Michael Kay attacks Shohei Ohtani’s media stillness: “He hasn’t…
Michael Kay attacks Shohei Ohtani’s media stillness: “He hasn’t answered a question!”
“I have never heard of a superstar just completely being allowed to ignore and, in effect, ignore the fans, too.”
When Howie Rose declared that the New York media would not tolerate Shohei Ohtani ignoring reporters, he was not kidding.
Michael Kay has been wary of the Los Angeles Dodgers star’s involvement in the gambling plot that embroiled his translator since the beginning. Even though investigators cleared Ohtani of misconduct, the New York Yankees announcer believes he should still suffer the consequences.
On Tuesday, a listener named Ken from Connecticut came into Kay’s ESPN New York radio show, querying the media’s strange silence on a story that had dominated headlines only two weeks previous.
“The most unbelievable thing to me is that fans don’t care about this,” Kay went on to say. “The guy has never had to take questions on this — not once!”
Despite asserting his innocence from the start and continuing to play during the investigation, Ohtani’s news conference appearance left Kay with a terrible taste in his mouth. He read a prepared statement but avoided questions from reporters, leaving them unanswered. And Kay appears to believe that Ohtani’s silence, despite being cleared, raises issues about his own accountability.
“What other athlete, in any professional sport, would be allowed to remain mum — not say a word other than a prepared statement and never take a question,” Kay said. “‘Did you gamble on baseball?'”
There aren’t many, if any, particularly in New York.
But Kay remains unconvinced, raising the question of why Ohtani hasn’t been held accountable for answering reporters’ questions.
“It’s just amazing to me, after every kind of tough loss, Francisco Lindor talks, Aaron Judge talks, Juan Soto — the biggest stars in the world,” Kay went on to say. “Does this guy not have to answer a question?” Despite being at the center of a potential baseball controversy, he has yet to respond to any questions.I’ve never heard of a superstar being permitted to fully disregard, and by extension, dismiss the fans. It amazes me. Do you know who began it? The angels. They allowed him to get away with it. And the Dodgers have allowed him get away with it.”
It should be noted that Kay’s comments came before news that a federal inquiry discovered Ohtani was unaware of the situation. But that doesn’t change his original point: Ohtani should face the music and answer questions from reporters at some point. And now that he’s supposedly been cleared of any wrongdoing, he should be allowed to answer those questions. But, will he?
Although investigations determined that Ohtani’s interpreter was dishonest and that Ohtani was oblivious, there are still issues about how $4 million was removed from his account without his or his representatives’ knowledge.
It’s a fair question and one that should be answered, especially since Ohtani is reportedly in the clear.
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