Scandal Luke Slayers

[Sainter3and7]

sparkybagger, were there any people who stood out for their kindness and good character? (I'm hoping so).

 

[The Cobra]

Nah. He was outside the bubble (external media). The NFL restricted access to facilities, players, and staff heavily to avoid the likes of him.

We had enough of our own internal Sayers-like issues with our own staff. I worked with Ike Taylor (who I thought was a decent dude) when he joined the NFL Network who decided it was a good idea to Facetime production staff from the shower. Before that Warren Sapp (one of the worst individuals I've ever met) got fired after trying to pick up a hooker at SB49 who was actually an undercover cop.

These were just the issues that went public. There were dozens that never saw the light of day as they were promptly buried.

Our staff hotel in SF at SB50 was a cesspool. The ground floor lobby bar was wall-to-wall hookers, which displeased my missus greatly . We had Mark Davis (Raiders owner) on our floor (he is notoriously cheap and takes the comp room instead of paying for a suite) and every time you walked down the hall it sounded like he was interfering with farm animals.

SB - great stuff!

Do you drink ? Next time you’ve had a few feel free to share a few more anecdotes that you might normally keep to yourself - gold!

 

[sparkybagger]

sparkybagger, were there any people who stood out for their kindness and good character? (I'm hoping so).

Yes. There was some really good people there. I worked on the Digital media side of the business but we shared the complex with the NFL Network so there was a lot of interaction. As the only Aussie in the building, I was a bit of a novelty and a lot of the talent were intrigued by AFL and my Andrew Walker poster (standing on the shoulders of Jake Carlisle) in my office was a talking point.

In terms of good folks, it was mostly ex-coaches: I spent a year working with Tom Coughlin in NFL Operations and he was very generous with his time and advice. Steve Mariucci, never seemed to leave the building and was a good dude. Bill Cowher wasn't around as much but still a very decent human being based on my limited interactions.

In terms of ex-players, Akbar Gbajabiamila was the best by a mile. Very humble dude and made a point of treating staff well (most of the talent were pretty awful). He would go out of his way to give family and friends studio tours and make them feel special. A lasting memory is him "stealing" a colleague's kids e-scooter (they were new at the time) and riding around the parking lot for an hour. Maurice Jones-Drew was similar. In contrast, we also had dudes like Warren Sapp, Michael Irvin, Tony Romo, Terrell Davis, Ike Taylor, and Marshall Faulk working there during my time. These were people to avoid where possible.