steve-phillips-espn-affair-brooke-hundleySteve Phillips’ sordid affair was made public this morning, and one of the most jarring comments made to us by an ESPN staffer was: “Everyone who has screwed around at ESPN is nervous.” The culture at ESPN headquarters in Bristol is no different than high school. The on-air talent wear the letter jackets, and the rotating bumper crop of 22-year-old college grads are the cheerleaders. There is absolutely nothing to do in Bristol on weeknights or weekends. What do you expect to happen?

The case of Phillips will not get him fired. To the best of our knowledge, he has committed no crime. This is not a Harold Reynolds situation – at least that doesn’t appear to be the case. Steve Phillips simply made a mistake – he slept with a young girl who took the relationship far too seriously and went Glenn Close on his ass. He reportedly signed a 5-year deal in 2006, so feasibly ESPN could buy out the final two years of his contract. Sportscenter’s Chris McKendry popped up at around 2:40 just now with the unenviable task of relaying the news that Phillips has taken a leave of absence. Smart move. A source told us that Phillips has filed a restraining order against Brooke Hundley, but we have been unable to confirm it.

Anyone else find it interesting that this is the second member of the Baseball Tonight staff to be embroiled in a scandal? We hear the Baseball Tonight group walks Bristol with a buoyant “our shit don’t stink” attitude, as if they’re the coolest of the cool kids, protected from high above by Norby Williamson, who is a golfing buddy of Karl Ravech. Excluding Gammons and Olney, that crew has made more than its share of frenemies in Bristol.

Who is next? Depends on how jilted the women feel. Did an ESPN staffer lead them on? Did they play the “I’ll dump my wife soon, baby” game?

Since Deadspin is in the sharing mood – can you believe Erik Kuselias? And his wife was a Hawaiian Tropic model, we hear – we thought we’d bring one out from the vault. Unfortunately, we’re going to scrub names out of this one, with the reasoning below.

Scene: 2009 National Championship game in Miami. Several members of the College Gameday crew (on-air and behind-the-scenes staffers) are out boozing and eating and having a jolly good time. A certain sideline reporter happens to be present. At one point during the long evening, someone from the group invites the sibling of a coach who “can’t win the big game” to join them. Let’s just say the coach’s last name rhymes with “poops.” As the night drags on, said sideline reporter allegedly jokes, “We all know [coach's name redacted] can’t win the big game.” Despite that being a fact, the coach’s sibling did not take kindly to the comment, and allegedly fired off a string of expletives at the sideline reporter.

The table grew hushed. Someone from the Gameday crew supposedly stood up for the sideline reporter. This is where we lost the story, and the reason we can’t print names – allegedly, a fight followed. A skirmish? A rumble? We’re uncertain. We have confirmed that all the parties mentioned above were 100 percent present and accounted for. You definitely know the three key names in the story.