Strahan ends holdout

[Kiwon]

$500,000 in fines has a way of grabbing your attention.

He missed all of Training Camp and all 4 pre-season games to the tune of $14,288 a day. They worked out an agreement to reduce the fines but still.......

A 35-year old football player has to be careful over how stubborn he's willing to be. On top of this, his ex-wife has the mother of all divorce settlements. Man, oh man, did she ever skin him alive.

If you stray, you pay, and Stray-man found out the hard way that he should have stayed at home and been a model citizen. He'll never finish paying her off.

Strahan ends holdout, meets with coaches, ready to practice

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AhMvf.Pn0rtmr_RBy1Z6YGFDubYF?slug=ap-giantsstrahan&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Kiwon]

Michael was a bad boy....scolded by the judge for forgetting his wife's b-day and wedding anniversary.

$15 MIL PENALTY TOPPLES GIANT (New York Post)

January 13, 2007 -- A judge sacked Michael Strahan's bank account yesterday, ordering the New York Giants defensive end to pay his ex-wife Jean a whopping $15.3 million plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in child support as part of their divorce.

Judge James Convery blasted Strahan in a written ruling, saying the arguments he used to get out of coughing up the dough lacked "any credible evidence."

The ruling means the gap-toothed grid standout will have to give his ex-wife more than half his net worth - as Convery held him to a prenuptial agreement stipulating he give Jean 50 percent of their joint marital assets and 20 percent of his yearly income from each year they were married.

Strahan tried to argue that he wasn't responsible for the 20 percent because his wife failed to ask for it every year. But the judge said that "the plaintiff is not credible in his claim that the defendant never asked for her separate funds."

Jean, who married the football player in 1999, celebrated the ruling yesterday.

"It pays to tell the truth, and I told the truth," she said. "I never asked for a penny more than the prenup that Michael and his lawyers wrote and made me sign. And all I ever asked for was that to be upheld.

"I'm thrilled that it was."

The decision came after a divorce battle that left the popular player's stellar reputation battered by allegations of adultery, forgery, lying and perversion.

It is also a huge financial tackle. Strahan must pay the $15.3 million and the extra child support even though his net worth is only about $22 million, according to court records.

With his career in its twilight years, this could be a blow from which his bank account never recovers.

But Jean said yesterday that it was his own fault. Strahan himself devised the uneven distribution spelled out in a prenup.

"He and his lawyer wrote it and made me sign it the night before we got married," Jean said. "We were, at the time, very much in love."

Jean Strahan had originally sought roughly $14 million, but the judge gave her back interest on the 20 percent annuity, raising the payout by $1.25 million.

The Giant will also have to pay $18,000 per month in child support, and will have to hand over a $311,150 lump sum for support dating back to August 2005. Jean will also get one of his four houses, but will have to pay him back for half of the mansion in Montclair, N.J.

Strahan lawyer Vicky Zigler declined to comment after receiving the decision in Essex County Family Court yesterday.

The couple was officially divorced last July after an acrimonious court battle that included allegations that Strahan:

* Ditched his wife and twin 2-year-old daughters, Isabella and Sophia, to hang out with alleged mistress Nicole "Cupcake" D'Oliveira on a trip to Phoenix.

* Jetted off to Caribbean islands with various other women, including the woman who sold the family their antique chairs.

* Secretly videotaped Jean's sister, Denise, while she undressed in a guest bedroom. Cops were called, and Jean left him for a while, but he then allegedly came back after he deposited $30,000 in her bank account.

* Forged her name on financial documents that were entered into the case.

* Hounded her and tried to use lawyers to intimidate her into changing their prenup.

In yesterday's ruling, Judge Convery also blasted Strahan for not remembering his wedding anniversary or wife's birthday.

Jean Strahan got the news of the decision at her lawyer's office. She exclaimed: "I'm going to Disney World!"

[esoxx]

I wonder what Justin Harrell thinks of this?

[GrnBay007]

It would be nice to see Jean Strahan do something worthwhile with all that money.....like maybe help a homeless family.

[BallHawk]

In other Giants news...

Tiki Barber has already used the television airwaves to rip his former team and now the retired Giants running back reportedly is criticizing them in print.

In excerpts of his new book "Tiki: My Life in the Game and Beyond" obtained by the New York Daily News, Barber writes that he might still be playing if Tom Coughlin weren't still coaching the Giants. The book goes on sale Sept. 18.

"If Tom Coughlin had not remained as head coach of the Giants, I might still be in a Giants uniform," Barber writes, according to the Daily News.

"[Coughlin] robbed me of what had been one of the most important things I had in my life, which was the joy I felt playing football," Barber wrote, according to the newspaper. "I had lost that. He had taken it away."

Barber credits Coughlin with solving his chronic fumbling problems but wrote that he believes it was his performance that kept Coughlin employed by the Giants. Under Coughlin, Barber ranked among the NFL's top five rushers; in the three seasons beginning in 2004, Barber gained 1,518 (fifth), 1,860 (second) and 1,662 yards (fourth).

"It's a double-edged sword, because as much as Coach Coughlin helped me, I also helped Tom Coughlin," Barber wrote, according to the newspaper.

According to the Daily News, Barber also claims in the book that he was shorted about $10 million in his career by the Giants, who underpaid him compared with other top running backs.

Last month, Barber criticized Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Barber had said that Manning's attempt to lead an offensive meeting in the 12th week of the last season was "comical" at times.

After sarcastically noting that Barber was making a smooth transition from the playing field to television, the normally reserved Manning said he could have questioned Barber's leadership last season for calling out Coughlin and then having articles about him retiring in the middle of the season. It turned out to be a major distraction for the Giants.

[KYPack]

No Vets want to do camp.

It didn't cost Strahan half a mil to miss camp, I don't care what they put in the papers and media.

[Kiwon]

These "tell-all" books are so classless in whatever field (sports, politics, entertainment).

Why would he write a "tell-all" book eight months after he's retired? Tiki always had higher ambitions then football and I'm sure the agents handling his career convinced him that it would be a good move to write a book just as he begins on the air full-time.

Classless. Tasteless. Very "Jose Canseco" of him.

I had a higher opinion of Tiki than this.