Strahan was hoping Giants would call his number
Here's how bad the withdrawal gets sometimes for Michael Strahan:
Less than three weeks ago, when the Giants were preparing to face the Panthers in a game that would decide home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs, Strahan would have accepted an offer to return to the Giants.
"I was like, 'Man, if they called me, I'd go back there now,' "
Strahan told me yesterday at Giants Stadium, where he recorded an interview with Giants running backs Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw for Sunday's Fox pregame show. "When they played Carolina? Definitely. You 'jones' for this thing, especially in the playoffs."
The Giants never did call Strahan, nor will they; the last time they reached out to him was during the summer, when Osi Umenyiora suffered a season-ending knee injury. But after a 15-year career that someday will put him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Strahan told them he wanted to remain retired.
Strahan, 37, joked with many of his former teammates yesterday as he visited in an official capacity as a Fox commentator. Some of them playfully suggested he could rejoin the team for the playoffs; when one player said Strahan probably couldn't agree on financial terms, he quipped, "Everyone plays for the same money in the playoffs. Why not?"
Won't happen. Strahan may feel in his heart that he still can go out and play the Eagles, but in his head, he realizes it might not be the best idea.
"The one team that was so hard for me to play was the Eagles, going up against Jon Runyan and Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook,"
he said of the tackle, quarterback and running back. "They're a team I respect so much. I'm sure when the game starts, I'll get that urge for two minutes, and when I realize how hard they hit each other, I'll lose the urge."
Strahan has made a smooth transition to the broadcast booth and says he enjoys every facet of his new career. Even getting to the studio at 5:30 a.m. on game day. And Strahan said he never has lost sight of where his loyalty lies, although after that prediction of his that the Cowboys would win the Super Bowl, he took plenty of grief from his former teammates.
"I just took some today,"
he said, referring to the Dallas prediction. "It's nothing personal with me. We're going to laugh about it. They've been great about it, and probably use it more as motivation. But when I come to the stadium and walk into the locker room, it's like I never left, from the rookies to the veterans. I'm a Giant, and I'm still part of the family."
What about Sunday's game? Any predictions?
"It's two teams that are going to butt heads and no one believes the other team is better,"
he said. "It's put up or shut up."
A winner, please?
"I can't tell you that,"
Strahan cracked. "You'll have to watch the show."
I have a sneaking suspicion Strahan won't make the same mistake twice. After all, he was wrong about the Cowboys.
Strahan probably would like nothing better than to see the Giants beat the Eagles, win the NFC Championship Game and repeat as Super Bowl champions - even though this one would be without him. Some players secretly might wish things would not go well because they're not there; Strahan isn't one of them.
"To see them winning now without me is great,"
he said. "I don't look at it like 'they didn't need you to win.' I left them with the ability to know they can win without me. I feel like those guys are my brothers being successful, and their success makes me happy. You've been in that locker room for 15 years, you realize how hard they work. When good things happen to them, they deserve it."
Talk about having things in perspective. Strahan always talked about wanting to go out on top, wanting to leave before they wanted him to leave, and he did just that. The last game he played, the Giants won the Super Bowl. And then he walked away and stayed away, even as they asked him to come back.
Sure, the pangs are still there. And like almost every other retired player, Strahan will find out that a part of you always will want to come back.
He was smart enough to leave when he did. He won't be foolish enough to ruin the storybook ending.
Good for him.
