This is a weird story, so I'm going to present it in a weird way. This is, to the best of my knowledge, the events that just occurred in Florham Park:
It was a quiet Friday in mid-September as the New York Jets prepared to take on their hated rivals, the Miami Dolphins. Practice occurred as it typically did, and the players retired to the locker room to shower, change, and rest up for the upcoming battle. Fridays are typically called "Slow-Jam Friday" with R&B music piped into the locker room, which helps keep the players focused and determined. Yet on this Friday, the events about to unfold were hardly slow.
Bart Scott, the vocal leader of the defense, and the inventor of the awesome catch phrase, "Can't Wait!" was in the locker room when the members of the media began to pour in. One such media member, Dan Leberfeld of New York Jets Confidential, approached Mr. Scott and began to take a picture of the linebacker with his camera phone. Mr. Scott, who had previously declared a boycott of the media, who he believed portrayed him unfairly, was perturbed with this action. For those that are unaware, Mr. Leberfeld was promoting his latest issue of Confidential, which featured Mr. Scott as the "ringleader" of the purported Jets Circus.
In any case, Mr. Scott told Mr. Leberfeld to "get a life," and to refrain from taking his picture. Upon Mr. Leberfeld's refusal, Mr. Scott exclaimed, "I'll smack the sh** out of you." Upon hearing the threat of physical force, Mr. Leberfeld apparently said that he would sue Mr. Scott if he were to strike him. Mr. Scott replied, saying that he did not care. Words were further exchanged, and the two men inched closer and closer to their own impending brawl. Suddenly, public relations man Bruce Speight jumped between the two men and valiantly fought to stave off a war... and a public relations nightmare. He called out for help from his coworkers, and Bart Scott and Dan Leberfeld were separated.
So, this is a weird story. Personally, I'm glad Bart stood up to Leberfeld and his creepy, Favre-ian phone pictures. Bart has declared a media boycott for good reason; nothing good will come from it. The media doesn't like Bart (other than him providing soundbites), and he doesn't like them. I'm glad it didn't actually come to blows, because the media would have had a field day with that. But both these men are professionals, and neither acted like one. But I'll blame Dan Leberfeld more here, because I like Bart and I don't like Leberfeld's writing.
Update: This is apparently the second time this week that Leberfeld has been goading Bart and taking his picture without Bart's permission via camera phone.
Update 2: I made this point in the comments, but I also want to put it up here in case anyone that has the power to do this can... If I were the New York Jets, I would remove Dan Leberfeld's press credentials. This is the second time he's done this to Bart Scott, and he knew Bart wasn't happy with it. He was intentionally trying to provoke Bart into reacting to gain viewers to his own writing. I know this because within fifteen minutes of the whole thing occuring, Leberfeld was making the rounds on WFAN and other media outlets to scream about this "injustice." He voluntarily admitted that there was no reason to take the picture, other than "he wanted to," despite Bart's requests to stop. It's a strict attention grab, and it's so wildly unprofessional that he should not be allowed the same level of respect the team gives to other members of the media.