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Transcript: Michael Strahan

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JUNE 10, 2008

After that speech (by Tom Coughlin) I feel like I'm in a box and they are burying me or something,  I don't know.  Well, what can I say?  It has been a great 15 years.  No matter how much you think you are prepared for this and no matter what you think you are going to say or how you are going to feel about it, it is still different.  And to be honest with you, I'm shocked.  It is shocking for me to not just - to have the courage, I guess, to go against probably the grain of what everyone thinks in a lot of ways and against the grain in terms of what I sometimes feel by saying that 'enough is enough.'  I played hard, I have played well, I have always done my best and that at some point you have to realize that you have done just about all you feel like you can do or need to do.  And that it is time to move on.  And that is why I'm here before you today.  And to say that it is over.

It has been great.  I have had a phenomenal career.  I have had an opportunity to play with some of the greatest players in the history of this game.  And have played for some of the greatest coaches in the history of this game.  And the unfortunate thing leaving now is that I don't get a chance to spend another year or more with Coach Coughlin or with Coach Spagnuolo and Coach Waufle and all of the other coaches because I have absolutely loved being here.  I have loved playing here.  I have loved playing for them.  I think you can see that just in the way that I play, the way that I act on the field, the way ..... my teammates.  How nice I am to the media - some of you.

It is a sad but happy day.  At the same time I am going to miss the guys.  Sitting back here with Osi before I came out and all he kept saying to me, "Don't cry; don't cry,"  because they want to make fun of me.  And these guys won't stop; they won't stop.  This always goes on.  But I will say to see him back here and to see Mathias Kiwanuka back here just now; it really does make you sad.  It really does make me want to cry.  Because I'm retiring and these guys are still here.  And I feel like I am leaving my family.  I love these guys unlike anybody else.  And they are my family.  I spend more time with them than I spend at home.  And physically give more of myself on that field to them than to anybody else.  And to leave that is going to be a tough adjustment.  But at the same time I think it is the right adjustment; the right time to do it.  And I have been fortunate to play with some great players and learn a lot.  I have played with LT and Phil Simms, Keith Hamilton and Jessie Armstead.  I have played with some great players that when you say their names a lot of kids that play on this team now probably wouldn't know.  A lot of these guys were in elementary school when I started playing.  So I have been very fortunate to have a career where I have been lucky enough to stay healthy; to last this long and last long enough to win a Super Bowl and last long enough to win a Super Bowl with one of the most improbable teams that I have been on.  A team, who before the season when I was sitting at home thinking, "Do I want to do this?"   And I'm looking at the team, 'I don't know what is going to happen but you just give it one more shot.'  And I'm glad I did because it paid off ultimately in the end by us winning the championship.  And I'm indebted to this organization and the Mara and Tisch families and to George Young for bringing me here, to Ernie Accorsi for keeping me here, to Jerry Reese for keeping me here and letting me do what I do best, which is play football. 

There is nothing like when you are a Giant, you are a Giant for life.  I feel that; I know that.  That will absolutely never change.  And I'm looking forward to watching these guys on the field.  I'm looking forward to watching guys that I am always going to call my teammates, not ex-teammates.  I'm not an ex-Giant, they are not my ex-teammates.  But they are my teammates.  So I'm looking forward to watching my teammates going out there and defend the title that we won last year. 

And the reason that I made this announcement now is because I think it is fair to everybody.  It is fair to the organization, it is fair to players and it is fair to the fans.  I think so much was being made of am I going to play, am I not going to play that I'm sick of it.  So I can't imagine as another player if you are asked those questions all of the time. I can't image as a coach who is asked those questions all of the time.  And as a fan you are wondering.  And I just felt like it was important that everyone knew as soon as possible, especially before we started mini camp.  That way if I were coming back, I'm in.  If I'm not, then they can move on and do what they need to do without me.  And that is why the decision was made at this time.  I feel like it was made at the right time for everybody involved.  And I appreciate my teammates and their comments and the coaches and their comments.  That is going to be the biggest adjustment - not being around those guys and having them do crazy stuff to me.  But I may sneak back in when they are at practice and do some stuff to them.  So you never know.  I won't be far away. 

But with that being said, usually when you come into the league nobody pays attention but they pay attention to the way that you leave.  And that is why I am able to leave as a champion, able to leave as a New York Giant; 15 years as a New York Giant.  The one and only place I have known and the only uniform that I ever put on.  And that in itself is very special.  And the classiest organization in the league, the classiest players in the league and I am just happy that they took a chance on a little unknown defensive end out of Texas Southern University 15 seasons ago.  And I hope that I have fulfilled everything that they have asked of me.  I know I have definitely done my best to try to do that.  And I hope I have and I hope I have also honored my teammates with the way I played and honored the fans that you can be proud to be a Giants fan and proud to root for our team.  I have just always tried to do my best and I hope that if there is any lesson to learn, not just from me in this retirement speech, but in team sports and with the team that we put together over the years, and especially this last season, that nothing is improbable.  That if you believe and you work together anything could be accomplished.  And this is coming from a guy who last June or July probably wouldn't have been able to tell you that.  But I'm here to tell you now.  Because I have been crazy enough to stay around for 15 years and see it happen. 

So with that being said I want to thank everybody - media as well.  You guys - I can't say you have been great to me.  We have had our moments but it has been fun.  But all of you know and most of you know that I have my moments where I like a little feistiness.  I like to get into it with you.  I enjoy that.  It keeps the blood flowing; it keeps us all fresh.  And I try to make it interesting for a lot of you because you didn't know what you were going to get when you came to the locker room every day.  And that is kind of like life; you don't know what you are going to get.  So I wanted to see how you reacted to it.  And you guys did a great job.  And hopefully in the future you guys can go pick on somebody else like Osi or Justin Tuck.  Because I'm out. 

Thank you very much.  I appreciate it guys.  Thank you Giants organization.  I love you guys.  Thank you.

Q:  You have said a few different things about why you made this decision.  I read a quote where you said you didn't feel you could perform at an 'elite' level.  And some people would .....

A:  No, no.  I knew if I had a chance to retire and still have gas left in the tank --- which I believe I have a lot of gas left in the tank - physically I'm fine.  I can still play. But it takes so much to play this game.  This isn't a game I feel where you take a farewell tour, at least for me.  I always felt if I'm going to be on the field, I expect to be the best on the field and I know what I demand of myself to accomplish that.  And after 15 years I just don't feel --- I feel like it takes such a toll on you to be able to get to that point, that I have done it for 15 and I don't think I could muster it up to do it one more time.  And that is why.  It is not so much as having anything left in the tank or being able to play.  I can still do that.  But I think that is also one of the best things about it.  Usually in sports you go out when they tell you to go out.  And I have an opportunity to leave when I want to leave.  And that is the best thing about this.  I'm not retiring because I'm injured; I'm not retiring because they said leave the building. I'm volunteering to leave the building. And to me, that is one of the sweetest things that you can ask for as a professional athlete.

Q:  Is it fair to say that looking back on your 15 years your career has exceeded your expectations?

A:  Looking back 15 years, my career has far exceeded all expectations.  It really has.  I was hoping to maybe get in three years and not move back in with my parents.  That was really my goal.  I just didn't want to have to go home.  And so I have far exceeded that.  As far as the accomplishments, personally, wow --- you see what Coach read off and you hear all of those things about games played and sacks and all those, LT and all of these guys, I'm thinking, "Wow."  I remember the first day I walked in the locker room and LT walks through and I'm a rookie and the whole locker room just goes silent like Jesus walked in.  And I remember that like yesterday.  And here it is 15 years later.  And to do the things that I have done just doesn't seem real.  And I never really made a plan; things just kind of happened.  And for some reason they happened in the right way. 

Q (from Ch. 9's Russ Salzberg):  Do you have another job offer right now, TV wise?

A:  Yeah, they have offered me your job.  They haven't told you yet, obviously yet, but they did offer me your job.  I'm fortunate enough to have other opportunities.  Which is great. Who doesn't want to do one thing.  I have other opportunities and I'm undecided what I'm going to do.  But what I do will definitely be a little easier than this job.  I guarantee you that. 

Q:  Do you have an idea of what your next passion is going to be when football is gone?

A:  I just played golf and I was probably one of the worst ones in the tournament.  So I need to get better if I'm going to play in any golf tournaments.  But I don't know.  Passion-wise, football is such --- it is everything to me.  This 19 years between the four in college and the 15 here ---- 20 if you count the one year in high school.  So I have always done it.  I have tried to work to be the best at it.  And now to try to figure out another passion, I don't it is going to happen.  I'm just going to have to find something.

Had you ever played football before you moved here from Germany?

I played when I was a kid, seven or eight years old, in North Carolina and we moved to Germany.  I watched Tuesday morning football, which was Monday Night Football here.  I used to wake up every morning and CNN had some kind of show that I used to watch and I remember Aundray Bruce was the first overall pick and I used to watch that and I was like, 'Wow, that is great,' but when I came back for my senior year of high school I didn't know anything about football.  I didn't know the technicalities of it, I didn't have any technique, I don't really remember my senior year and I have no idea how I got a scholarship, but for some reason somebody gave me one, Texas Southern gave me one.  My knowledge of football was very limited.  Even in college I had great coaches, they worked us, but I had to read a lot of magazines and pay attention to a lot of TV and a lot of pro games and I just learned from watching TV and reading magazines about what was important for my position.  I remember my favorite players, Reggie White, Bruce Smith, Lawrence Taylor, I looked at the size of those guys and I said to myself that is how big I am going to be.  I don't know if it is just willpower, but it seems to have worked out and I have been able to accomplish some things. 

How tough is it going to be to not be at the home opener vs. the Redskins?

Fooch, I knew of all people you just couldn't let us go out in peace, could you?  The home opener, that is for the other guys now.  I am going to miss it, I am going to miss it, trust me.  The thing is when you still know you can do something, but you are choosing not to do it you still have those mornings when you wake up or those days when you look and you have the feeling, I still get that, but I just know that it is just not in my best interests to do it anymore.  I just have to get over that and there is not going to be a chance of all of a sudden I am running out of the tunnel with my uniform on, it is not going to happen.  Don't get any ideas.

Did winning the Super Bowl make it easier to make this decision?

Did winning the Super Bowl help me make my decision?  You know what I think in a lot of ways, yeah, but at the same time I almost feel like inevitably either way I would have retired.  It was hard to come back last year and once I made my mind up to come back I was totally committed to it and I actually had the most fun I have ever had probably because I came back to have fun.  I didn't come back to worry about anything, but to win the Super Bowl was icing on the cake.  It was as if it was a blessing from above, trust me.  I look at 15 years and the injuries that I have had, which compared to a lot of guys, have not been that numerous and I haven't missed  a lot of time for a guy who has played for 15 years and I think to myself I have been blessed with great health for the most part and maybe after 15 years the man upstairs said, 'Michael, I let you stick around for 15, I gave you a ring, now don't be stupid,' so I am trying not to be stupid.

Did you need the ring to fulfill your career?

I don't think you need the ring to fulfill your career.  I just saw Charles Barkley and he told me I was on his bleep list.  I was on the bleep list.  He is on it, all the guys who were great players who haven't won the ring, they are on the list.  He said I am glad you are off this because you are one of my favorite players; I love to watch you play, and I was rooting for you.  So when you don't have a ring you kind of justify to yourself that you are okay without having it, but when you get it you are like, 'Oh, there is no way I could have left without a ring.'  I am happy we won, that is all I can say.  I can't explain last season to you.  I watched the DVD, I have lived it every day here with these guys, I have been hot in Tampa and freezing in Green Bay, silent in Dallas, and overwhelmed in Phoenix so this past season has just been an unbelievable ride.  I don't think you can write a book, you can write a movie, you can write anything that anyone will believe if you put what happened to us throughout the season in it and that is what makes it so sweet and that is what makes it feel so good to be able to retire and say hey we did it.  Probably something that will never be repeated with those odds against a team that is undefeated in that magnitude of a game.  There is no better way to go out than to go out right now.

Was there a moment when you knew that it was time to retire?

If you had asked me up until about a month after the season when I felt great, I was coming back without a doubt, there was no doubt I was going to come back and play 16 years, but after reality sets in and you realize that I do feel pretty beat up here.  You know 36 years and 15 seasons takes its toll on you.  The reality sets in.  Do I really want to be that committed to working out and training, which I always do, but it is a different level when you know you have to go out and play.  I decided that no, I am not going to say it is a young man's game, but it is a younger man's game in my opinion.  At one point I was going to be selfish and try to prove everybody wrong in always trying to find that edge of why to go back and why to compete and it was going to be, well, because they say I can't do it because I am 36 or 37.  At defensive end you are not supposed to be able play at a high level at this age, that was my reason for coming back and trying to prove everybody wrong, and I shared that with Jerry Reese.  At that point I thought definitely I will come back and play, but as time has gone by I realized that we have some great players on this team, guys who don't deserve to sit behind an old guy like me.  They deserve to play; they don't deserve to sit behind me because of nostalgia or because of just my past.  These guys are better players than I am so why should they have to wait their turn.  That really was the factor in my decision and to see guys like Justin Tuck and Osi and Kiwanuka and all those guys get a chance to do their own thing and blossom and become the leaders that they are and have always been, but in a bigger way now that I am not in the room taking all the attention.

Did you have a chance to talk to any of the retired players like Brett Favre?

Well, I talked to Brett a few months ago and to be honest with you I think he was going back and forth.  I may have been more sure about my decision than he was at that point, but I have talked to him. I have talked to Elway, I have talked to Clyde Drexler, I have talked to basketball, football, baseball, you name it, and you have a lot of guys who say when it is over it is over, it is final, but make sure you have gotten the most out of yourself to where you just know you don't want to do it anymore.  You don't want to wake up to do the training.  If you just don't have that passion anymore, then don't do it and I will say that everybody was honest in their opinion.  A lot of them wanted to see me come back and play, 'you've got it, you still have it,' and it is strange because when you know you can do something, but you don't do it and you don't question yourself as to why because usually I would think, 'why wouldn't I do it?  That is just natural, I can still do it,' and it just comes natural to me then I knew I was ready.  When I wasn't saying to myself, 'I can still do this, but why would I?  Why would I do it?  What is the purpose?  What does it prove?' that is when I knew I was ready to retire.  To be honest with you I said months ago I made up my mind I am just making sure that when I announce it it is the right decision I knew what I was going to do at that point.

What did you tell your teammates?

Well a lot of them were surprised but everybody was like... I couldn't believe the letters and the emails and texts I got from players around the league saying it has been a pleasure watching you, you taught us how to perform on the field and off the field.  Letters like that, I was more taken aback by the off the field type of influence more so than on the field.  Like my teammates were more like we love you, it was more like the hanging out part, more so than the playing on the field part.  Of course they loved all the speeches and the stomping you out stuff, which now they are under the pressure of me saying that, they loved all that, but I think all the messages were more about the time we spent off the field.  That was more special to me than saying, you know what we appreciate everything you did as a player, well we appreciate everything that you did and that you do as a person in our friendship, which extends beyond me playing and not playing.  That is more important than anything I have ever accomplished on the football field, the relationships I developed off it.

Was anyone's message in particular more surprising?

Umm yeah, I got messages from Bertrand Berry, Amobi Okoye, what other sports?  I got messages from basketball players, from baseball players, hockey players, business men, garbage men, movers, I mean from everybody I pretty much have met, and it has been a little overwhelming because a lot of people you never would think that with your relationship with them that it extended beyond just you as a football player, but obviously it did and that touched me.

Is there anything the Giants could have done to talk you out of this?

No.  No.  I sat and I read and I heard well if we give him eight million dollars because that is what another player made and one thing you should know and you should understand, which I am sure you guys know about me, I never worry about what another player made.  I was only trying to make what I could make.  So I never would set a number because another player made it.  I wouldn't come and say, 'give me eight million bucks and you will make me come back to play.'  I sat and talked to Jerry and I never brought up money.  Trust me I am like you guys I read the paper when they say, well we will boost his contract.  You know that was good and great, but the bottom line was I have to want to play.  You can give me all the money in the world, but if I don't want to be there it is not worth it.  It is only going to add an injury, I am only going to get hurt, because in this sport you can't do it halfway, at least I can't.  I never felt like money was a factor and when I read those things it didn't upset me because I knew that is what most people thought, but it was just like man if people only knew that I am not worried about the money.  Money is not an issue; it is more about wanting to do it and having the passion for it because I love football.  I love it.  I will always love it.  There is nothing like it.  You get on that field and you come out of that tunnel and you have the cheers or you have the boos and in some stadiums worse.  There is nothing absolutely like that and if I didn't have the passion to feel that then money couldn't buy the passion, just like money can't buy a Super Bowl ring.

Did you talk to Elway about retiring as a champion?

We talked about it.  He talked to me about how it felt and as I told him he was lucky to win two in a row and be able to go out like that.  That just doesn't happen very often.  He is a great quarterback who definitely deserved that.  As for me though, not saying I am satisfied with my one, but I have one and I am not turning it back in.  For me to not to search for another I don't see any shame in that.

Someday you will be in the Hall of Fame - maybe you will go in the same year as Brett Favre.

That would be great.  I hope he makes it the same year as I do.  I'm joking.  You know what, I haven't even thought about that.  You have to remember, man, when I tell you I'm shocked, I'm shocked.  When I called John Mara yesterday, Steve Tisch, Jerry Reese and Coach Coughlin, I was shocked.  I was like, "Oh my goodness, I did it.  I absolutely made the call that just ended my career."  I'm shocked by it.  I haven't even thought that far.  If that is the case, then that would be phenomenal.  You would go in with some of the greatest players, if not the greatest quarterback, to ever play the game, so that would be a phenomenal treat. 

Twenty years from now, is there a game or play that would define your career?

Is there a game or play?  If you had to watch any play, I can't think of a particular play, have to pick out a particular play, but I would have to tell you to watch consecutive plays of me playing the run more so that rushing the passer.  Because I love playing the run more than I love rushing the passer, to be honest with you.  Because it's fun, it's just fun.  It's a different when you have a big guy you have to run around because that seems a lot easier.  But it's not easier than holding up a big guy and getting off and making the play.  I just love to play the run more so than the pass.  And I think as a defensive end I prided myself on being a defensive end, not just a pass rusher.  I want to do everything.  If  the ball was between that center and the sideline and I didn't make a tackle, then I felt like it was my mistake; that I gave up the yards even if  it was two gaps over or on the outside.  So I would show somebody just the run tapes; show how I played the run and say, "That's him, right there.  Forget about the sacks, he took pride in this end of it more so than that." 

RE:  Relationship with fans - what would you tell them when go you out?

My relationship with the fans is great.  There are no fans like New York fans.  They are going to tell you when you are good and when you are bad.  And I think after 15 years that is what I have learned.  That is what I expect.  And I hold them in such high regard that I knew I couldn't come back another year and not give then what they deserve, too.  And the fans --- that is why you play.  You play for that pat on your back.  You play to make sure that they are satisfied with who they are cheering for.  I'm not going to say, 'get their money's worth,' but they can come to a game or watch it on TV and realize you are out there giving it everything you have so they can be proud to go to work the next day and tell their friends that we beat your team or brag about their team or so they can hang that banner in the back of their mini-van.  You want them to be proud to do that.  And the fans - you miss that.  But one thing I can say is that I have always tried to play the game to please them; without a doubt.  I have always tried to give them everything that I had and make them proud.  And my message to them is just, "Thank you for 15 years."  I haven't always been great, I haven't always been the best out there but I have always tried to give you the best that I had.  I just thank them for standing behind me for all of those years and hopefully they can enjoy the past 15 years as much as I have and hopefully they can enjoy the Super Bowl as much as I have as well.

Any serious regrets?  Anything that you would have handled differently or done differently?

Any serious regrets?  Not at all.  Not one thing.  You know what?  I have been through the good side, I have been through the fire, but I tell you what it has made me so much better that I feel like I can handle anything.  It also made me feel like I don't really care much about opinions.  One thing about playing here, you learn that you play and if you play well people write good things and if you don't perform well they don't and it is nothing personal, it is your job.  I think that is something that carries over in life.  Life in a lot of ways when you have a job is about performance and when I had great things written about me I didn't go up and slap a guy on the back and give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and say, 'you know, thank you for that article,' but if you wrote something bad about me I probably did pull you aside... no I am joking.  When you wrote something bad about me I understood and in a lot of ways it motivated me to perform better so it goes hand in hand.  No one likes to read anything bad or put up with anything bad, but at the same time it is a motivating tool for us as athletes and as players and in a lot of cases it is right.  It makes us stand alert to what we need to improve on.  So I just think that everything here and being in this city, I have no regrets.  Everything has made me a better man, a better player, a better father, a better everything, and for that I am eternally grateful to the city of New York, I am eternally grateful to the New York Giants, I am eternally grateful to the coaching staffs that I have played for and to the players that I have played with, and I am still here, I am not dead, so I appreciate all those things.  It has been an incredible journey, it has been an incredible ride and thank you guys for coming out here today and hopefully I will see you in the future.  Thank you.