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NY DAILY NEWS  Torrie/News Then-Mets GM Steve Phillips speaks at a 2008 press conference about an affair with a team employee that causes his suspension. A new affair with a production assistant now may cost him his ESPN gig. She's young, ambitious and eager to please. Brooke Hundley, the ESPN production assistant who reportedly had an affair with Steve Phillips, is a 2008 graduate of Ithaca College - but her resume already includes stops at HBO, ABC, NBC Sports and the 24-hour sports network. "Networking is not sucking up," Hundley wrote two years ago to her dean at Ithaca's Park School of Communications. "You never know who you will need help from further down the road ... so be nice, and get to know everybody." The 22-year-old's resume cites a variety of job skills, from sports media to breaking news. But Hundley found herself in the headlines over an alleged affair with Phillips, an ESPN baseball analyst. She reportedly blabbed about the affair to Phillips' wife, Marni, in a letter and may have contacted one of the couple's young sons. Phillips, 46, has been suspended by ESPN for a week and Marni has filed for divorce. Despite the sudden and unwanted attention, Hundley's MySpace page listed her mood Wednesday as "hopeful." The sorority girl joined ESPN shortly after graduation in September 2008, coming over after working for NBC during the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Hundley had previously worked as an intern for ABC Studios, the "Moonlight" production office and "Jimmy Kimmel Live." At Ithaca, she was a dean's list student who earned a duel degree in business administration and TV-radio. After attending the International Radio and Television Society's 2007 career workshop and job fair, Hundley wrote her dean at Ithaca with advice for fellow job hopefuls. "You only get one chance to shine, so make sure you're ready for it," Hundley wrote. "If you're given an amazing opportunity and you fail, people will always refers back to the fact that they already gave you a chance." A former Mets general manager, Phillips led the team to a 2000 World Series berth. But his six-year tenure with the Mets, from 1997-2003, was marred by another affair: The then-GM admitted to sleeping with a female team employee, Rosa Rodriguez, in 1998. In a 2002 interview, fired Mets manager Bobby Valentine blasted his former general manager for his off-the-field dalliances. "Steve really stepped out of line, and [team owner] Fred [Wilpon] backed him to the nth degree," Valentine told the Journal News.
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