I’ll be honest — this isn’t an easy piece to write. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for attention whores who balk when they start to get the wrong kind of attention. (Be careful what you wish for, right?) Ms. Sterger gained notoriety by prominently displaying her bought-and-paid-for assets in the front row of Florida State football games. She eventually parlayed that into some work for SI.com, photo shoots for Maxim and Playboy, and was the Jets’ sideline reporter during the 2008 season, which is where she caught Brett Favre’s eye.
By now you know the story, right? Favre tried to make contact, but she wasn’t down with the idea of having casual sex with an older, married man. Favre persisted, leaving awkward, desperate-sounding voicemails and eventually (and allegedly) sending pictures of his junk. (Those pictures, by the way, show a watch that matches the watch that Favre wears pretty much all the time. This, coupled with his silence on the matter, is enough proof for me.)
As the story has continued to develop, I have noticed a fair amount of vitriol directed at Ms. Sterger, using just about every name in the book that describes a promiscuous gold-digger. While I don’t know Ms. Sterger personally, she certainly doesn’t seem terribly promiscuous — she turned down the future Hall of Famer’s advances, after all — or interested in Favre’s money, as she has remained completely silent on the subject. She didn’t sell the pictures or voicemails to Deadspin, and while the fact that they obtained them certainly raises some questions (i.e. how did they get them if not from her?), it doesn’t seem like she has profited from this scandal (so far).
Some criticize her for the fact that it took two years for her to come forward with these allegations, but the truth is she hasn’t come forward. As part of a meeting/conversation that was set up to discuss something else (a Deadspin swimsuit project), she only mentioned Favre’s advances after the subject turned to the ‘athlete dong photo phenomenon.’ At that point, she probably thought the conversation was relatively innocent, but the Deadspin editor, A.J. Daulerio, knew that he would run with the story/rumors at some point. There was just too much in it for him and his website. In fact, Daulerio quotes a later email where Sterger specifically tells him that she doesn’t want the story to come out. Is she stupid for bringing this salacious story up with the editor of arguably the most prominent sports gossip blog in the country, expecting it never to come out? Yes, that was a very dumb move, but it wasn’t malicious.
At the time, Sterger was likely wondering where her career was going to take her. When she spoke to Deadspin (around February 2010) she hadn’t yet landed her current gig as resident social media expert on Vs.’ “The Daily Line” and she wasn’t considering how the information about Favre might negatively impact her career. Now that she has tried to carve out a semi-serious niche for herself, she doesn’t want to backtrack into Rachel Uchitel territory. (By the way, I watched a recent episode of “The Daily Line” and I don’t know why they even bother. She had a 30-second bit in the middle of the show, but sat there like a frog on a log for the remainder of the episode. It was actually quite awkward. There she was — a key player in the biggest sports story going — and she doesn’t say a word about it. Holy elephant, Batman.)
Other critics will point to her decision to keep the pictures and voicemails, as there must be some ulterior motive. But she told Daulerio that she kept them for laughs (I could see that) and never intended to sell them. The cool thing to do would have been to delete all of Favre’s correspondence and never mention it to anyone. The shitty thing to do would be to break the story herself and try to profit from it. Ms. Sterger did neither. While she’s certainly not innocent in this story, she’s not the ‘bad guy.’
That’s Favre’s role. I know he still has a lot of fans in Wisconsin, Minnesota and around the country, and their first instinct is to come to his defense, but he was a married guy trying to cheat on his wife. Had he left Ms. Sterger alone when she initially spurned his advances, none of this would have ever come out. There would be no desperate voicemails and no pictures of his junk floating around the internet. Look at it this way — Brett Favre’s ace card is that he’s Brett Favre. If a girl doesn’t want to sleep with Brett Favre the icon, then no amount of wooing is going to work. It’s not like she’s going to change her mind because of his sparkling personality or the size of penis (certainly not the latter, based on the photos), so why even go down that road? It can only backfire, and it totally, totally backfired.
So, in summary, while Ms. Sterger doesn’t seem to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, she decided in the end that she didn’t want this to come out. It was probably more for her sake than for Favre’s, but nevertheless, she hasn’t done anything to indicate that she’s a promiscuous gold-digger.
The defense rests its case.
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John I was thinking simlarly, that by Sterger not coming forward to the leauge, the NFL has less tangeble evedence of harrasment or intent without her statement…regarding Farve. Maybe Sterger is playing by, “man-code” or “vagas” rules, of not intentionally screwing over another dude… becuase though Sterger wants to be seen as a sex symbol she aslo wants to be seen as “one of the guys”. If you rat Brett out anymore at this point she looses any, “dude” credibility.
Curious note… Did you catch that durring week 2-3 approx. September 20-24, durring V-jax trade gate, on ESPN Farve was going to make an “announcement”…? I thought it was because he didn’t want to play DT SUE from Detroit and was going to retire, but maybe it was Sterger related. Maybe… because this whole “announcement” disappered without a trace.
Not the brightest bulb? Based on, perhaps her graduating with a double major in Psychology and Criminology?
Based on telling an editor for a sports gossip blog about something that she ultimately wanted to keep secret. Not smart.
@ Jenn, worse things could be said then… not that bright. Quick question, If I have a double major from the University of phoenix, online, is that better or worse than a Masters from Hamburger U a.k.a. McDonald’s University?
The fact still remains I will still watch Sterger before or after a random hockey game on versus, in part due to her silence.
a double major in psychology and criminology!? jesus christ she is a genius
I think she is a home wrecking, gold digging whore. Period.
The fact remains..the photos and texts were in Sterger’s possession, on her computer, presumably password protected. She gave the information to someone, whether it was Deadspin or a third party. And we have no proof, other than what she allegedly told Deadspin, about the extent of her interactions with Favre. Her friend Allison Torres says that Favre and Sterger were talking back and forth. Maybe they had a relationship of some kind, maybe they didn’t. The fact that Sterger says they didn’t doesn’t make it true.
Good student, maybe………common sense, absolutely not…….
Keeping quiet gives Brett the suspense and the what ifs. Telling all now will de-value the potential settlement.
[…] I just watched both segments of the first part of the “Good Morning America” interview with George Stephanopoulos and a few of Sterger’s statements deserve comment. If you’re wondering about my original take on the story, be sure to read “In defense of Jenn Sterger…” […]
she may have book smarts, but she dont have street smarts
Jenn and her high-priced chest are after as much attention as she can get! Even better for her if the guy has a LOT of money!
Having college degrees doesn’t mean shit . . . I’ve met people excelling in college that didn’t know the sun and the moon were two different things, and that’s a true story.