Sarah Phillips of ESPN

[Beyond the Bets]

I want to make a few things clear: I don't really care who or what Sarah J. Phillips is. What she does has no bearing on my life and quite honestly I don't read anything that she writes. Most people are jealous that a female writer, or a presumed female writer, has landed a gig at ESPN. Well, too damn bad.

We all get opportunities to do various things in this world, and some of us pay our dues and some of us don't. Petty jealousy, rather than genuine curiosity, is why most people are so desperate to "out" her.

I don't have any intention of outing Sarah J. Phillips. I really don't. I know more than I'm letting on because I've done a little independent digging myself, and I am quite certain that her story doesn't "add up" in a number of different spots.

For instance, I don't believe that she attended the University of Oregon. (And yes, I'll be the first to absorb flying eggs to the face if/when she proves that she did.)

Nonetheless, I am a former journalist and in some regard still consider myself to be one. IF ESPN is allowing someone to operate under a pen name and a false identity — an identity that appears to be inconsistent based on some of the things outlined in this post, and other stuff I won't get into — then I question their ethics.