(Wooden[sic] to the contrary, legitimate,
professional organizations don’t tolerate this crap,)[sic]

Never said they did, Jack. Read (and type) more carefully before mischaracterizing my post. Thanks.

Gee, Wooden, I guess I didn’t understand that your blanket statement suggesting such “dalliances” are inevitable was irrelevant to the topic at hand. Because, you know, they aren’t inevitable if responsible professionals are working in a culture that doesn’t let the workplace turn into a dating bar. Sorry.

Huh. Weird to find myself on the other side of an issue over here. I have to admit, first off, I am not a regular reader of Deadspin and really, personally, can’t stand the hyper-aggressive tone of the writers and regular commenters. Let me add that I found the style of the Kuselias and Lacey posts to be off-putting and frankly a bit bizarre for what is (nominally at least) a sports site. Not sure why Daulerio would feel the desire, let alone need, to publish those posts. But the final piece, about the overall work environment at ESPN, I feel has some merit, and to borrow and reverse a previous commenter’s metaphor, it has some David-Goliath merit, in my opinion.

If the descriptions of the situation in Bristol are at all apt, I think it’s nothing but good that some light be shed on this. As Mr. Marshall pointed out, these dalliances are not purely personal, they are not just between the people having sex (and their spouses). If it’s true that women and men are either being forced to deal with unwanted advances, or are using sex to get a professional advantage at a major corporation that is constantly in the spotlight, then I see nothing wrong with seeking to expose that. Perhaps Kasulias’s wife will be hurt by the exposure of the scandal, and I think that’s regrettable, but the real blame for that should be put on her husband. And against the suffering of Kasulias’s wife, we must weigh the potential gain to all those ESPN employees whose lives might be improved by a change in culture in their workplace. I think it is the job of a “blog” to shine the light on unsavory and unfair situations, and in this case, while I don’t like the manner in which Deadspin presented it, I do think that some good could come of it.

I’m with John above.  The reason ESPN will have no interest in bringing the suit is that, most likely, what A.J. wrote is true.  Certainly in Phillips case, most likely in Kasulias’ case and certainly if you drag Berman into it.  Maybe Lacey’s is pure conjecture, but last I checked you aren’t likely to win a defamation suit when what the other side is writing about you is true.

We can debate for a long time whether it is journalism or even newsworthy, but suggesting that ESPN has a leg to stand on here seems a bit farfetched.  And I really don’t see how exposing it is hurting anyone, in fact as John suggested it may be helping a lot of people in the long run.  Sure Phillips wife and child suffer, but only in embarrassment.  Steve brought on their suffering not AJ.  Don’t kill the messenger.

“He’s out to score points and to try to embarrass people with this. He has no intent to enlighten.  To the extent he claims a more noble purpose, it’s the equivalent to someone showing you a video of graphic and violent car crashes and claiming that he’s trying to educate you about air bag safety.”

Well I think that’s a fair point. I guess as a non-blogger my sense was that I was more pissed about the atmosphere at ESPN than by the self-serving, angry attitude of AJ’s piece. Which is not to say I totally approve of the pieces. I don’t. I agree with your criticisms, but personally, as an outsider, I think the MSM v. Blog thing is over: blogs won. So I’m not so concerned about Deadspin not representing the blogging world well. Frankly I don’t like Deadspin very much and I don’t like these posts very much; but I also don’t like ESPN very much, and I especially dislike their apparent misogynistic culture, so I guess if these unfortunate posts help change the culture, I’m willing to overlook the fact that any positive change will be only incidental to the blog posts, not a direct, desired result of them.

No, Wooden, it’s just that I don’t labor under the common misconception that simply because something is popular or common, it must be good and right.

As usual, Wooden, you fuzz the point. The question is, or should be, is the office culture of ESPN fair game for inquiry and criticism, particularly if it appears that decisions affecting quality of coverage may be influenced by sexual politics. If your answer isn’t “No, because everybody does it,” as I took it to be, then you need to be more clear.
I’d say the answer is “yes,” but that Deadspin doesn’t seem to be motivated by integrity issues, but rather by the desire to cause gratuitous pain to ESPN, and willing to humiliate staffers to do it.

Making such distinctions is not sanctimony, but the accusation of sanctimony is a transparent canard used to discourage such distinctions, which need to be made if the conduct is to be discredited. I will say that “specious sanctimony” would have been the perfect offense for Biggus Dickus to read to the mob in “The Life of Brian.” Good one.

Heres an idea - How about if you’re married DON’T #### OTHER PEOPLE!  Or god forbid a female actually WORKING her way to the top instead of sleeping her way there…  Craig the “there are wives and children involved in this” angle is chicken ####.  How come thats Deadspin’s fault?  Don’t you think it’s 100% Steve Phillips’ or Eric Kuselias’ fault for doing this to their wives/children?  They sure didn’t seem to care about them when they were boinking Cindy the 22 year old intern, so why the hell should Deadspin care?  He doesn’t know who they are. 

I just hate when these stories come out and everyone comes out with the same take: “Well it happens all the time. Hell they work together, its only natural!”  I just don’t understand how everyone is so moral on certain issues but when it comes to cheating on your wife and lying to your children “its just something that happens when you work close to people.” 

Furthermore, I think you’re missing the point Craig about what Deadspin is. Deadspin is in the business of doing one thing and one thing only: Getting as many unique Page Views as possible. THATS IT. And guess what gets more people going to their site than anything? This stuff, scandal. The fact that Steve Phillips and Eric Kuselias have a wife and kids is something they should have thought about before unzipping their fly to someone half their age.

Yep, Don, you got it.  Let’s stop questioning Deadspins integrity and worrying about whether they are humiliating staffers.  That is a bunch of crap.  IF,and the if qualifies my whole commentary, what they are “reporting” is true, than the integrity that should be questioned is of those involved and the humiliation has been brought upon by their own actions for which they are responsible, in my opinion.

Sorry won’t curse again, but my main point remains: Why is the first response to these kinds of stories always “Won’t somebody please think of the wife and children!”  Why didn’t Steve “Pimpin’ aint easy” Phillips think of HIS wife and children?  I never understand how that is the fault of the person reporting it or why he should feel compassion for people he doesn’t even know. 

The other thing that ALWAYS comes out of these stories is “Well they are co-workers, its only natural!” That is such a cop out it drives me nuts every time I hear it.  I am married, I have a job, I have females that work in the office with me.  I talk to them all the time and go to lunch with them and generally consider them friends.  And guess what, I DON’T HAVE SEX WITH THEM!  And here’s an even crazier reason as to why: BECAUSE I’M MARRIED!  And I care about my wife’s feelings!  OMG!  What a concept!