The Sean Salisbury cell phone saga has always seemed to me to be a lot like the legend of Bigfoot; shrouded in mystery, leaving large tracks but not much in the way of tangible proof.
It's hard to believe that it's been more than two years since the Lil' Sean Incident, when Salisbury allegedly whipped out a cell phone camera and showed around a photo of his penis at an ESPN party. It's always been assumed that that was the motivating factor leading to his later dismissal from ESPN. Salisbury, though, denies that it even happened. He now works CBS Radio in Dallas at KRLD-FM 105.3 The Fan, co-hosting a show with Newy Scruggs. He claims that he's not angry anymore; life goes on, and the saga of Lil' Sean drifts into murky legend.
But then suddenly, from out of the woods, comes an eyewitness account. Here is a woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, who is a former ESPN employee and says that she saw it all. She was at the party in which Salisbury allegedly passed around a photo of his BattleBot. She swears it's true, that she saw said photo, and is prepared to tell about it. Let's get right to the details.
"It was a former employee's going away party, held at one of the few decent bars near the ESPN campus. I had to work that evening, and so showed up around 11 or 12. I walked in and the place was pretty packed. I said hi to a few friends and then Salisbury came up to me. He was always very nice to me, (I) never had any issues with him, maybe b/c I was dating another co-worker and Sean wasn't stupid enough to get him angry. Anyway, he said hello and asked if I wanted to see a picture of his baby. I knew he had kids, but thought they were all older, but what did I know, maybe he had recently had another. So, of course I said sure.
"The picture was on his cell phone, and needless to say it was not a child. It was a shot of him lying on his back, on his bed, naked, with an erection. The photo was taken from the edge of the bed, I don't know if he did it himself or had some help. I also didn't look long enough to tell whether or not he should have been so proud of the photo in the first place. I wasn't shocked or appalled, just kind of stunned really.
"For the rest of the night Sean asked every new person who walked in the door if they wanted to see a picture of his baby, and would then subject them to a photo of his penis. Most of the other females in attendance started warning others as they arrived what he was doing, so eventually everyone caught on. To me the funniest part is that one of the guys there who was kind of a hanger-on with a lot of the talent and analysts kept asking to see the picture over and over again. He thought is was great!
"It wasn't a huge deal to me, I just thought it was a stupid thing to do. Why Sean thought showing off that picture, at what was essentially an ESPN party, was a good idea is beyond me. I don't know that he ever got reprimanded for it, but I'm sure it was brought up when he did eventually get canned. Things spread like wildfire at that place, I'm sure it was only a matter of days before Norby knew.
I'd like to point out once again that Salisbury denies all of this. But it's very close to the version that's most often repeated when people talk about the story of "Sean and his baby." So this isn't breaking news by any means, but the more independent sources who emerge with essentially the same tale, the easier it is to believe.
Sean Salisbury [Deadspin]