Michael Kay spread some unfair gossip about New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll this week, and the longtime sports broadcaster has since issued an apology.
During Monday’s edition of his “The Michael Kay Show,” Kay said he heard from a reliable source that Daboll hosted a “huge party” at the coach’s house on Saturday night, which was the night before the Giants’ embarrassing 40-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Kay shared the story to highlight how the Giants supposedly did not take their division rival seriously enough.
“I have it on good authority that Brian Daboll had a huge party at his house on Saturday night,” Kay said, via Manuel Gómez of NJ.com. “You’re not throwing a big party if you’re about to get your butt kicked by the Cowboys. So, this took everybody by surprise. And that’s what’s scary. Nobody expected this sort of blowout. They thought that they were going to play with them and they didn’t even show up.
“That scares me guys. That tells me that they don’t even know their own team. There’s no way the head coach of a team throws a huge party like that the night before the opener if they think that there’s a chance that they’re going to get blown out.”
The rumor sounded off from the start. It seems highly unlikely that any NFL coach would host a wild party the night before the season opener, let alone the reigning AP NFL Coach of the Year. As many suspected, the story was not accurate.
Kay issued an apology on Tuesday’s episode of his show. He said he has since learned that Daboll hosted a party for his 6-year-old’s birthday.
“I need to make a heartfelt apology to Brian Daboll,” Kay said, as transcribed by Dan Benton of Giants Wire. “I should have done more work. I’m a complete (expletive) 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.”
Kay added that he was “irresponsible” for not vetting the information further and said he did not expect it to circulate the way it did. He also called himself a “complete idiot” and repeatedly apologized.
Though the apology seemed sincere, Kay has been around long enough that he should have known how absurd the rumor sounded. If you want to know how serious Daboll is about winning, just look at the way he reacted to giving up a big play in a preseason game.
