So poor old Brett was finally fined after his little rendezvous with Jets reporter Jenn Sterger. His fine, $50,000 which basically amounts to about 3 minutes of play time based on his salary is nothing to him. And many are saying that because of that fact, Favre was let off easy. But I do not agree. Just simply the way this all went down, Favre is going to lose millions in endorsements. Or so people think. I still believe that regardless of how tarnished his public image may be, he will still make money out of football. He is Favre after all. The Hall Of Fame Ironman of the NFL. And that's alot coming from a life-long Chicago Bears fan.
People all over are also starting to say that this whole fiasco paints a negative picture for females everywhere. Because if he can sexually harass this female and get let off so easy, what kind of precedent does this set. Now wait a minute! First of all let us take a look at the sexual harassment claim. Mrs. Sterger did not take this claim to the proper authorities when it occurred. Had this actually been a sexual harassment claim, don't you think she would have gone to league officials or New York Jets officials? If you were harassed at your work place, you would have went to your boss correct? Why didn't she? She only said anything to them after THEY had questioned her when they heard the story from the Deadspin web site. This leads me to believe that she is after the money in this case.
And why not? Sure Favre has tons of it right? So maybe that is why she got involved with him in the first place. Maybe she baited him into this whole situation. Brett is a guy after all isn't he? It is very plausible that she could have planned this whole thing out knowing full well that she was going to hit him up for cash later on. I mean look at it.. the story took two full years to surface. She did not take it to her boss right after it happened. Why not? Was she hoping she could try to blackmail Favre? That is also possible. Things just do not add up in this case. And when you start to consider all of the possible avenues and the possible outcomes everything points to Mrs. Sterger taking advantage of the fact that she is a female in a typical sexual harassment case. But this is far from typical. Because what do we have here? Some text messages? A couple voice mails and a lewd picture from Mr. Favre? Sure.. it is enough to get Favre's wife mad, but hardly enough to say that he harassed this lady.
I may end up following parts of this case, I may not. It is interesting to me how it has played out so far. The fact that Favre was fined what equates to almost nothing is what has most people annoyed. Here is another star football player getting star treatment. Maybe. But when you consider the facts in the case and how Mrs. Sterger appears to be taking advantage of Favre's position and wealth, I don't think the fine is terribly off base. What else could the NFL have done to Favre anyway? He is most likely calling it quits after next Sunday's game against Detroit. So it is not like the NFL can suspend him for any more games. All they can do is fine Favre. And I don't think giving him a hefty fine so it actually effects his pocket book is fair. Not to mention it would set an awful precedent in the NFL for future players to be fined based on what they did and relative to their league earnings. Based on the situation the NFL did absolutely the right thing here. Mrs Sterger may still pursue Favre in a civil case, which she will most likely do. Now that she can smell the money since the NFL fined Favre. Because that basically means that a "governing body" has found Favre guilty of something. And now her lawyer can take that into court and try to prove that since the NFL found something wrong, a judge or a jury should also.
I surely hope that this goes away. Not for Favre's sake, but for women everywhere. Women should stand up and stop Mrs. Sterger from taking any further action. She is giving all women a bad name. Let's face it, when somebody wrongs another person, especially in a work place, you must follow the proper chain of command. In the case of a work place violation, that would be your immediate boss. Then his boss after that and so on and so forth. Sterger did not do that. She waited a really long time, and then took the story to a tabloid website, got paid (through a third party to make it look like she did not profit. Don't let her fool you - she did), and now since the NFL brought the charges against him she decided to speak up. So she is taking the offensive only after the fact. Then she is going to try and say that she is doing this so other women don't have to feel her pain and embarrassment? Give me a break! She should be embarrassed that she is even taking this public in the first place as she did. And if this is how educated, professional women act in the face of adversity and when being wronged, god help us all.
FavreSterger got paid from the tabloids and will surely win a settlement in a civil case. So she will get her big pay day, which is all she was after anyway. So if we can leave it at that everyone should be happy. Everybody except the viewing public that is. Because face it, this leaves a sour taste in everyone's mouth.
