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Despite the recent success of women in the sports world, many of them are still outsiders. Michael Strahan’s chauvinistic rant against ESPN reporter Kelly Naqi shows a lack of respect for women in the male dominated world of professional sports.
Following the New York Giants’ terrible collapse against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday -- which was their third defeat in a row -- Strahan violated an unwritten rule when he criticized teammate Plaxico Burress on the radio for his lackluster play.
Although it is never a good thing to call out a teammate through the media, Strahan was absolutely correct in his assessment of the malcontent wide receiver. Burress is a talented player, yet is lack passion for the game overshadows his skills.
When Naqi relayed Strahan’s message back to Burress, she wasn’t committing some horrible crime against humanity. In fact, she was only doing her job. The real crime is the way Strahan belittled Naqi in front of a room filled with her peers.
"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 cleared a path so he could glare at 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."
Now, I’m a big fan of the Strahan, but his comments towards Naqi were totally irrational and uncalled for. What’s upsetting here is the unlikelihood that Strahan would have treated a male reporter with such disregard. Sadly, had Naqi been a male reporter, I seriously doubt he would have reacted like a bitter misogynist.
If Strahan is going to criticize a teammate then he should have had the conviction to stand by his words and not use his 6-foot-5, 255 pound frame to intimidate a woman who is half his size.
"We have lost three games in a row," Strahan said. What do you want us to do, put our head down and run to a corner? We don't do that. We're men. We get back, we practice hard. We prepare to play to win. We don't prepare to come in and have someone who wants to take a comment and try to divide teammates in a way that it just disrupts this team.
"We don't have that division," Strahan added. "So if you want to come here with a negative, you are coming to the wrong guy, because I am not a negative guy. I don't kill my teammates. I'm a man and I talk to my teammates."
Being a man means treating people with respect. Chewing out a female reporter sends out the wrong message. Worse, it is a cowardly act. Just because a woman dared to venture into the boys locker room and question a star athlete, it doesn’t call for such animosity. In this day and age, female reporters deserve the same respect as their male counterparts.
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