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ESPN fires Steve Phillips after ex-Mets GM admits affair with production assistant Brooke Hundley
ESPN analyst Steve Phillips was fired Sunday night over his embarrassing extramarital affair with a young assistant.
The sports cable network fired Phillips a few days after he took a leave of absence over the fling with 22-year-old underling Brooke Hundley.
Phillips' "ability to be an effective representative for ESPN has been significantly and irreparably damaged, and it became evident it was time to part ways," the network said in a statement.
ESPN released the news shortly after the start of Game 6 of the American League Championship Series between the Yankees and the Angels.
The timing was a coincidence, an ESPN spokesman insisted.
A one-time Mets general manger, Phillips, 46, joined ESPN in 2004 as a "Baseball Tonight" talking head and this year was promoted to provide color commentary in the network's premier broadcast, "Sunday Night Baseball."
He took a leave of absence, saying, "I am deeply sorry that I have put my family and colleagues through this."
After the July affair ended, it was reported, Hundley repeatedly called Phillips' wife, Marni, and also left her a tawdry letter describing intimate locations of Phillips' birthmarks.
She also allegedly stalked his teenage son on Facebook, asking him about his parents' love life.
Marni Phillips filed for divorce on Sept. 14.
While with the Mets, Phillips admitted to a 1998 bedding of a team employee.
The Phillips scandal wasn't the only embarrassment for ESPN over the weekend.
While promoting a NASCAR race, a football commentator for the sports network slimed driver Juan Pablo Montoya with a racist slur.
Montoya is "out eating a taco," Bob Griese said of the driver, who is from Colombia.
Griese, the former Miami Dolphins coach, quickly apologized for his flub, and the network said the matter was settled.
"ESPN has spoken to Bob and he understands that his comment was uncalled for," the network said.
Source: nydailynews.com