What Really Happened Between Michael Strahan and Kelly Naqi
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Man, this Strahan story is crazy convoluted. If you watch ESPN or read print media reports, it seems like for all the world, that Michael Strahan is the poster-child for misogynist behavior. If you believe what you hear and read, Strahan pursued the age-old practice of attempting to intimidate a woman working in a male-dominated profession. Here’s how the Associated Press described the Naqi-Strahan exchange:
Strahan, who has been sidelined the last three weeks with a foot injury, called out Kelly Naqi, ESPN’s New York-based reporter, as she stood behind about three dozen members of the media trying to question him.
“Come here, I want to see your face when you ask this question, the way you are going to ask it,” Strahan said. “I know you are going to ask it in a way there is more division and more of a negative way than it was, so come here, I want to see your face, please.”
Strahan then asked the media to clear a path so he could see Naqi.
“You’re a responsible journalist, look me in the eye and ask this question the way you want to ask it,” said Strahan, who only came into the locker room after being told by the public relations staff that Naqi was questioning his teammates about his comments. “Look a man in the eye before you try to kill him or make up something.”
Wow. A cut and dried situation, yeah? Sounds like the Big Blue Balla’ gets the Punk-Ass Jock of the Year award, right?
But (and there almost always is)…
There’s this little nugget from Ralph Vacciano in the New York Daily News:
ESPN reporter Kelly Naqi isn’t the first reporter to be bullied by an angry athlete, and she undoubtedly won’t be the last. That’s why her boss’ response to Michael Strahan’s rant yesterday was that “It goes with the territory.”
“These situations happen,” said Vince Doria, the VP and director of news for ESPN. “(Strahan) felt compelled to do that for whatever reason.”
The following paragraph tells, from the ESPN side, why Strahan was so pissed:
Doria said he believed Naqi was singled out by Strahan because she had approached him earlier and asked him to go on camera to discuss what he said Monday on WFAN.
This goes right along with all we’ve heard. But a little later in the seven-paragraph story there’s this:
“He told her politely that he didn’t talk on Wednesdays, but he’d talk (today),” Doria said. “She thanked him. He went off out of the locker room. She then continued to pursue the story.”
And after Strahan was alerted about her pursuit, Doria said, “She was the obvious target when he came back out.”
Wait, wait, wait. What was that? Strahan agrees to talk with Naqi a day before he usually meets with the press. Then he walked out of the locker room. Hmmm, there had to be another exchange that went unreported; the exchange - at least - about a time to meet after Strahan had to leave the locker room to do whatever.
I wonder if there was something else said, or at the very least implied in the Strahan-Naqi exchange. I wonder if Mike said something like, “Now don’t go running around behind my back trying to get other info before you talk to me.” Why do I think this? Because Strahan was alerted about her pursuit. Pro jocks know the media. They know how reporters think and what their intentions are by their prior actions, and ESPN reporters are notorious for saying one thing to an athlete to gain trust, and doing another thing “to get the story the way they see fit.” And because Strahan was alerted about her pursuit, he had someone in the locker room watching Naqi’s actions.
From this, the story actually might look something like this: Michael Strahan is in the locker room after working out. ESPN’s Kelly Naqi pops over to Strahan’s locker and, knowing that he talks to the media on Thursday’s asks him if he’d do her a favor and talk with her for a couple of minutes today. Strahan, knowing he needs to put out any potential flames that might have been sparked by his comments about Plaxico Burress, agrees to an interview.
Strahan then tells Naqi that he has something to do first, but he’d definitely return for the interview. At this point, things get fuzzy because what’s not being reported, especially by ESPN or any other media outlet, is the whole exchange between Naqi and Strahan - which again, leads me to believe that Naqi didn’t keep up her end of the bargain that was struck in the exchange with Strahan. Strahan then finds an assistant and asks him to watch Naqi because he - obviously - didn’t trust Naqi, or her motives.
After Strahan leaves the locker room, Naqi immediately pursues Plaxico Burress and perhaps others to find out their side of the story, their feelings about Strahan’s comments on his radio show. Because Strahan is scheduled to speak to the media on Thursdays, all reporters must have known this fact. From the events in articles throughout the country, it appears someone told these reporters that Strahan was giving Naqi an interview when he returned to the locker room; that someone would have to have been Naqi.
At some point before re-entering the locker room, the assistant told Strahan of Naqi’s moves. By this time the reporter in the locker room is gearing up to ply Strahan with questions. Strahan is gearing up to confront Naqi when the throng of reporters is assembled. As soon as Strahan gets to his locker, he is besieged by reporters and there, conveniently at the very rear of the gaggle, is Naqi.
Rather than let this slide, Strahan gets understandably irate and calls out Naqi. The rest is history.
If you read between the lines, or read this oddly-placed seven-paragraph article written in the midst of lengthy articles around the U.S. about the Naqi versus Strahan run-in, then and only then can the truth of this matter be seen.
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