Brooke Hundley: Steve Phillips "bought me a strong drink and then cornered me ... trying to persuade me to come to his hotel suite to spend the night."
By Jason McIntyre
In an effort to create a timeline:
* Three amorous encounters between Phillips and Hundley in July/August.
* A flurry of texts and calls from Hundley to Phillips’ wife in August.
* Hundley delivers the letter on August 19
* Hundley files a restraining order on August 20.
* Sometime between August 21 and September 9, word must have gotten around the ESPN set – Deadspin claims it received a tip about Phillips September 9.
* For some unknown reason, Hundley withdraws her restraining order on September 15.
The restraining order development will be crucial to Phillips’ future employment at ESPN. If Hundley hadn’t withdrawn it, then Phillips’ transgression is considerably worse than what got Harold Reynolds fired (complaints against him were only through human resources, not the police). But the fact that she withdrew it could save Phillips.
ESPN also has to grapple with the question: Do we believe her allegations in the restraining order? How seriously can we take the word of a women who created a fake Facebook account to befriend Phillips’ teenage son online? How much stock can you put in the word of a young woman who harassed Phillips’ wife with text messages and left that haunting letter at his front door?
ESPN Analyst’s Hookup – Keep Him Away from Me (TMZ)
Sex at espn taboo unless it’s on air (Mushnick)
Messy Phillips tale tangled more by Web (Boston Globe)