In late February 2010, Daulerio called Sterger again to see if she would allow him to post a blind item, a term for unattributed stories in a gossip column, about the messages and photos from Favre without mentioning Sterger. On February 15, Sterger sent him an email that seemed to say yes:

I like ya AJ... and if there is a way to expose this dude for the creepy douche he is WITHOUT me being attached to it in any way that is fine. I just want to make it clear I never met him, saw him, etc... because I don't roll that way. That way meaning old or married.

But by March, Sterger was having second thoughts. She wanted to speak to her lawyer, Daulerio said. She was supposed to come into this office with the voice mails and the photos and, you know, we were going to talk about how we could publish them. But Sterger emailed to let him know that she was sick. The two exchanged a flurry of emails. Daulerio kept pressing her. She stalled for time.

At this point, Daulerio contacted a mutual friend in the media who told him that Sterger had told numerous people about Favres messages and the photos; she had also forwarded the photos to some of them. ^[8] The mutual friend had seen the photos and told Daulerio that the texts, voicemails and photos had become a running joke among her friends. I was, like, How many people know about the story? recalls Daulerio. Thats when he learned that several employees of the Jets organization also knew about this. That made it a bigger story than just a creepy old guy hitting on a girl, says Daulerio. There were people who had known about this story who probably would not want this story to go public.

During the spring and summer months, Daulerio turned his attention to other work, but checked in with Sterger about once a month. By then, Sterger was busy with her new job at the Daily Line . She emailed him back, but ignored his questions about the possibility of a blog post about the photos and messages.

Other sources. In the meantime, Daulerio decided to work other sources, specifically three people whom he had heard knew about the photos. These potential sources worked in the media and covered Favre and the Jets. Have you ever heard about anything that happened with Brett and Sterger during his time with the Jets? Daulerio asked each of them.

All three of his contacts said they had heard about Favres wristwatch. In one of the explicit photos sent to Sterger, a distinctive watch that Favre had worn during a press conference announcing his first retirement from football (before he resumed his career with the Jets) was clearly visible. The watch had a blue-green face, black band and beveled silver casing. That had helped Sterger identify Favre. But none of the people Daulerio spoke to could understand his interest in the story. They cited ethical concerns. This is not [just] about a professional athlete whipping out his [penis], Daulerio responded.

Hear more: A.J. Daulerio explains the significance of the Favre story

Daulerio believed the story went beyond a photo of genitalia. To him, the photos and messages demonstrated not only the hypocrisy of Favres family man persona, but also the nature of an organization that was facilitating every kind of whim and desire he had. Daulerio adds: I understand the sentiment that this is so commonplace, and you can nail almost every single athlete for stepping out on his wife. But this felt like a bigger deal to me. Sterger and Favre were both Jets employees, and Daulerio thought the Jets organization appeared to be protecting Favre.

In July, Daulerio contacted Jesse Derris of Sunshine, Sachs & Associates, the agency that handled public relations for the Jets. Derris said he had never heard about the photos and messages but he would make a few phone calls and get back to Daulerio. He calls me back, and the first thing he says is that, well, technically, Jenn Stergers not really an employee, she is freelance, and she has no grounds for a suit, Daulerio says. He found Derris response an interesting answer to something that supposedly hadnt happened. It was clear that somebody knew something.