Deadspin: Is an ESPN columnist scamming people on the Internet?

Faux Sarah Phillips up and running on Twitter.

 

Anyone good enough at Photoshop to tweak this?



And here I was thinking a degree with established credentials, clips, and reputation helped get you on the fast track to the worldwide leader. Fucking stupid.

 

If it turns out Rick Maese never existed and Hoppes just made him up, I'm going to be really disillusioned.

 

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled ...

 

With Hoppes' head? Would take about five minutes. A bit too unseemly, though.

 

Gambling message boards are the new J-school.

 

Even for a freelance gig, how could this "girl" not raise red flags at ESPN?

 

Reminds me a little of the JT Leroy hoax, although this one didn't quite reach that level.

 

No, no. I'm in the minority who actually thinks Hoppes is a nice guy. He's going to shoulder the blame here, deservedly so, but I still think he's nice enough despite being more interested in media perks than an actual media job. I was thinking getting Phillips' head on the pike with ESPN swapping out "The King". Because the girl/guy/conglomerate will be nuked (again, deservedly so), and Bristol will Joffrey the shit out of the situation. Deadspin is Tyrion. Eh, enough of the analogy.

Simply put, my feeling is that ESPN will put Phillips on the most wanted poster to distance itself from the scam artist. The important part for them is to look like the victim who was duped by an unethical freelancer. And because of the compelling case against her, it seems easy enough.

It should definitely bring their hiring practices under a microscope, though. No real way to justify bringing a freelancer on the pay role without strenuous background checks when people have to jump through hoops to apply for actual jobs on their website.

 

You mean the girl who knows everything about sports, laughs at all your jokes and wants to sex you up with lotion ... is a myth?

 

I'm not enough and I bet enough to work at ESPN, dammit!

 

I wonder what the Jonas Brothers think.