RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesHall of Fame defensive end and multi-platform TV personality Michael Strahan took some criticism last month for not mentioning the connection between ALS and football in his interview with former NFL running back Chris Johnson, who disclosed that he has the disease.
Appearing on Tuesday's edition of The Dan Patrick Show , Patrick asked Strahan if, in retrospect, Strahan believes he should have asked that question.
“Well, I had that — I actually thought about that , because I saw what every[one said], ‘Well you should have asked this, you should have asked that.’ Well, you should have got the interview. How about that?” Strahan said. “That’s one thing."
That's one sort of petty thing. The "get" doesn't become a license to not get to the right questions. It also invites the question, generally speaking, as to whether an "exclusive" interview was less of a "get" and more of a "give" to someone who won't ask the most probing and necessary questions.
“Two," Strahan told Patrick, "two, that was Chris’s moment for Chris to share the story which Chris wanted to share. And when I got the call that Chris wanted to share that he has, you know, ALS, that was the story. It wasn’t for me to try to grandstand, which — I hate when people do this, Dan. As an interviewer, our job is [to] deliver information. I’m not trying to get a bigger name for myself by putting somebody else in an uncomfortable position. I was there as a service to Chris, for what Chris wanted people to understand and know about his life and where he was now. I was not there to make a story about myself or to get a big headline — that’s what it wasn’t about. The headlines were about Chris is where they needed to be.
"I did ask Chris about football, how the NFL has been supportive and all those things. He has twin boys who play football right now. So there are so many things that people don't know but a few were critical of, but overall I'm very proud of what we did there at ABC in bringing that story. And I'm very proud and very happy that Chris trusted us to tell it. Because that was Chris's story to tell. The headline's about Chris Johnson, not about Michael Strahan. I don't make any of these things about myself. And that was the disappointing thing for a few people who were critical of that. But if you don't have critics that means you're not doing a good job, too.”
Many would say that's not how an interview should work, even on a feel-good network morning show. Certain topics are unavoidable. It's not "grandstanding" to ask an obvious question and to trust that the subject of the interview will be able to handle it.
"Do you believe your ALS is a result of playing football?" If yes, "Would you have still played football if you knew then what you know now?" (The fact that Johnson's sons play football makes those questions even more appropriate.)
And it's obvious that there's a connection between ALS and football, starting with the fact that ALS is a no-questions-asked condition that triggers payment under the NFL's concussion settlement fund and continuing with the studies that show an increased risk of ALS for those who played in the NFL.
Here's the other point that Strahan didn't address. After the interview, when Strahan and his colleagues discussed the situation in the studio, the obvious connection could have, and arguably should have, been mentioned. Indeed, Strahan's narration of the interview included the conclusion that Johnson's diagnosis was attributed not to a family history of ALS but to the 90 percent of ALS cases that are regarded as "sporadic" with no known cause.
As noted by Brendon Kleen of Awful Announcing , the separate online story from ABC also failed to address the clear link between ALS and football.
And so, even if Strahan is disappointed by the criticism, the criticism is fair. Even if he didn't feel comfortable in asking Johnson about the connection between ALS and football (Strahan didn't mention to Patrick whether Johnson asked before the interview to avoid that topic), ABC could have — and absolutely should have — addressed it.
Failing to do so invites questions as to whether ABC tiptoed around the established link between ALS and football as a favor to the NFL, which now owns 10 percent of ABC's sister company, ESPN, especially since Strahan's defense to the criticism included a comment that he asked Johnson "how the NFL has been supportive" of him.
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