We’ve been watching over the past couple days with a mixture of fascination and gratitude the e-mail exchanges between our friends at Deadspin and former NFL quarterback and former ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury.
The fascination comes from the fact that we simply can’t believe the stuff that Salisbury has written.
The gratitude comes from the fact that we aren’t the target of Salisbury’s venom. (Yet.)
Here’s a short excerpt of one of the many messages that Salisbury sent: “I will own deadspin u will be asked to give up ur sources so since u guys have cost me more than alot of money my only goal in my career is to ruin u like u have me.”
Salisbury also promises to sue CBS and ESPN. He also plans to write a tell-all book about Bristol.
The problem between Deadspin and Salisbury initially arose because of reports regarding Salisbury, a certain body part, and cell phone photos of that body part. (Salisbury denies the allegations.) More recently, Deadspin reported that Salisbury was fired from radio station 105.3 The Fan in Dallas for “sexting” a female employee. As part of the e-mail exchange with Deadspin, Salisbury denies the allegations.
As of this posting, Deadspin has devoted three separate posts to the topic. And for good reason.
Salisbury simply wouldn’t stop.
It remains to be seen whether he follows through with his plan to file suit. Or to write a tell-all book about ESPN. For now, his biggest accomplishment since shaving a Christmas tree into the back of his haircut in the early 1990s has been to actually put down his phone and quit sending e-mails to Deadspin.