Michael Strahan has been a loyal and dedicated defensive end and 7 time pro-bowl player for the New York Giants for 14 years. He has recently been through and very rough and public divorce, which no matter what a person does for living will take a toll on them. He has been questioning retirement, one of the hardest and stressful decisions of a professional athletes career. So what do the New York Giants do? They start fining him $14,000 a day for sitting out at camp, not giving him room and time to figure out what he wants to do. People feel that if the Giants have came at him a little different way, then things would be different. Strahan did have the off season to figure out his retirement, though with the things happening in his personal life the question stands whether or not the Giants should give him space.Michael Strahan says the team is breaking a promise by not re-negotiating his contract.
Looking back at the formal General manager Earnie Accorsi telling Michael is WOULD update his contract, though not getting around to it. Now, with a new sheriff in town named Jerry Reese who is a lot more reluctant to raise his salary to more than 4 million dollars, Strahan feels disrespected.
Reese has said they will welcome Strahan into camp, but will not be waiting and hoping.
Reese declined to say whether Strahan asked to renegotiate his contract when Strahan finally contacted the Giants, which will pay $4 million this season. However, he said there are repercussions for missing camp. Strahan has incurred fines of $71,440 for missing the first five days, but neither side gave a deadline for him to make up his mind.
So with all these details to think about, is it fair for Michael Strahan how the Giants are handling this situation?
3 comments:
I bleed blue and love Michael Strahan as a player - but, I think the Giants are doing the right thing and that Strahan is at fault for this mess.
What ever happened to honoring your word? He signed a contract of employment and now wants to break it - there has to be penalties associated with that.
Strahan who is on the wrong half of his 30s has no leg to stand on here - $4mm is a what he agreed to, his total contract at the time was the richest out of any of the defensive lineman before him, so what has changed? I think Strahan should show some honor by either living up to his end of a signed legal document or retire.
One more thing on this - this Strahan /Giants situation underscores the difference between having a strong union collective bargaining agreement and not.
MLB has a very strong union and agreement - and usually the players win contract battles. In the NFL, where money is not guaranteed, it is often the players that get shafted.
Couldn't agree more on both counts -- Strahan is the one who signed the contract, he's lucky they're even honoring it considering he's not that great anymore, and this isn't exactly the first time he's complained about money.
(Granted, he may be more desperate now that his ex-wife has leeched away all his money)
And yes, this the big difference between the NFL and MLB player's associations. Strahan would be clogging up an MLB team's payroll for years to come.
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