Sarah Phillips of ESPN

[RickRude]

(05-02-2012 12:51 PM)thebigsald Wrote:  

(05-02-2012 12:15 PM)RickRude Wrote:  

(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.

SP would not have gotten the job at ESPN if she wasn't female

Ben and Xavier wouldnt have been scammed if she didnt work for ESPN

Ergo: This happened, in large part, because of the gender aspect.

I never said being a woman wasn't a factor. But it's not the only factor.