Throughout his esteemed career, veteran sportswriter Peter King has heard countless tales of success, despair, redemption, glory, and the occasional ridiculousness. His story about NFL legend Michael Irving, however, is probably right up there in terms of sheer memorability.

In an interview with ESPN, King complimented Irving, describing him as “tough as nails” and a guy wired in a “different way” during his peak with the Dallas Cowboys.

He stressed that Irving marched to his own beat. He recalled the time he wanted to interview the three-time champion for an article for Sports Illustrated. Before it even started, King already had an interesting angle.

“When I said I wanted to interview him the first time I was in Dallas covering the Cowboys, he said, ‘Okay, come to my office.' I figured he had an office somewhere. So after practice, I got in my rental car, I followed Michael Irvin, and we ended up in a parking lot of a strip club. I said, ‘What are we doing here?' He goes, ‘Well, you came to my office,'” shared King.

“When Michael Irvin had all these beautiful women around him in various stages of undress, he said, ‘Okay, I'm ready. Go ahead.' Here's the thing: Michael Irvin didn't care! So what if I wrote about it, that I interviewed him in a strip club? He doesn't care.”

Bad*sses with Peter King: Michael Irvin told Peter to meet him at his office to do an interview for an SI story.

It was a strip club.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"You came to my office." Irv said.

An all-time story on This Is Football: pic.twitter.com/PSUwVGqX7W

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) October 6, 2026

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Irvin became notorious for his off-field shenanigans during his time with the Cowboys, including getting caught by police officers in a motel room in Texas with women, cocaine, marijuana, and sex toys in 1996. Other high-profile controversies followed suit, tainting Irvin's on-field greatness.

King added that the five-time Pro Bowler always “backed up the bravado,” not minding how the public perceived him.

Irvin retired in 1999 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.