Steve Phillips, general manager of the New York Mets, speaks during a news conference in Boston Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2001. All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar was traded from the Cleveland Indians to the New York Mets on Tuesday as part of an eight-player deal. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)
Associated Press
If you’re like me, the airwaves just haven’t been the same since Steve Phillips got fired. But never fear! My corporate parent has seen to it that you’ll get your fix on Monday:
Steve Phillips, fired late last October from ESPN over an embarrassing extramarital affair with a young staffer at the network, will go public with his story for the first time Monday during a “Today” show interview with Matt Lauer.
Sources said the Phillips interview is expected to air during the early portion of the show.
So the grovelling will be really important here. Why? Employment. No, not with ESPN or in baseball or anything like that. Because really, his behavior has made him more or less unemployable either as a media personality or as someone in a position of authority in a Major League Baseball office. And that’s just because of the affair-with-an-underling stuff. If you bring his awfulness as a media personality and fecklessness as a GM into the equation, the dude is positively radioactive.
However, if he can muster some real tears for Lauer on Monday he may yet be able to parlay a book deal or a series of paid speaking engagements out of this. And if that happens, we all win, don’t we?
