ESPN may have thought they had all their problems with women off their hands when they sent Harold Reynolds packing amid allegations of sexual harassment. It's not the case, however, as this week has brought forth two more scandals that sully the four-letter's name more than any evening spent listening to Joe Morgan call a game.
First up is the sexual harassment suit filed by a former makeup artist on "Cold Pizza." While it may be considered harassment enough to try and make Skip Bayless and Woody Paige look TV pretty, Rita Ragone claims that her problems went far beyond that on the ESPN set.
At one point, she said in court papers, Paige grabbed her rear end so hard that she jumped.
That's a hard grab! While we don't recommend trying it on unsuspecting ladies on the street, we'd love to hear how many psi's it takes to get a lady off her feet. Any aspiring engineers out there who'd like to share, please send the info our way.
Another time, Jay Crawford forced her into a corner and told her that he wanted her, she says. "I don't care if you can do makeup or not....The only reason that you got the job here is because you're hot," Crawford is quoting as saying.
Unless the reason she got the job was because of something Paige had to say.
"Rita looks like she's really good at giving b--- jobs"
If Ragone's claims are true she seems to be the only member of the "Cold Pizza" staff who didn't partake in a little slap and tickle behind the scenes of America's least favorite morning show.
One hair stylist regularly plunked herself down in Paige's lap. Another pulled her breast out when model Fabio was the celebrity guest, Ragone alleges.
Now we're up for reading some salacious tidbits about the likes of Paige and Crawford but do we really need to drag the good name of Fabio into this? Paige, Crawford and ESPN suits deny the charges, of course.
Meanwhile on ESPN Radio's Chicago outlet, host Dan McNeil has landed in some hot water after calling a producer at Comcast Sportsnet a "bitch" on the air. What terrible thing had Lissa Druss Christman, said producer, done to elicit such an expletive from McNeil? When that fan ran on the field during the ninth inning of Monday's Cubs game Comcast showed it, a rarity in a time when television ignores the actions of nitwits who interrupt the game. McNeil wondered if WGN, another Cub TV home, would have done the same thing and if both stations used the same cameramen. Christman declined to answer his query so McNeil let her have it.
McNeil and the Cold Pizza guys join Reynolds, Mike Tirico, Jason Jackson and Sean Salisbury as ESPN personalities who have a checkered history when dealing with the fairer sex.
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Posted by: Paul | July 01, 2007 at 06:56 PM