Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images
This past December, during the ESPN “30 for 30” documentary The New York Sack Exchange, former New York Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau blindsided Brett Favre, accusing him of helping Michael Strahan break his single-season sack record. Gastineau appeared very upset during the confrontation, which took place at a memorabilia show, repeatedly telling the Hall of Fame quarterback, “You hurt me.” Now he is suing ESPN for over $25 million for putting that moment in the film.
Many observers believe Brett Favre took a dive in the Packers’ final game of the 2001 season so that Michael Strahan could break Gastineau’s record of 22 sacks. Whether he did or did not is still a matter of speculation, but either way, Mark Gastineau has been very upset about it ever since.
In 2020, he told ESPN, “It’s a good record and it took me a long time to get that. It took a lot of work, a lot of work to get that record. So many years I worked my butt off to get it, and I finally got it, and it shouldn’t have been cheapened like it was. It’s like a tarnished record.”
Something that always appears to get lost in Mark Gastineau’s argument is the fact that Jared Allen and Justin Houston have also tied his record of 22 sacks. Then there is the fact that T.J. Watt had 22.5 sacks in the 2021 season, well before, the ESPN documentary was released.
Brett Favre, in response to being unexpectedly confronted by Gastineau, wrote a series of posts on X (Twitter) where he explained what happened and lobbied for the former Jets great to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Favre has also stated, “I really think that was a setup by ESPN and/or NFL Films. Because there was a camera hiding above this divider.”
Mark Gastineau now too thinks he was set up. He claims in his lawsuit, according to TMZ, that ESPN “intentionally and maliciously did not publish” him and Brett Favre shaking hands. Because of that, he claims, he has “been attacked on social media with ridicule, scorn and contempt.”
Gastineau also claims that he was supposed to have final approval over scenes such as the one with Favre, and that he never gave ESPN permission to record the scene in the first place.