Back Porch Espn

Brooke Hundley, having not spoken outside of Good Morning America since news of her affair with Steve Phillips went public, broke her "media silence" last night. On Facebook of all places.

The former ESPN employee apparently answered friend requests from multiple bloggers in an affirmative fashion and -- perhaps coincidentally -- shortly thereafter launched into a mini-tirade against the World Wide Leader for not returning the personal and work items from her cubicle in Bristol.

Erin Andrews is a celebrity. And she has been since her sideline-sandwich-eating was made famous by various sports blogs. But then, as everyone knows by now, her fame took a dark turn in the past few months, if I may understate the whole "super-creepy-peephole-stalker" angle.

After that, America collectively (despite the continued evil nature and inherent Lucifer-esque quality of sports blogs) got its act together and decided to stop ogling Andrews in the open. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell Rutgers fans that EA is now off-limits -- in the video after the jump, you'll see where some kid in the stands decided that screaming "ERIN!!!!" and "MARRY ME!!!" was the classy thing to do (maybe he thought he was at a Jonas Brothers concert or something).

All potshots at New Jersey aside, it obviously wasn't. Fortunately for Andrews, she got to interview "Lil' Jovi" after the game.

Bill Simmons has gone from humble Boston-area blogger to the voice of ESPN.com in about a decade. And now his second book, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy, is atop the New York Times bestseller list.

He appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week (Simmons briefly left ESPN to write for Kimmel's show) to discuss the book and during the seven minute interview we learned a lot. Like the fact that Simmons used crystal meth, sports a weave, and had a 10-year sexual relationship with his father. At least to hear Kimmel explain it.*

Simmons also talked about an interaction he had with one hardcore fan during his recent Los Angeles book signing. Moving pictures details after the jump.

The World Wide Leader fired production assistant Brooke Hundley late last month after news broke that she had an extramarital affair with ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips.

Hundley made her first public appearance Thursday to tell her side of the story. In an interview with Good Morning America, the 22-year-old explained that she wasn't stalking Phillips, and that she didn't mean to intentionally hurt Phillips' wife by sending her a letter detailing the illicit relationship.

Hundley admitted during the interview that, "When not only tabloids were covering [this story] but legitimate news was covering it, when Jay Leno was using my looks as part of his opening monologue, to get a cheap laugh ... a person has their breaking point. That was my breaking point."

You can see the entire GMA interview after the jump.

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I loved Jimmy the Greek. I was 4 or 5 when I became obsessed with football and saw in Jimmy the Greek -- whom I watched each Sunday on The NFL Today -- a fellow obsessive. I was 11 when he was fired in 1988 after a bizarre, rambling television interview in which he assuredly explained that "The black is a better athlete to begin with because he's been bred to be that way."

One of the fascinating things about Without Bias, the ESPN documentary about Len Bias that debuts Tuesday night (review here), is the frank, matter-of-fact way that Bias's friend Brian Tribble talks about the night that Bias died. Some people said Tribble killed Bias by providing him with the cocaine that he overdosed on, but Tribble was acquitted when he went on trial for charges relating to Bias's death. Now, nearly a quarter of a century later, later, Tribble talks openly about that night.

Bill Simmons is becoming like Brett Favre in the sense that ESPN is shoving him down our throats.

(Except in Simmons' case, it's for his new book, not for his annual coming-out-of-retirement announcement. Unlike Simmons, however, Favre doesn't block random bloggers from following his Twitter account. Moving on...)

And last night he landed on the Colbert Report to talk about his new 700-page basketball book with the world's favorite "fundit."

What resulted was a pretty fantastic interview, particularly when you consider that Simmons managed to stop Colbert in his Air-Bud-mentioning tracks with an "I've got two pages comparing Teen Wolf to Kobe Bryant" line. You could even tell that Colbert was asking if that was real as they cut away, and he somehow managed to let the interview run long, which almost never happens.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was on the Hill Wednesday talking to Congress about "Legal Issues Relating to Football Head Injuries." So, naturally, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) used the forum as an opportunity to grill Goodell about Rush Limbaugh's interest in becoming part owner of the St. Louis Rams.

Video after the jump, but here's all you need to know: After King warmly welcomed the commissioner he got right down to business.

In case you've had your head under a rock the last couple weeks, ESPN columnist Bill Simmons has a new book out. The Book of Basketball is some 700 pages, which makes it quite a large (and expensive) read.

Since this is kind of a big deal for Simmons, he's been all over the place promoting the book. Besides his tour and an bit with Kenny Mayne that Mike Francesa didn't like, Simmons also stopped by ESPN2's SportsNation Wednesday afternoon. It was there that his book was put through a rather, um, unique test.

WASHINGTON -- No one covers book signings. There is probably a reason for this. But with the second Bill Simmons book tour commencing in Washington on Monday, it seemed like a good enough idea. At the least, 15-year-old, Page 2-gobbling me would be quite delighted.

I called a friend of mine to inform him of my ever-bloggable plan. "You mean like Deadspin did for his first tour?" came the reply. Pause. Google search. Well, then.

Despite this inauspicious start, I buckled up and headed out with another buddy. The Sports Guy was waiting.