No place for harassment
Sam Farmer
Los Angeles Times
Is the NFL overstepping its bounds by looking into the accusations against Brett Favre? Of course not.
It's something that allegedly happened in the workplace, when both Favre and Jenn Sterger were employed by the Jets. It's just as if it happened between two cubicles in an office.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has shown he's serious about enforcing the personal-conduct policy, regardless of who the player or league employee is, so it will be interesting to watch how this unfolds.
If the investigation were to drag on through the season, a suspension probably wouldn't be applicable because this is almost certainly Favre's last year. But the potential damage to his personal life is obvious, and of course this could affect his marketability.
sfarmer@tribune.com
Same rules apply
Dave Hyde
Sun Sentinel
Employee A allegedly leaves lurid voicemails and sends a picture of his penis to Employee B. What company in America would not have to investigate such an incident? What corporate lawyer wouldn't demand it?
What if there's an Employee C and D out there waiting to file a valid claim of sexual harassment?
If you're Don Draper living in the 1960s, this is part of corporate life. But this is 2010, and it doesn't matter if it's an NFL quarterback or a company vice president.
Of course the NFL has to investigate Brett Favre. Of course it is incumbent on Commissioner Roger Goodell to get to the bottom of this.
Favre might throw the football really well. He still has to play by some of the rules everyone else does.
dhyde@tribune.com
Can't ignore allegations
Kevin Van Valkenburg
Baltimore Sun
You might not like Deadspin.com. And you might not like Jenn Sterger. But that doesn't mean the NFL should ignore the recent allegation by Deadspin, the most popular sports blog on the Internet, that Brett Favre used a camera phone to send unwanted naked pictures of himself to Sterger while she was working for the Jets and he was the team's quarterback.
If the NFL is truly serious about being supportive of women, about establishing a working environment where this type of unwanted behavior won't be tolerated, it can't just ignore the story. It has to investigate, and if the story is true, it needs to hand out the appropriate punishment, whatever that is.
Supporting women goes beyond wearing pink shoes and gloves for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
kvanvalkenburg2@tribune.com
Well within its rights
Chicago Tribune
The NFL is completely within its right to investigate what Brett Favre did or did not do in the Jenn Sterger affair.
The league has a conduct policy in place. There is a possibility Favre violated that policy. It could be trickier to come up with a punishment for Favre, should the NFL determine he is due one. These are uncharted waters the NFL is navigating. No player has been publicly accused of texting inappropriate pictures of himself to another team employee.
And the other interesting factor is, this is Brett Favre we're talking about — Brett Favre, NFL legend, poster quarterback for the league. He's not some third-stringer who is lucky to have a job. It would be best for business for this case to go away, and quickly.
dpompei@tribune.com