Back in August, Deadspin revealed allegations that quarterback Brett Favre sent text messages of his penis and left voicemails for a Jets female employee despite being married. This week, the website caused an even bigger stir when they released the alleged voicemails, cock shots, and myspace messages from Favre to Jenn Sterger, the former Jets employee.
This marks the second time in less than a year that one of our sports heroes has been involved in an improbable sex scandal. Much like the Tiger Woods scandal which started off with a National Enquirer report, people are doubting the truth of this incident.
At this point, most indications are that this tale indeed took place and that Brett Favre has been caught sexting another woman and attempting to cheat on his wife. So aside from the reticence of most media members to address this story, what makes it different from Tiger Woods?
Two factors, and I’ll explain each one.
What made the Tiger Woods allegations so improbable and so shocking were his personality and public persona. Most people viewed Tiger Woods as a classic nerd; someone obsessed with swinging a club and too fixated on the task at hand to notice the pretty girl in the front of the class. How could someone whom we think of as more robot than man actual send sexual text messages to a woman, much less slip in the sack for a raunchy rendezvous? On top of his “nerdy” persona, the image Tiger and his people sold us on was that he was a clean cut family man. The outrage would have been mitigated had Tiger not distributed photos of himself looking like the ideal father living the perfect family life. They sold us on an image that was fraudulently based.
Brett Favre on the other hand has the public perception of your classic alpha male. He is the ultimate man’s man who wears casual Wrangler jeans and is content slinging the pigskin around the yard with his buddies. Brett comes off as funny and charming off the field despite being so tough and passionate on the field. He strikes me as the ideal wingman who would be cracking jokes, socializing with the ladies, and down to double up on two chicks at the same time. As bad as this sounds, I would be surprised if Favre weren’t trying to hook up with a girl like Jenn Sterger. Favre has been to rehab for drug addiction help for painkillers and has been known to cheat on his wife in the past. That he was trying to get with Sterger is not a surprise.
The other realm where Brett Favre sexting Jenn Sterger differs from Tiger Woods is the workplace aspect. Though we were shocked to hear that Tiger was getting with porn stars and waitresses, all encounters were consensual and welcomed by both parties. Favre’s advances towards Sterger however were not wanted. Sterger mentioned in an email to Deadspin that she didn’t say anything about the suggestive voicemails and inappropriate sext messages because she was worried about losing her job. Now that’s a problem, and it’s called sexual harassment.
Favre may be Favre, but that doesn’t allow him to believe he can get anyone he wants, and he should realize it’s unwise to dip his pen in the company ink, especially when there are millions of wells out there. On top of that, he should realize that sending alleged dong shots is crossing the lines of decency, especially if it’s unwanted. In this regard, the NFL should step in if they discover the allegations were true.
Favre won’t receive the same public beating for this story as Tiger Woods, but he should be subject to punishment because of the harassing nature of his actions if what is alleged indeed occurred.
