This Brett Favre sexual-harassment scandal regarding former New York Jets game hostess Jenn Sterger just keeps on getting more interesting by the minute and it certainly looks like this circus will be going on for quite a while longer. While I’m as sick of Favre and his antics as most of you are I’m admittedly curious as to how this story will end for both parties.

Everyone knows about the text messages and offensive images Favre is accused of sending Sterger while she was employed by the Jets, which were apparently worth $12,000 to Deadspin, the website that first reported the story.

We are now at the point where Sterger and her representatives have met with the NFL and the league is currently deciding its course of action.

Apparently the investigation was not swift enough for Sterger’s manager, Phil Reese, because he made these comments on The Dan Patrick Show that I gleaned from Yahoo! Sports Shutdown Corner Blog:

Reese wants the NFL to act immediately. Dan asked if the NFL suspended Favre, would Sterger drop the whole thing. “If the commissioner suspends Favre and puts a program in place to prevent it from happening again … 100 percent, Jenn would not pursue any litigation against Favre, against the Jets, against the NFL. Nothing. All she wants to do is clear her name. This is not about money,” Reese said.

“I don’t know what’s taking so long here,” Reese said. “We have done everything to assist the investigation. We have gone above and beyond. We’ve been told the league is going to do the right thing.”

Dan asked if Sterger complained to the Jets when this was going on. “No, she did not complain to the organization,” Reese said. Reese said she confided to people in the industry and they advised her if she went to the Jets, she would lose her job.

Fascinating stuff, huh? So Reese claims that if the NFL suspends Favre and institutes a sexual harassment prevention training program the Sterger camp will elect not to sue.

Sounds like the right thing to do on both counts.

While I’m not entirely convinced that Sterger won’t seek some kind of settlement I’m going to run with this and believe that what they want is the NFL to recognize that what Favre did was wrong and put a plan in place to prevent these types of incidents in the future.

Sounds like a plan, right? No money lost via lawsuit and Favre was going to hang it up (supposedly) after this season anyway. I know he’s all concerned about his consecutive-start streak but sometimes life gets in the way, you know?

Not to mention he is having the worst season of his professional career, throwing just ten touchdowns to eighteen interceptions through twelve games and leading the Vikings to a mediocre 5-7 record.

All that mediocrity for the small sum of $16 million in 2010, by the way - I think Tavaris Jackson has earned the right to be frustrated!

Not so fast on the Sterger-camp resolution though, says the Favre camp, courtesy of NBC Sports:

With the Favre camp now convinced that litigation is inevitable, their message is simple:  ”Give us a lawsuit.”

So said Richard Gerakitis, an Atlanta-based employment lawyer who recently spoke extensively with PFT in the wake of Phil Reese’s Thursday appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, at which time Reese presented in frenetic detail many facts (some relevant, some not) as to the ongoing situation.

“What is this?” Gerakitis told PFT regarding Reese’s comments.  ”Give us a lawsuit that enables us to find out what her allegations are.  We can defend against a lawsuit.  We can’t defend against the attempted manipulation of the media by trying to only give selective portions.”

Gerakitis doesn’t see the connection.  Gerakitis explained that, in his view, “it makes no sense” for Sterger to try to clear her name via a finding of wrongdoing against Favre in light of the “path” she has chosen for her career, which has included posing for publications like Maxim and Playboy, working for the Jets in revealing clothing, and attending Florida State games wearing only a bra.

“It’s hard to imagine any judge wouldn’t look at her background and experience, her modeling career, her relationship with co-workers, her attire on the sidelines when she worked for the Jets,” Geratikis said.  ”I can’t think of many Falcons employees who dress that way when they’re a ‘sideline hostess.’  I can’t imagine Erin Andrews or Jill Arrington or Wendi Nix dressing that way.”  Gerakitis also explained that a legal proceeding would entail a review of, for example, language used by Sterger in the workplace, which would help shed light on whether she truly was offended by or objected to any communications she may have received from Favre.

“She cannot show that she’s the victim of sexual harassment,” Gerakitis said.  ”She has no claim against the league, Brett, or the Jets.”

Ok, so now the Favre camp is heading down a dangerous path that is dead wrong by discussing her prior modeling career photo-shoots and choice of sideline attire. That is one interesting and potentially hazardous way to handle this.

Ask the Jets - they tried that line of defense in the Ines Sainz incident earlier this year and took a beating in the media for it.

My take? Look, I don’t know how this isn’t a case of sexual harassment. The Favre camp claims that she didn’t communicate with Favre that his behavior was offensive and that she never brought the issue to the Jets so she’s essentially lost her right to a lawsuit.

But isn’t this why sexual harassment laws exist? To protect those who might be afraid of taking the right course of action? Wouldn’t it be an incredible turn of events if the NFL backed Favre in this case?

Furthermore, I find it maddening that a formal anti-sexual harassment program isn’t mandatory in the NFL. Check this out from The New York Times:

The NFL does not have formal anti-sexual harassment policy, but it did team up with Northeastern’s Sports in Society this fall to develop a workplace-conduct program that focuses on “gender equity and respect,” according to a Nov. 16 release.

Lopiano applauded Sterger for insisting that the league develop an anti-sexual harassment program - and said it is something that it should have done long ago. She said women face harassment in sports because most organizations’ front-office employees are overwhelmingly male.

However this ends up the journey promises to be quite hazardous on the way to a solution and it certainly looks like there will be figurative punches flying all over the place.

I’ll be watching and ducking at the same time.

Oh, and please do the right thing, NFL - if you indeed have confirmed that he sexually harassed this woman please do what needs to be done.

You know what that is.

And if he didn’t let’s get over this damn thing already.