I'd grown tired of being punished for not being an NFL superstar. Analysts who don't work as hard as me, don't prepare as hard as me, and don't have my resume were making more than me just because of their ability to throw or catch a football.

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the opportunity ESPN gave me, but they had capped my ceiling. There was only so far I could go there.

"I'd done nothing wrong, and if you hear otherwise, it's not true. I did everything that was asked of me."

Well then....don't we have a little situation on our hands now? That's an interesting comment on the pay scale and according to the article Salisbury says the departure was mutual??? Even more interesting.

Hmmm, methinks someone might be leaving some information out.

Sean Salisbury says parting with ESPN was mutual (LA Times)

(Thanks to ZA for the link)

For those of you that had Sean Salisbury in the "Who will be fired because of Cris Carter's hiring" pool.....give yourself a hand. The former NFL QB has released a statement and so has the "Leader"....

Sean Salisbury: “I want to thank ESPN for 12 great years of talking football on TV and the radio. I have grown as much as I can at ESPN and decided to expand my horizons. I have created a brand and it’s time to expand into other opportunities in TV, radio, Internet, publishing, movies and public speaking, among others. My resume speaks for itself as a football analyst, and I believe I can talk all sports with the best of them.”

ESPN’s statement: “Sean Salisbury has made many contributions to our efforts for the past 12 years. We thank him and wish him all the best.”

Twelve years is a damn long time, and it definitely doesn't seem that long in regards to Salisbury. There is no official word on who's decision this was, but the Star Tribune is reporting that ESPN decided not to renew his contract. I personally couldn't stand him as an analyst and I knew few who could. Hopefully this mean that ESPN is switching up their style over substance positioning as of late. Jaws is obviously better than Theismann and Carter is definitely an improvement over Salisbury.

I fully expect Sean Salisbury to be on a Best Damn Sports type show in no time. Oh and please leave your ESPN Mobile Phone at the door on your way out for evidence.

Former Viking leaves ESPN (Star Tribune)

(Thanks to ML for the tip, via ESPN PR)

This actually went down last week, but here are Sean Salisbury and John Clayton debating who's better for the Giants rookie TE Kevin Boss or Jeremy Shockey. Clayton sort of changes the question around and Salisbury goes off on him. Good times at the 1:10 mark....

See what happens when you just have people yelling and debating all day long? Sooner or later two of these talking heads are going to come to blows.

Salisbury rips Clayton on-air: “Tales from the Crypt” (TBL)

This clip just bloweds my mind on numerous levels. Sean Salisbury, Emmitt Smith, and Stu Scott are talking how to cover Randy Moss....sounds like a bad joke right? Well just wait for Emmitt at the 1:10 mark....

Okay first of all, how does Sean Salisbury know who LL Cool J is and Emmitt doesn't. Secondly, what in the hell are they doing on that field? They're basically walking in circles and have their backs to the camera the whole time. I even spliced out about 2 minutes of that nonsense as well.

I don't know about you, but I think Moss would go for 340 and 5 TDs if you tried that gameplan.

ESPN is holding a Live Televised Draft tonight at 6:30 that you need to watch. Last year's was highlighted by Suzy Kolber (at least I think it was her) taking Brett Favre in the 1st Round, so you know this one is going to be good. Your hosts for the evening are Trey Wingo, Merrill Hoge, and fantasy guru Matthew Barry. But that's not what's important. It's the contestants that we care about right?

Tampa Bay Linebacker, Cato June (That's the biggest player you could get?)
Sean Salisbury (Too easy...pass.)
Michael Smith (I'm pretty sure you've got this one locked up Mikey)
Mark Schlereth (The Guiding Light has Stinky picking all offensive lineman. You get points for pancakes right?)
Steve Young (Concussions cause Young to draft Roger Craig in the 1st)
Chris Mortensen (A close 2nd)
Comedian and Contributor Nick Bakay (Ugh.)

....and my personal favorite. You may know him from such films as Kangaroo Jack, Tom Cats, Body Shots, and the Emmy Nominated...Mission to Mars. Ladies and Gentlemen.....

JERRY O'CONNELL!!!

Yes! As if he didn't overachieve enough with Rebecca Romijn....he now gets a fantasy spot on ESPN? Life just isn't fair. And could that league be any smaller? Just look at this motley crew (click for larger view).....


P.S.- I know you read blogs Michael Smith, and if you read this one I have something to tell you. If you don't run away with this league I'm going to make fun of you for a solid 2-month span. You have my word.

Can't remember if I covered this or not, but Bonnie Bernstein is hosting NFL Live in the offseason and I couldn't be happier. I don't care if the analysts are Mark "Guiding Light" Schlereth and Sean Salisbury. I'm watching.

I'm watching even though their first segment was a 5-minute discussion on whether Training Camp fight were a good thing or not. I'm watching even though they had 7 reports from 'sprite' Rachel Nichols on basically nothing (although the Tank Johnson interview was good). I'm watching even if Sean Salisbury yells "FREEDOM!" when comparing an Eagles Training Camp fight to Braveheart (true story...I missed the video opportunity). And yes, I'm watching even if Bonnie calls Canton....Camden.

Yes, I'm watching because Bonnie is one of the best Sports Reporters period. Oh, and she's number two on my "Top 5" list. Probably more because of number two. Sorry....number one was kind of a lie.

P.S.- If anyone can guess number one (hint: she's also in sports and not Erin Andrews) I'll send you a Free Harold! t-shirt.

P.P.S.- I wouldn't be against ESPN firing Trey Wingo and hiring Bonnie full-time. In fact I'm starting an online petition now.

I've never been one for planning (like today...don't even know what I'm going to write about), but I guess you need to get a jump on these sorts of things...

The quiet park just outside Scottsdale City Hall will play host to two ESPN Super Bowl XLII parties in the days leading up to the game.

ESPN The Magazine plans to host a VIP party on Friday Feb. 1 and a larger, public party on Saturday Feb. 2 at the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall, magazine publicist Ellie Seifert said Tuesday.

The VIP party will be open to celebrities, athletes, ESPN sponsors and network executives.

But the real question is...Will the person who is most "Who's Now" (how stupid does that sound) be in attendance?

The name of the event has not yet been decided but will include the name “NEXT” to coincide with ESPN The Magazine’s “NEXT” edition, which lists the next big athletes expected to define the upcoming sports year. Previous NEXT cover athletes include Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Yao Ming and Alex Rodriguez.

"Who's Next"??? Damn this is getting confusing as hell.

ESPN planning Super Bowl week events in Scottsdale (East Valley Tribune via TBL)

(Photo via Deadspin)

When you're a new analyst ESPN has to trot you out on as many programs as possible. Like for example, Sean Salisbury. How many different ESPN shows have you seen him on since he joined the network...15 or so? Well the Leader is now taking it to an even bigger level.

They're asking their analysts to cover different sports. First up in the queue....Mr. William Parcells.

Bill Parcells will be ringside for ESPN's Friday Night Fights broadcast with host Joe Tessitore and analyst Teddy Atlas. The release states that Parcells plans to discuss his three passions in life Boxing (that's good because it's a boxing telecast), Football (understandable), and Horse Racing (Huh?).

So if you want to hear about Football and Horse Racing during a fight....tune in this Friday!

So you come to me why? Because I'm going to tell you what you already know? Of course not. You know the whole Jew story already, which is why I'm giving you Sean Salisbury the Financial Advisor. Because he umm......should be giving financial advice right?



"It was a concierge type thing. It ended up costing me 50-60 grand.....and I never made a mistake again"- SS, riiiiiight Jew Boy.

Sports Media Watch

So the results are in, and in case you care there were a grand total of 3 National Writers/Talking Heads that chose the Bears to make it to the Super Bowl. Those writers were Tom Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News, Katherine Smith of the Tampa Tribune, and FOX Sports' Brian Balldinger.

Here are the results from the rest of the major publications and other notables (ESPN idiots).....

Athlon Colts-Panthers
ESPN The Mag Dolphins-Bears
Pro Football Weekly Panthers- Colts
Sporting News Steelers-Panthers (Umm, how did that work out for you?)
Street & Smiths Panthers-Broncos
John Clayton Colts-Seahawks
Len Pasquarelli Colts-Seahawks
Michael Smith Colts-Panthers
Sal Paolantonio Colts-Panthers
Scouts Inc. Broncos-Seahawks
Merril Hoge Bengals-Cowboys (Good call there Young Hater)
Tom Jackson Colts-Panthers
Joe Theismann Colts-Panthers
Mike Golic Colts-Panthers
Sean Salisbury Colts-Panthers
Mark Schlereth Patriots-Panthers
Awful Announcing Redskins-Redskins (Actually I picked the Colts and Seahawks....had the Bears losing to the 'Hawks in the Conference Championship)

Seriously ESPN.....could we get some variety here. Do you all just copy each others work? Don't answer that. Bill Simmons could not be reached for comment after a RedSox'esqe comeback to knock the Pats out of the playoffs. He will however be calling the Saint Marys-San Diego game on ESPNU tonight. If anyone gets ESPNU please email me if he cries.

(Seriously though....a free t-shirt and/or post to anyone who can send me a tape of his performance. I'll pay all shipping and for the tape.)

You know who's awesome? We Are The Postmen. You know who else is awesome? Joe Sports Fan. From their collective findings I give you Sean Salisbury in a movie.



Why wouldn't it surprise me if this is how he acts in real life.....plus he used to be a fatty. He must have lost it all on that Dan Marino NutriSystem Diet.