Strahan smart enough to jet, not follow Brett
By Mike Freeman | CBSSports.com National Columnist Follow MikeNo way was Michael Strahan coming back. No way. He's too smart. He's no greedy pig.
I spoke to Strahan not so long ago and he was as happy and content as I've ever seen him, and I've known Strahan for 15 years.
"I can't tell you how fun retirement is," he told me. "You have no idea."
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| This will remain our final memory of Michael Strahan, the football player. (Getty Images) |
Strahan staying out of football is an important moment in sports this year. It's one of the few times a professional athlete had a chance to make major money or power grabs and declined to do so.
The Giants took their fat checkbook, stuck it in front of Strahan's gap-toothed face, and then handed him a pen. Instead, Strahan stayed on vacation in Greece.
He faces a possibly reduced but still significant divorce bill from his jerk ex-wife, still Strahan said no to coming out of retirement.
This isn't to try and portray Strahan as a vet returning from Iraq. He's not a hero. He's just refreshing.
Strahan's the anti-Brett Favre.
Strahan and Favre will long be intertwined. It was Favre who handed Strahan the gift of the all-time season sack record several years ago. Now, the two friends have traveled down completely different retirement paths, one smart, the other not so much.
Favre will regret his decision to return to the Jets. If you believe the Jets will win a Super Bowl with Favre, then you've watched far too much science fiction. They're destined for nine wins and a first-round playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Strahan could've made a similar cash grab as Favre and nurtured his ego. Favre's id made his decision; Strahan's brain made his. Athletes have been to greed what Hillary Clinton has been to glass ceilings. The Brat-o-meter has exploded. And it's not just players. One day, very soon, people will be selling a kidney to get a personal seat license.
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| Ditka89: You really cannot compare the situations of Michael Strahan and Brett Favre. Brett changed his mind on his own, and told the Packers he wanted to come back and play as if he was in control the team and the Packers would drop everything to put him to make him the starter. The Giants, on the other hand, just lost their top defensive lineman in the third week of preseason. They're not desperate, but they have a huge hole to fill. They asked Strahan to return to help out the Giants, where as Favre asked the Packers to return to help Favre, not the team. |
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| Mike Freeman: You might be correct. Brett Favre was an egotistical jerk who tried to hold the Packers ransom while Michael Strahan decided he'd made enough cash and was going to stay retired and doesn't see football as representative of his self worth. So, absolutely, you're right. There is no comparison. |
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Favre got into an egotistical battle with the Green Bay Packers and then hurried off in a pouting huff to New York. Strahan could've done something similar. He could've demanded more money or gone public as Favre did with Fox News. Instead, Strahan kept mostly quiet during his negotiations with the Giants and then made the right choice.
Strahan isn't perfect. He's often too thin-skinned but, despite a contract beef once with the Giants, Strahan was never greedy. And despite portrayals by some in the New York media to the contrary, he's no jackass.
"He was very close to returning, but the great part about Michael is that he takes his time to think about things and he is very thorough," Strahan's agent, Tony Agnone, told the Associated Press. "You can get excited about coming back and running through the tunnel one more time. In the end, he felt he could not get back to where he was."
Strahan knew his limitations and wasn't going to let $8 million or an ex-wife distort those views.
It's fine that Favre changed his mind. The question is why did Favre do it? Was it because of his love of football or his love of cash?
Favre and Strahan are linked on the field and now off of it. Some years from now we'll look at Favre the way we do John Unitas, who finished his football career in San Diego. We'll be asking: Why did Favre do it?
Also a year from now we'll look at Strahan and say: smart man.
