Sarah Phillips of ESPN

[Beyond the Bets]

(05-02-2012 10:48 AM)lakeshow85 Wrote:  I think you guys should stop saying "her". IMO there is little to no chance that the actual girl in a few pictures and ONE youtube video is actually the person behind the scamming/lies. That girl is just the face of a crazy asshole guy who figured out that covers would eat up the idea of a hot girl who can talk handicapping...then it snowballed from there. I'd be shocked if I was wrong.

She is definitely the driver of the car, but not the one barking out directions.

[zman1415]

Because I love controversy, let me partially take Pitch’s side here. It’s a point I was thinking of last night/this morning. I also wrote up a (very long) post on my guess at the inner workings, but I can post that later, after I’ve hopefully trimmed it down, otherwise nobody would read it (if you want the long version, let me know I’ll post it if anyone thinks it’s useful, but it’s just my outsiders parsing of what might connect the dots).

I think this story has taken off and the outrage is huge for two reasons – one she was at ESPN and she’s a girl.  I think way more needs to be on ESPN/Covers for this. Everyone seems to be outraged at Phillips because she’s the easy target (and accessible). Covers/ESPN can hide behind tons of other stuff and tilting at windmills gets boring after a while.  They were the ones that enabled the platform that Team Phillips used to put one over on so many people.

As for her being a girl contributing, if this was an old dude (even a famous one) like Lenny Dykstra that had pulled on over on everyone, it’d be a 1 page article and we’d all forget about it. Tons of people every day scam people out of their money. It happens regularly. Every ad you see saying “punch the monkey win an ipad” is a scam. People sell crappy stuff on ebay, craigslist and amazon every day. What do we tell the guy who buys fake Reds tickets on opening day? “Damn, that sucks, I hope they catch ‘em, but buyer beware”.  Covers is full of scammers, as are half the other gambling services out there. How do people who generally know this fact manage to let themselves get duped like this so easily? A pretty face goes a long way. The vast majority of them are upset that a girl pulled on over on them.  Pitch is wrong because I think this thread is generally different, but the public reaction to it is so strong because a girl pulled one over on them and their manliness is hurt.

As for Team Phillips, none of what she did was good, but holy hell, she stole some twitter pages and web sites. As far as we know right now, the only person who lost actual money was Matt, who donated her 4k because he felt bad after losing wagers he suggested to her and wanted her to help get some advertising on the site?

[zman1415]

And Jay, I agree with you, the problem with this is the general view that this is what the sports betting industry creates, and that ESPN / Covers are to stupid to protect their readers from this. That is a real problem. Whether its Jack Zito, John Harrison or Sarah Pillips is no different, only this one is getting way more publicity.

[SkyBlues42]

Because it involves ESPN. It deserves more attention.

[ChiefZilla]

The updated scene at Covers...

[Pitch12]

(05-02-2012 11:12 AM)zman1415 Wrote:  Because I love controversy, let me partially take Pitch’s side here. It’s a point I was thinking of last night/this morning. I also wrote up a (very long) post on my guess at the inner workings, but I can post that later, after I’ve hopefully trimmed it down, otherwise nobody would read it (if you want the long version, let me know I’ll post it if anyone thinks it’s useful, but it’s just my outsiders parsing of what might connect the dots).

I think this story has taken off and the outrage is huge for two reasons – one she was at ESPN and she’s a girl.  I think way more needs to be on ESPN/Covers for this. Everyone seems to be outraged at Phillips because she’s the easy target (and accessible). Covers/ESPN can hide behind tons of other stuff and tilting at windmills gets boring after a while.  They were the ones that enabled the platform that Team Phillips used to put one over on so many people.

As for her being a girl contributing, if this was an old dude (even a famous one) like Lenny Dykstra that had pulled on over on everyone, it’d be a 1 page article and we’d all forget about it. Tons of people every day scam people out of their money. It happens regularly. Every ad you see saying “punch the monkey win an ipad” is a scam. People sell crappy stuff on ebay, craigslist and amazon every day. What do we tell the guy who buys fake Reds tickets on opening day? “Damn, that sucks, I hope they catch ‘em, but buyer beware”.  Covers is full of scammers, as are half the other gambling services out there. How do people who generally know this fact manage to let themselves get duped like this so easily? A pretty face goes a long way. The vast majority of them are upset that a girl pulled on over on them.  Pitch is wrong because I think this thread is generally different, but the public reaction to it is so strong because a girl pulled one over on them and their manliness is hurt.

As for Team Phillips, none of what she did was good, but holy hell, she stole some twitter pages and web sites. As far as we know right now, the only person who lost actual money was Matt, who donated her 4k because he felt bad after losing wagers he suggested to her and wanted her to help get some advertising on the site?

Most of this probably wouldn't have happened if it was a 50-year-old dude. I'm telling you, I follow some of these guys on Twitter, the amount of ego stroking that went on for both sides (Phillips and numerous tweeters) was laughable. The tweeters wanted anyway they can to get to her, and she used it to her advantage.

[ChiefZilla]

(05-02-2012 11:20 AM)Pitch12 Wrote:  Most of this probably wouldn't have happened if it was a 50-year-old dude. I'm telling you, I follow some of these guys on Twitter, the amount of ego stroking that went on for both sides (Phillips and numerous tweeters) was laughable. The tweeters wanted anyway they can to get to her, and she used it to her advantage.

Well, yeah. That was the scam. What are we even arguing about here?

Of course it "worked" because she was an attractive female. Is anyone disputing that? I don't really understand the point of the last few posts.

[Harrison Ford]

Here is the reason she got away with this guys and I think you will be surprised as to why it worked!

EDIT: Stop spamming, please. [BTB]

[SkyBlues42]

You're an idiot.

[Harrison Ford]

She actually contacted me while I was dead but I had no way to use her at that point. If she would have contacted me 2 weeks earlier, she would still be on ESPN right now. Game recognizes game!

[ChiefZilla]

Recently checked out at the library by the folks at Covers...

[ChiefZilla]

"Besides the whole con artist thing, and saying she hates us to others, Sarah is a pretty nice girl." — One of the guys who was conned

Um, what?

Link

[Harrison Ford]

My point exactly Chief!!

[Pitch12]

(05-02-2012 11:53 AM)ChiefZilla Wrote:  "Besides the whole con artist thing, and saying she hates us to others, Sarah is a pretty nice girl." — One of the guys who was conned

Um, what?

Link

Unbelievable. The power of a woman

[SkyBlues42]

(05-02-2012 11:54 AM)Harrison Ford Wrote:  My point exactly Chief!!

You're still talking? You called yourself an idiot in an article you just wrote. Why would anyone take your opinion seriously?

[Harrison Ford]

Read it again my friend, never said I was an idiot! Just guys like you.

[SkyBlues42]

Hm..

Quote:Anyone who knows anything about anything, knows that gamblers are by far the dumbest people on the planet.

My apologies for thinking that you actually gambled -- or bet on sports.

[RickRude]

(05-02-2012 11:20 AM)Pitch12 Wrote:  Most of this probably wouldn't have happened if it was a 50-year-old dude. I'm telling you, I follow some of these guys on Twitter, the amount of ego stroking that went on for both sides (Phillips and numerous tweeters) was laughable. The tweeters wanted anyway they can to get to her, and she used it to her advantage.

While I think a part of people getting conned is because it was a pretty girl at the forefront, the bigger picture is that these people were getting conned by a guy. This Nilesh Prasad. Even the link just posted showed that Phillips was the entry person, but everything went through Prasad. So how can we say this happened "only because it was a woman?" That is patently false. The guy "Ben" and now this guy Xavier both dealt with Prasad. A faceless man. Look at the chat Deadspin posted between Ben and Nilesh. No Sarah Phillips anywhere and Nilesh lying about The Big Lead and other things. They gave over pieces of their "business" (for lack of a better word) to him, not Sarah Phillips. These people would have been scammed with a guy, girl, horse, or whatever that was offering them millions. Having a pretty girl at the front made it more likely, but to say "most of this" probably wouldn't have happened if it was a 50 year old guy is just false. The media outrage may be different, but the scam would still be perpetuated the same.

Any kid offered riches by someone working at ESPN is going to A) look into that and B) probably fall for it. ESPN and Covers gave her a platform. You think that people wouldn't be scammed by another writer with an ESPN byline because it was a man? I find that absurd. Phillips used the ESPN credit to reel these people in for Prasad. That is a huge similarity in all of these stories coming out. She wasn't doing this when at Covers or just as a Twitter personality. Why not? She was pretty then, right? She needed that ESPN backing. Anyone at ESPN (man/woman) could work something like this with that kind of name on their business card.

[Harrison Ford]

(05-02-2012 12:13 PM)SkyBlues42 Wrote:  Hm..

Quote:Anyone who knows anything about anything, knows that gamblers are by far the dumbest people on the planet.

My apologies for thinking that you actually gambled -- or bet on sports.

Why would I bet on sports? I am not a criminal! I live in Massachusetts not Nevada! I would like to make money with my talents though, so I do sell plays. It is a no brainer!

[SkyBlues42]

(05-02-2012 12:24 PM)Harrison Ford Wrote:  Why would I bet on sports? I am not a criminal! I live in Massachusetts not Nevada! I would like to make money with my talents though, so I do sell plays. It is a no brainer!

Ok. So you sell picks, but never actually bet your own money on those games. Correct?