Is is too much to ask for the greatest city in the world to have credible sports talk hosts?
Michael Kay’s ass is back in the jackpot. The ESPN Radio New York yakker apologized Tuesday after claiming Monday that Giants coach Brian Daboll threw a “huge party” the night before Big Blue got demolished by the Cowboys — a fact that greatly concerned Kay after Dallas’ 40-0 win.
Only one problem: It was a kid’s birthday party.
“I need to make a heartfelt apology to Brian Daboll,” Kay said, calling himself a “complete idiot” who made a “huge mistake” that is “not who I am.”
“I should have done more work, I’m a complete ass for doing this, and I feel sorry for any pain I may have caused that family by insinuating anything. But I found out later it was a party for his 6-year-old, it was a birthday party. I should have dug deeper. I didn’t think it was going to be a big thing, but it became sort of a big thing last night. And I just want to cut it off at the legs and say that is on me and I was irresponsible because I didn’t check it out further. I apologize to anybody who was impacted by my flippant remark about a party at his house.”
👉 Claim Your bet365 NJ Casino Bonus Code Right Now
Kudos to Kay for making such an unequivocal apology. It was much better than ratings rival Tiki Barber’s mea culpa after his erroneous Robert Saleh joint practice cancellation report for WFAN. But still: What the hell was Kay thinking? He is not a frat boy with a microphone and a few courses at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting; he was a true-blue journalist before heading into the booth and studio.
Kay never suggested the party was out of control or that it was the reason the Giants lost. But anyone with a brain knows that saying the coach had a party before a beatdown is going to be inflammatory. Not to mention Kay is more than capable of confirming details with sources before he runs with it. Or taking a beat to think about how little sense it makes that an NFL head coach would be having a party on the eve of the season opener.
As we said with Barber and with WFAN midday host Sal Licata’s Pete Alonso nonsense: These guys have a responsibility to be responsible. And both stations are failing on that front of late. Back after this.
ALSO: It does feel like an “us and them” vibe is developing with the stations and the teams they are rights-holders with. Barber, Kay and Licata all stepped in it while making claims about teams that are on other stations (WFAN parent company Audacy owns WCBS, which carries the Mets, but WFAN is clearly the Yankees’ station). And afternoon drive sidekick Shaun Morash made a comment a few days ago about how WFAN should be behind the Giants because it is the “flagship.” No one expects the stations to bite the hands that feed them, but this market has never fallen into the dopey turf wars that places like Philadelphia have. Hopefully that does not change.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
