In short
Michael Strahan discusses leaving daytime TV (Live with Kelly and Michael) and his post-NFL drive, plus his life story from childhood in Germany to a 15-year New York Giants career, Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, and later TV/production work.
Guest backgrounds
Michael Strahan is a former NFL defensive end/linebacker, seven-time Pro Bowler, Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants, and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee. He later became a TV host (including Live with Kelly and Michael) and works in media/production.
Key claims
He says he works because he loves it, not money. He credits a nickname (“Bob”) and early workouts (Jane Fonda tapes; watching Herschel Walker) for changing his mindset. He claims his pregame routines (socks “debating,” studying game programs in the bathroom) helped him stay calm and prepared. He says he avoided steroids and managed pain with limited medication.
Notable examples
First New York visit—he was “scared to death.” Two practice fights: vs. Chris Mamalanga (Bloods-related) and vs. Scott Gregg (a “mountain man”). Super Bowl joy—especially Eli Manning’s happiness.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VODeparture from Daytime TV
0:34 to 0:56
Strahan discusses his time on daytime TV and his relationship with Kelly Ripa.
“It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks.”
Departure from Daytime TV
1:12 to 1:50
Strahan discusses his time on daytime TV and his relationship with Kelly Ripa.
“I have been a professional from day one there to the last day I left.”
Childhood and Family Dynamics
1:50 to 2:29
Strahan shares stories about growing up as the youngest of six siblings.
“But first, the seven-time Pro Bowler takes us to his days as a kid growing up as the youngest of six kids and a military brat in Germany.”
The Bob Nickname and Motivation
2:29 to 3:09
Strahan reflects on his childhood nickname and how it motivated him to change.
“So I look back now, and I think, what else could I have expected?”
Workout Journey and Influences
3:09 to 4:35
He recounts how he started working out and the influences that shaped him.
“I got a nickname from my brothers and then they were older friends.”
High School Challenges
4:35 to 5:08
Strahan talks about the challenges of leaving Germany for high school in the U.S.
“She was first in class, I was second in class.”
College Experience and Decisions
5:08 to 6:20
He shares his experiences in college and the decision to leave early.
“But you, for at least a temporary time, went to the states to attend high school.”
Life Lessons from College
6:20 to 8:04
Strahan discusses the life lessons learned during his college years.
“And if I could do that, then I knew I could go back to Germany and I could graduate high school there.”
Drafting Experience and New York
8:04 to 9:50
Strahan reflects on his draft experience and his first impressions of New York.
“to try to be great at something, it just, because they should.”
Pregame Routine and Superstitions
9:50 to 11:41
He shares his unique pregame routine and the superstitions he had.
“But at the same time, when I look back in my life and where it's led, all those little moments like that led to something that has helped me.”
Show all 25 chapters
Preparation and Strategy on the Field
11:41 to 14:00
Strahan details his preparation and strategies used during games.
“I didn't have the experience of being here and spending time here.”
Dissecting Plays at the Line
14:00 to 16:40
Learn how Michael Strahan analyzed plays at the line of scrimmage to enhance his performance.
“Every week the pictures didn't change, but it was just my routine, kind of calming to look through and, you know, fan through.”
Memorable Confrontations on the Team
16:40 to 22:20
Michael Strahan shares two memorable altercations with teammates that shaped his career.
“And I can hear the quarterback, and I can hear the linebacker from my team who's calling the plays.”
Physical Toll of Football
22:20 to 24:45
Explore the physical challenges and injuries faced during Michael Strahan's career.
“Yeah, you have to, you know, it's like MMA, you got to finish him.”
Physical Toll of Football
24:59 to 25:14
Explore the physical challenges and injuries faced during Michael Strahan's career.
“worth of FIFA World Cup 26 tickets and prizes.”
The Mental Game and Life After Football
25:20 to 28:00
Michael discusses the mental aspects of playing football and his views on health post-career.
“That's like asking if all soccer players are the same.”
Reflections on Retirement and Family Pride
28:00 to 30:06
Michael shares his thoughts on retirement, family pride, and emotional moments in sports.
“I want to live and have a good life afterwards.”
The Joy of Team Accomplishments
30:06 to 33:58
Michael discusses the significance of Hall of Fame induction and team achievements.
“And I wasn't one of these guys who was going to retire.”
Motivation Through Fear and Failure
33:58 to 36:44
Michael talks about how fear of failure drives him and how he views failure as a learning experience.
“But once you get into that room, you got to make it so you stick and stay.”
Parenting and Work-Life Balance
36:44 to 39:54
Michael shares his approach to parenting and how he separates work from home life.
“So you're obviously a hugely successful, driven, motivated individual.”
Plans and Adaptability Post-Football
39:54 to 41:58
Michael reflects on his post-football career, including commentary and business ventures.
“But now that we've realized that, we come to that agreement together, like we have an understanding together, we've grown together.”
Building a Management and Production Company
42:00 to 44:10
Michael Strahan discusses the motivation behind starting his management company.
“And then it's one day a week, basically, on Fox.”
Long-Term Vision and Work-Life Balance
44:10 to 46:44
Strahan shares his thoughts on the future of his company and work-life balance.
“You know, I think right now with my personal stuff that we do between GMA and$100 ,000 Pyramid and the clothing company at JCPenney and the production company, all the Joker's Wild, we do with Snoop.”
Transition to GMA and Career Reflections
46:44 to 50:55
Strahan reflects on his career transition to Good Morning America and why he made the switch.
“You were guest hosting in Episode Alive, actor Channing Tatum's on.”
Religion of Sports and Collaboration with Tom Brady
50:55 to 54:18
Strahan discusses the inception of Religion of Sports and his collaboration with Tom Brady.
“And that's also a very selfish way of looking at it.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:01Mornings have a rhythm. You can hear it, feel it. And at Quaker, we fuel it. With 100 % whole grain oats and a good source of fiber in every bowl, helping you turn that rhythm into your soundtrack for a great day. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup 26.
0:31This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability varies 18+. Hey guys, this week we're catching up with one of the busiest and most successful personalities in television. And he happens to have played in the NFL, broken sack records, retired a Super Bowl champ, and went on to earn Pro Football Hall of Fame honors, Michael Strahan.
1:11Strahan opens up about his departure from daytime TV and Kelly Ripa. I have been a professional from day one there to the last day I left. Shares some fun stories from his 15 years with the New York Giants. If you look at somebody in the game program who you hear may be mean and they're like this, a mean person smiling is an insane person. So I would change it. I would be in the program like, I should do that glamour shot. And gets introspective as he talks about why he still works so hard today, even though he's no longer motivated by money. A lot of people don't understand why I work as much as I do.
1:49I do it because I love it. But first, the seven-time Pro Bowler takes us to his days as a kid growing up as the youngest of six kids and a military brat in Germany. You were one of six kids. Your dad, a military officer who actually once fought Ken Norton, said you used to tell your three older brothers, quote, one day I'm going to be somebody. I'm going to be famous. What were you thinking then? Yeah, well, I don't know. So I just got tired of them picking on me. So I figured if I said that, they would leave me alone and hopefully be nice so that if I do become that way, I can do a favor for them.
2:28And picking on you, they did. They used to call you Bob. Yeah, they picked on me. They picked on me endlessly. They picked on me. Their friends picked on me. I'm the youngest of six. So I look back now, and I think, what else could I have expected? I should have expected it now. But it was— What is that nickname? Bob. Yeah. Nickname was Bob. Bob meant booty on back. Yeah, great nickname. It meant I was a chunky kid. I didn't play any sports. I played football when we were in North Carolina when I was seven and eight. Then once we moved to Germany, that kind of phased out. And I just ate until I was Bob.
3:03And that gave me the motivation and that sparked something inside of me to change myself. You know, to change at that point, as much as it was physical, it was also mental as well because still to this day I kind of see the bob and that's why I continue to work out I continue to push myself what do you mean you still still see the big booty on the back man I'm still that that that that I think big bone kid and and I always feel like in my head I'm always fighting that but I look back and I think that it was also a moment that changed my life because had I not been told by one of my brother's friends what bob meant I thought it was cool at first.
3:43I got a nickname from my brothers and then they were older friends. If I didn't know what Bob meant, I don't think it would have made me start pushing myself and working out. I bought the Jane Fonda tapes. Started doing Jane Fonda tapes. And Hersel Walker was University of Georgia. So I started watching him play and then he wrote a book. And I started doing the Hersel Walker workout book. He came to Germany, into Heidelberg, the next town over when I was 13. Went to see him at a photo op for Kodak, you know, I had a picture with him when I was 13 years old. And those are the things, I was like that's what he did and look at him, he did push-ups and sit-ups, I can do that, I don't have to go to the gym, I don't need equipment.
4:24Jane Fonda Tate, thank goodness we had a beta of VHS, pop that sucker in and I would knock that stuff out. And eventually you stick with something long enough, you start to see results and my father after about six seven eight months of that watching me do stuff in front of the television so i want you i want to work out with you we're going to work out together and he really got got me you know started on on everything and i think you guys were going for 5 30 a.m uh morning runs yeah man i didn't like that much although you like subsequently ended up coming back to germany to graduate uh high school your class of two which you point out you weren't the valedictorian Ladies first, Julie Johnson.
5:05She was first in class, I was second in class. I was number two in my class. But you, for at least a temporary time, went to the states to attend high school. How difficult was that for you? That was hard. That was one of the hardest things. Probably harder or as hard as my first year of college to leave my family, my parents and my brothers to go stay with an uncle in Houston. It was difficult because I was, at that point I felt more like I was European than I felt American. I remember getting off the plane and all you hear about at that point when you were in Germany was the US is bad, they have so much drugs and drugs and drugs.
5:44And I get off the plane and I'm in the car with my uncle going to his house and I see the drug store and it had drugs, a big sign. And I was like oh my goodness, this is really bad. They were even putting up signs advertising the drugs here. It was a drugstore. But I was that naive. I had no idea. I was so green. And I go to a high school, and I think I've tried to block out a lot of high school. I don't even remember much. High school in the States. Yeah, I don't remember much of it because my whole focus, I'm here. My dad said I could play football, and I could get a scholarship. He believes in me.
6:18I can't let him down. And so I was so focused on just making it through school, hopefully getting this scholarship. And if I could do that, then I knew I could go back to Germany and I could graduate high school there. And that was my focus. So after six months, five months, it happened. After, I think, your first semester in college, you pack up all your stuff. I was done. Why do that? And what was the conversation that followed with your dad? When I left college, I packed up everything. I packed the light bulbs out of the lamps. I wasn't going back. I went back to Germany for Christmas. And school has started back.
6:54after the Christmas break for like a week or so. My dad said, shouldn't you? Go start, shouldn't you be back at school? And I'm like, yeah. He goes, so when are you leaving? I said, you know, I figured I was a man. It was the first time I felt like a man. And I think I was 17, 18, early 18 at the time. I go, I'm not going back. Gotta let my voice get deep. And he said, well, what are you gonna do? It's like, well, you know, I'm gonna stay here and I'm gonna get a job. And he looked at me and his voice got deeper than mine. And he goes, what are you going to do? And when he said that, I said, I can't stay here.
7:33I can't stay here. I know I got to go back. It was seriously just a challenge with those simple words. And I realized at that point, you have an opportunity, you're going to go back. And when you go back, you could either sit there and pout, or you can go back and you you can go all out at everything you do. Because you're gonna do it anyway. So why go there and just go through the motions and be average, everybody can go back and go to school, or anybody can go back and play football for the most part if they're athletic enough, but how many actually put in the work to try to be great at something, it just, because they should.
8:10Gotta put in the same amount of work basically anyway. And that was a motivating factor. When he told me that, it was life changing. Mom and dad can't take care of you forever. You remember what you were doing Easter 1990, Thanksgiving 91, 92? Easter 1990? You know, you were at college. Everybody was going home for the holidays. Oh, yeah, I remember that, yeah. And it was just Michael. This is like sad. I've lived a sad life, Graham, and you're bringing that out. No, but it was tough for a while. And I say that jokingly. I've lived far from a sad life. But I remember everybody's at home. Easter break and everybody goes home.
8:51My parents are in Germany. They didn't have the money to fly me back and forth for Easter, for Thanksgiving. If I'm lucky I went home for Christmas and maybe the summer. And I remember being at school, the whole, the entire dorm is empty. And it's just me. And my roommate, he had these shoes where they make you run on your toes. They're like a platform that high. and you get in them and you can jog and you can jump and supposedly it builds up your calf muscles and all that. I would put those things on and I would just go running. I would work out. And it was like this time by myself. I had no choice but to be by myself.
9:32But it was, you know what, this, do something. Just don't sit here and be idle. Don't sit here and feel sorry for yourself. But I didn't have the opportunities to, like, go home and do all those things. So I tried to make the most of the time that I had to try to, you know, get rid of some of the loneliness of being there by myself. But at the same time, when I look back in my life and where it's led, all those little moments like that led to something that has helped me. Or when I look back, I could see where those things have propelled my career in some way, shape or form. So the Cowboys told you they were going to draft.
10:06You obviously didn't end up working out that way. You fall to the second round. They lied! You get drafted and your boy, Jimmy Johnson. He lied. And he's said as much to you, I think. But you end up getting drafted in the second round by the Giants, New York being a bigger and colder city than you ever wanted to go to, not to mention the fact they had the legend Lawrence Taylor already in your position. What do you remember from your first experience actually visiting New York? Scared to death. I remember flying into Newark and it looked so industrial, you know, and you're going, oh boy, I heard, you know, I didn't know that wasn't New York.
10:45I was like, okay, this looks rough and tumble. And then I end up in the city and I remember being in the car. The taxis are driving crazy. The corns, there are people everywhere. And I thought Houston was fast. I was in Germany. I thought Germany was great. Then I moved to Houston and by the time I left college, I felt like, oh, I got this Houston thing down. Yeah, this is good. This is a fast city, but I can keep up with this. Then I come to New York and it was on hyperdrive and I just went to my hotel room, stayed in my room until they sent someone to pick me up and take me where I needed to go.
11:21And because I'm in the room all day, I would just, you know, be so awake and I look out the window at two or three in the morning, people on the street like ants. And I'm thinking I can't leave the room because if I go outside, they're I'm gonna know I'm new, and God knows what's gonna happen to me. It was like I was walking, looking like that. Don't look up. If you look up, people are gonna know that you're new here. You may, something may happen to you. They may rob you. You know, who knows? But it was just ignorance at its best. I didn't know any better. I didn't have the experience of being here and spending time here.
11:52And now after being here, I mean, it's my favorite place in the world. So between talking to your socks and reading the game program on the toilet, explain a little what your pregame routine entailed while playing. You're asking these questions, which makes me realize I may have told people a little too much. Well, my pregame was cool. I liked it. Apparently. I had a whole routine of doing stuff. Everything was in a certain order. get there at a certain time, look at my uniform, put things on in a certain order at a certain time. Everything was perfectly timed out. And one of the things is I would look at my socks and kind of not verbally go, hey, which foot do you want to be on today?
12:39Like I didn't speak out loud to my socks because my teammates would have thought I was nuts. But I would look at my socks and I would go, which one would you like? Which foot would you like today? Then they debate sometimes. They debate, and I'd have to put the sock on, and then the sock may go, I don't like this one today. And then I would switch them up. I'd go, okay, now that feels good. I just felt if my socks didn't tell me and I put the sock on, it was like, no, that's not a good one, then I would be clumsy that day. So I had to listen to the socks. I had to. And then I would get the game program, and as the years went on, I even learned myself, it is, football players try to look mean in a game program.
13:19you know try to look so mean but if you look at somebody and they're mean you kind of expect you have some expectations but if you look at somebody in the game program who you hear may be mean and they're like this a mean person smiling is an insane person so I would change it, I would be in the program like I should do that glamour shot I figure if the opponent's going to look at the program they're going to see me smile like that, they're going to think he's crazy I loved it, but I would go into the bathroom, close the stall, not to use the bathroom or not, and I would just go through the game program and I would look at the pictures of my own teammates before I looked at the opponent's teammates.
14:02Every week the pictures didn't change, but it was just my routine, kind of calming to look through and, you know, fan through. Yeah, yeah, it was, I don't know, maybe I need to find an old program in the bathroom. Calm my nerves. When you're at the line, what are you seeing and what are you thinking about before a snap? I used to watch so much film and study habits and little things that probably a lot of people may didn't see. I would study so much film that I would start on the tackle, then I would watch the same plays over again, the three or four games, but I'd watch the guard at that time.
14:42Then I'd watch it over again and I'd watch the center. because there are certain things that each one would do before certain plays that one may give away what the other one's supposed to. You know what I learned? I never passed. I would always be so late to get down. I was always the last guy basically to get into a stance. And the coach used to start yelling, oh, you need to get down. I always wait until the last second to get down because I'm watching where everybody lines up. If anybody moves, because I've already watched enough film to know, well, if he is there, there's only certain things that he can do.
15:09If he's here, then I know he can affect me in this way. If this tackle's here and his foot is cocked a little bit with the heel to the inside, then he's probably pushing off to go down. If his heel is straight up, he's probably dropping back for a pass. If his heel is closer to the ground, he's probably coming at me in a run. And then a tight end, if he's a little tighter, if he's a little looser, it's a double team. It's not. I would sit there and look at everybody and dissect. And then at the last second I'd get down and I'm ready to go. But I used to love to like dissect the play and it made the game easier because I knew there were certain plays No way this play is coming towards me.
15:47All I got to do is seal off the backside So don't even waste the energy Exploding off the line and then got to gather yourself because you're out of position because you really need to go that way I was able to ease off and just shuffle down the line It saved a lot of energy so that I was able to be a little bit more explosive later in the game Because I knew where to conserve and then where to go all out Describe how you would basically go deaf when you got to the line. You don't hear anything. You're so focused, and this is so great now for me because it let me know whenever you really want to focus on something, you can shut out everything else.
16:22You're on the field. You've got 80 ,000 people screaming. They're screaming, and the second they walk up to that line and you just start looking at things and you put your hand. I don't hear anything. I may hear you breathing across from me. I may look at you and smile at you. And I may, sometimes I would say, are they going to run it right here? Are they going to run it the other way? And I can hear the quarterback, and I can hear the linebacker from my team who's calling the plays. Or I can hear myself talking. I can't hear one fan. It's like you just take that hole, you have that circle, and that's the only circle.
16:52You can hear everything else outside of it. You don't hear a thing. And then after the play, say you get a sack and you stand up, and it's like the volume on your stereo is cranked up to the max because all of a sudden everybody bursts in. And that's where you do all the stupid dancing because it's just the energy hits you all of a sudden. Teammates will occasionally get into it with each other as well. And you wanted to make a point early on of making sure nobody messed with you. Two instances, I want to get what you recall from each. The first being when the Giants, the year after drafting you, draft a fourth rounder on your team who also happened to be a member of the Bloods gang.
17:28and then the other one being when you decided it's a good idea to take on the biggest guy on your team, Scott Gregg. Oh! Well, thank goodness I won both. If not, it may be a different story we're sitting here talking about. But, yeah, I think the first was Chris Mamalanga. Chris Mamalanga, great player. I mean, defensive tackle, big guy. But he had a penchant for fighting off the field. Literally, I think he knocked out two of our teammates playing video games, over video games. And it was an off-season. And during the off-season, at that point in my career, I was quite a few, 34 years in, if I remember correctly.
18:12And he just was just picking on me that day. And he had just finished his first year, was going to his second year, and I guess he was feeling good about himself. He had a good year. And I just was like, dude, just shut up. at this point. Just shut up. Like trying to be quiet about it, but then he kept going. And then I think I offended him and I said, you know what? Why are you even talking to me? You're a rookie. So just shut up, rook. And we got a room full of guys. So either I got to act like this and I got to say these things after trying to quiet down for a while, or you're not going to be respected.
18:47Just not. Because if I were to back down, then I'm going to look like, You know what? Oh, yeah. Straight hand. Just challenge him. He's scared. So I had to say, you know what? Shut up, Rook. You're Rook. You shouldn't even be talking right now. You have no right to talk. And he kept going and he kept going. And he's like, you think you can whip me? And I'm like, I'm not saying I can whip you. I'm not even talking about fighting you. But if you start it, we're going to have to go. And in the back of my head, I'm thinking, oh, Lord, I don't want to fight this guy. And he and I kept going at it, going at it, going at it.
19:22Then eventually I'm standing up against the board. And he gets up. And after many times, well, if you come at it, we're going to have to go. After many times that he stands up, he gets up in my face. And I knew he had a thing about just stealing guys. You know, bam, hitting you before you knew what was coming. And I'm standing there against the board. And I'm thinking, oh, he's going to swing. Here it comes. And he swung. But I was ready. And I ducked. And he swung so hard. This is a 300-something-pound guy. He swung, he spun around to where I locked him from behind and picked him up and slammed him on the ground.
19:54And then by that time, I'm in control. So that's when you're, you know, you start, I told you not to mess with me. Boy, I will whip you like I said. You know, I started talking good stuff then. And the weird thing is he was never the same player after that. Really? Was not the same player. And I think it was a confidence thing. It took his confidence away. And I liked the guy, had his moments as a player, but, you know, I learned you've got to stand up for yourself. And Scott Gregg, that was nothing more than just two guys in practice fighting. I mean, I love Scott. Great guy. I went against him every day in practice, 6 '7", 6 '8", 320.
20:35I mean, the mountain man. Although you said you've looked back and you're like, oh, I could have killed him. Yeah, I could have killed him. And I look back now and I'm like, oh, that was stupid. But at the time, you don't understand, it's a different switch. It reminds me of when I went to Africa and I look at a lion and a lion has in its eyes there's no life, there's no concern for you. He's like, I'll eat you right now, I'll kill you. I don't care. You don't matter to me. And when I put on a helmet, that's what happens. I don't care about you. I don't care. You get hurt, hey, you get hurt. Me or you.
21:06Ain't gonna be me. And that was just the mentality that happened. And so Scott, I would look at him in the locker room, like, oh, my goodness, big guy. But once I put on a uniform, we're on the field, and it's during the spring practice. We just have on helmets. We don't even have on anything else. And Jesse Armstead, him, got into it. Jesse knocked him down. The whole team, whoa. So the next play, I'm like, okay, here we go. Scott's going to try to come at me, even though I had nothing to do with it. We don't have any equipment on. Well, the next play was a slant. He went that way and grabbed another linebacker and tossed that guy.
21:39Whoa. And I'm thinking, okay, it's over. He's got it out of his system. Well, then the next play comes at me, and I'm kind of bracing for it, so we're struggling and we're fighting, and I'm like, dude, like, what's your problem? He grabs my face mask, so I grab his face mask, and then we're tussling. And then his helmet comes off, and he still has my face mask, and I'm in that I don't care about you. I looked at it for a second and thought about it. Why not? Bop! I hit him in the head. And I just remember him, he falls back like that. And then when he falls back, then I jumped on him again. Oh, you did?
22:20Yeah, you have to, you know, it's like MMA, you got to finish him. And so I'm down, and I'm punched, and they pull me off, and by that time, Jesse Armstead started fighting somebody over here, somebody else started fighting somebody over there, and coach called practice off and we get in the locker room and Scott had a little blood and everything else and he looked at me go you got me today and that was it we were great we were back at it and that's kind of like what sports is it's a challenge and sometimes the best man wins sometimes it's not always going to be you I was just fortunate that it was me on those two occasions any lasting injuries or pain from your playing days I feel great to be honest with you I think pain and injury and like stuff I think more of that is just life of living for me and a lot of guys with a lot of different things for me I hurt everything man I hurt everything some things like I tore my pec that was a major thing I had wrist surgery your fingers are all I tore my thumb but the finger stuff is easy I mean that's nothing you know you do when that happens and you you throw a guy and you run into the play and the play is over and you go ow and you look and your finger's sitting like that you grab it and you snap it back and then you think to yourself I cannot show that I'm hurt I can't run to the sideline and tell the coach I hurt my finger it's not that sport that's not football you suck it up and you get back down and you think to yourself I hope they don't do anything over here this play until I get off this field where I have to use my left hand explain why you never wore a mouthpiece come on look at my teeth man no something happens hey Maybe I get them fixed for free.
24:02Who knows? But that was a conscious decision, though, right? Because you didn't want to, like, proactively have the teeth done. Yeah, what am I wearing mouthpiece for? Teeth are what my teeth are. You know, a lot of guys out there were pretty smiles. They're worried about how they look. I look like this, so I always will. And the worst thing about it was there were a few times I'd bite through my tongue. Because you know how Michael Jordan would be out there? Well, you do that, too. And you hit a guy who's got your tongue out, and you hit him so hard it makes you clench. and then you bite through your tongue.
24:30That was the worst. But once I did that a few times, I learned not to do that. And I enjoyed not having a mouthpiece. I could breathe better. I could talk. You know, I just felt like I'm out there freewheeling and just doing my thing. And my teeth are, you know, they may not be together, but they're clean and pretty straight.
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25:33No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with power boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Remember, goats only trust goats because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell. You wrote in your book that you occasionally had to negotiate with Payne. And you said you'd have to bring a third party to negotiations occasionally, right, in quote. I like to call it the law offices of Toradol, Lidocaine, and Vicodin, LLC. Sometimes we also place a call to Indicin and Naprosin, and then there's the little private investigator named Prednisone. When you're playing, the aftereffects of the game now I don't feel.
26:19I feel better now than I felt when I was 25. But when you are playing the game, you feel bad. I mean, it takes a toll. It beats you up. And there are certain days you wake up or certain times you realize that you need to play, that physically you need help getting there. And I wasn't a big guy on, you know, Percocets and all these other things like that. I only did that only if necessary, tore it all, only if I'm in the middle of a game and I hurt my back and I can't walk. But yet I remember I hurt my back one day, one game. Keith Hamilton tore his Achilles. and we're both in the locker room, game's going on out there, and Keith looks at me and he goes, hey, hey man, because we're the vets.
27:01One of us got to get back out there. And I'm looking at him going, well, basically you're telling me that I need to go because you tore your Achilles and I know you're not going back out there. So you know what? I'll take a tore it all shot. I'll take that for the guy so I can get back out there and play and try to help this team win. That's what you did. And I never did anything. I was never forced to do anything I always felt like I did what I wanted to do. But the biggest thing that I probably, the thing I probably took the most was in the center and Apperson. And I would take my 14th year in the league, I would take it on Friday through Sunday.
27:39Then year 15, I pretty much had to take it every day. And after playing a season like that, I realized I don't want to take this stuff every day. I mean, thank goodness we won the Super Bowl because you had a long life to live after football. I never understood guys or people who were so willing to sacrifice with steroids and all these things that are tearing your body apart for such a short period of your life. I want to live and have a good life afterwards. That's a life that has a good liver and a good kidney and all these other important parts that you need to survive. I know you're rightly proud of the fact that you spent 15 years with the same team, began the career as a starter, finished as a starter with the Super Bowl championship, but it was a conversation with your dad that you had, I think, after winning the championship that made you realize, hey, I actually don't want to go back for another year.
28:31Well, it's weird because I don't cry at much, but whenever there's a story in sports or any type of story where you make your parents or you make somebody proud of you, then those get me. And I'll never forget watching the movie Babe, and the pig wins the show. And the pig is basically looking at the farmer like, what's next? What's next? And he goes, that'll do, pig. That'll do. I keep done it. Great job. Proud of you. That's it. You don't have to do anything else. And I called my dad to talk to him, like, you know, I'm really thinking about retiring. and I thought he was going to, you know, maybe put up some resistance to it because in most ways I only did it because my dad said, you can be a football player, you can get a scholarship.
29:22When you make it to the pros, when you win the Super Bowl, when you're an all-pro, when you're this. I did it because he told me I could do it. I didn't necessarily do it because I cared about being famous or any of these things because, you know, I want to make my dad proud. And I remember starting out the conversation. My dad pretty much said, you know what, you don't have to say anything else. I think you should. You prove it. Nothing else for you to prove. And when he said that, I literally, I was about to cry right now, man. I felt like that pig in bay. I did. I made you proud. Nothing else I can do in this job, this profession, to make you proud.
30:03And that was it. Done. And I wasn't one of these guys who was going to retire. and when guys retire and I see them crying, I know you're going to miss your career. I know you're going to miss it, but now a whole other chapter of your life starts, and I feel like I put everything into it, everything. I didn't leave anything out there that I could ever look back and felt like I want to cry over this because I know there was something else there. Could I have physically gone out there and played? Yeah, but I knew I gave everything mentally that I could give out of my heart to the game. What made you say Hall of Fame weekend was then the highlight of your life?
30:41That was it. Because this career that I had all came down to being inducted into the greatest fraternity, I guess you can call it, you can be inducted into when it comes to the game of football. The biggest sport in this country. And to be a part of that, only a very select few are able to be a part of it, was special. And also to have my family there. I had my parents and all my kids and I had my coworkers and all my friends and people who came that I wanted, that I invited and I think that they would show up because I don't look at myself in a way to think, oh yeah, you know, this person is going to show up for me.
31:23I almost feel bad asking people to show up. But everybody I asked showed up, was happy to be there, had a great time, and it was like bringing together all the people who were influential in my career in one way, shape or form to the biggest celebration of my career as an individual. But the biggest moment was Super Bowl. You know, I look back and I think Hall of Fame, yeah, as an individual, it's the greatest thing, would never give that up. But Super Bowl, just to see the happiness on a young Eli Manning, the first one, three or four years in a league, to see the happiness on his face is as happy as the joy on my face who had been there for 15.
32:03And this is something that we can share with these guys, and this is so special, and it still is to this day, because we all still talk. We're on group text, you know? It's like that's a family and a bond that will never be broken, because we accomplished something together that you need each other to do. And it's special when you do something that involves everybody else. And the Hall of Fame being an individual honor doesn't happen without Keith Hamilton and Jesse Armstead and Jason Sehorne and even a guy that came in with, like, Marcus Buckley. and all these guys that were big parts. Robert Harris, I can keep on naming, going on and on, were big parts of my life, of my career.
32:38How motivated are you by fear? Every day. I'm afraid to fail. I'm afraid, I really am. Most people are, a lot of people are motivated by fear. I am motivated by fear. I'm not motivated by, oh yeah, if I can get this done, this is what I'm gonna get at the end of it, the reward. Reward, okay, that's great. I'm motivated by the fact that if it fails, that just doesn't feel good. You know, what will be thought of? The failure. And I've learned that sometimes failure is necessary in order to find your path to another place where you can succeed, though. Failure doesn't mean that, I look at failure totally different now.
33:18I look at failure as a learning experience now. I've done things that have failed, and I'm happy that they failed because if they hadn't, to be honest with you, I wouldn't be where I am now. and there'd have been a totally different path that I really couldn't see myself on anyway. So failure is a way of sometimes getting you back on the right path where you should be. You have a quote I understand. Hard work will put you where good luck will find you. Explain that. Hard work puts you in a position where the harder you work, the luckier you get. Yogi Berra. That's basically what it is. Hard work gets you into a room per se.
34:00But once you get into that room, you got to make it so you stick and stay. Hard work gets you there. Luck will get you there. But once you're there, you got to prove that you belong there in more ways than just that. And I just know from my hard work in my life, it's have put me in rooms and places where, God, whoever would have thought that. I mean, my whole Hall of Fame speech was about improbable to possible. I mean it's improbable. I'm this nine-year-old kid living in Germany who starts working out and then he comes to the States and he doesn't really play football and he watches on TV and he gets a scholarship.
34:35All improbable to think that that kid ends up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame or ends up doing everything that I do now. But it goes to show that something may seem improbable in the way that we think or the way other people think about it, but it's not impossible. It's very possible. In what ways will you try and outwork people? Because everybody I talked to about you is like, he's the first one in, last to leave when you're playing football. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. When you're playing football. I was not the first one in. Grandma was not the first one in. They're trying to make me look good.
35:05I was not the first one in. I may have been the last one out, but I was not the first one in. But I maximized every second that I was there. I didn't get there and sit around for an hour before there was time to do anything. why would I do that? I was always after practice, you know, I come in when I need to be there, all the meetings, the practices and all that stuff. And during lunch breaks, you know, when we have our lunch period, which under the coach was hour and a half or so, hour and 15, hour and 20, 30 minutes, most guys that go in there and they're watching all my children having lunch.
35:42It's a lunch break. Me, I had a routine. I come in, I get out of my practice uniform, I put on my workout clothes and I go to the gym. I'm going to go work out because I know I'm tired from running all day on the field. I'm tired from pushing guys. But if I can go in the weight room and I can lift the same weights that I lift when I'm fresh, if I can run on that treadmill at 10 degree incline, 11 degree incline at 10 or 11 miles per hour for sprints after practice, then when I'm in the game and the guys are tired and I'm tired I'm like oh I still don't know I got more in the tank because I go kill it after after I'm done it I got a lot more in the tank you're gonna get a lot more tired before I ever do and it was just a mentally for me it was a way to say you always have more in the tank so I would always outwork anybody in the weight room I would always run sprints I would always watch more film and I would watch film every night during the season before I went to bed because I wanted to to go to sleep with it on my mind.
36:40I would be in a grocery store doing pass rush moves. I mean, it was always on my mind. So you're obviously a hugely successful, driven, motivated individual. You have four kids of your own. How difficult is it to be the type of parent that you want to be when you are pulled in all these different directions and have as busy of a schedule as you have? I don't, to be honest with you, it's not. And I found for me it's compartmentalizing different things. And work is completely different from home life. I mean, when I'm at work it's like, okay, I'm focused on this, I'm focused on this, I'm focused on this.
37:15When I go home there is no focus. There's like, I'm home, I just want to relax, I want to have a good time. I don't work to come home and bring the stress of work home, then I'm still working. When I leave work and I don't care what the day was like, I'm at home and it's like, with the kids it's the best thing because that's you find out when you have kids that's really what life is all about it's like wow I was put on this planet and I have these other people I'm responsible for who the things that they learn the way that they treat people the way they interact the way they approach stuff all come from me and I try to be a great parent who you know there's discipline and there are rules no doubt but I always want my kids to feel comfortable enough to talk to me.
38:02I always want my kids to feel that they know I got their back 100%. And that says, I'm the one person in their life that will love them no matter what. No matter what, I'll always love them, right or wrong. And that is the thing. I retired when I was 36 from football. My twins were three. Three years old. And here I am talking about work hard. Get out there and then go all, give it everything you got. They never saw that. They never see me and they don't remember me playing football. I mean, they're Carolina Panthers fans. Yeah, but they see you now. For God's sake. I mean. But they see me now.
38:38And that's why I work hard like I do now, because I want all of my kids to see me and know that it does not, it's not easy. Nobody gives you anything. You got to go earn it. What do you like to live with? Ah, what am I like to live with? I'm almost like living with a baby. How so? Because I don't, you know, if somebody else can do something for me sometimes, I don't necessarily want to do it. But I've learned to be more collaborative in life, you know, to make sure that people around me are happy, to make sure that I'm willing, if somebody's willing to get up and get me a glass of water in the middle of the night, why shouldn't I get up and get them a glass of water in the middle of the night when they ask for it?
39:22If they're willing to do this for me, why wouldn't I be willing to do that? But I think living with me is, I would like to think that it's fun. I'm not a demanding, I'm not a high maintenance. I like to do things for myself. But I like company. I like vacations. And I think that's at the point where I just want to enjoy life. I don't want to work forever. I want to enjoy life at some point. How do you view marriage and could you see getting married again? I think marriage is great. I really do and I know I've had a few failures and I say you learn from your failures right yeah but I think my you know my first marriage was with Wanda was we were just young and she's one of my best friends to this day man I love her to death and have two great kids and so that was a great experience where we both realized we were young out of our league didn't know how we were supposed to be or acting and trying to be kids, trying to play adults.
40:26But now that we've realized that, we come to that agreement together, like we have an understanding together, we've grown together. And then my second marriage, that one was probably not the, definitely not the greatest experience, but I did learn a lot from that and I ended up with two incredible teenagers right now, which scares me to death, girls. But I love marriage. I like companionship. I'm not against it at all. Would I ever get married again? I'll never say never. I'm not going to be so bitter to go, oh, yeah, I got divorced and, you know, stay away from marriage. No, I'm not that guy.
40:58How aware were you of what you wanted to do post-football? Eh, a little bit. As far as commentating, I started doing stuff a long time before I retired. So I kind of knew that I was getting a sense that I could be in that business. I got called from, you know, the head of a network who wanted to have breakfast. And I'm like, I want to have breakfast with me. And I sit down with him. And he goes, how long do you want to play football? How much longer do you want to play football? And I'm like, oh, wow, okay, I never thought about that. And then he goes into why he asked me that question, which was for a commentating job.
41:36And then I did every network. I did Super Bowls. I did all these different things with different networks. And I ended up at Fox. And I felt comfortable in that role, not immediately. I mean, after the first three weeks, I was ready to go back to football. But I realized I could do that for a long time. And everything else just kind of happened. Always been like someone who's looking for, you know, something else. Always trying to, you know, keep busy. Football's five months. And then it's one day a week, basically, on Fox. So I needed something else to get busy. And now I'm busier than I've ever been, even when I was playing football.
42:11Really? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Why decide to start a management and production company? Because it's fun. It's interesting. And I'm an incredible partner. I mean, Constance Swartz is my sister. I've known her for 24, 25 years. And the most incredible partner you can have and partnership you can have. And the way that it works, I mean, it's so interesting to have somebody who has a career, who has a place they want to go. And then you sit there and have to try to figure out the pieces to help them get there. And I love being able to, you know, help people get places where they want to go because I was that person who was hoping to get somewhere and had to pick and choose the right pieces along with Constance to make it happen.
42:51And to be a part of someone else's career like that is special. I mean, it's a lot of trust involved in that. What do you think you've learned so far in building the company? Man, I think the biggest thing is there are so many avenues and so many different things that you can do. Always be open. The thing I learned the most, always be open to different opportunities. That may seem a little unconventional. and always listen. We get so trapped into thinking, oh, you know, I'm running this, and I'm successful, and I'm the boss. You don't listen to everybody around you. And now, when you're at my age, and you have kids who you work with who are in their early 20s, I don't know how a lot of this new modern age stuff is.
43:34To be honest with you, I'm not that interested in it. But they are. They're the future. So you listen to everybody. Don't cut people out because you think they're too young or they just don't know what they're talking about because they haven't been in this business as long as I have. You always have to be open to ideas, to people. That's how you get better. That's how you expand. That's how you stay current. That's how you innovate. And I think that's the one thing I've learned, the one thing we try to do our best at is making everyone feel included in our business, making everyone feel valuable in our business and let them know that we value their opinion and that it does count.
44:08Where would you like to take the company long-term? Long-term, oh, man. You know, I think right now with my personal stuff that we do between GMA and$100 ,000 Pyramid and the clothing company at JCPenney and the production company, all the Joker's Wild, we do with Snoop. We want to just grow it. And then with Wiz and Tony Gonzalez and Dion and Aaron Andrews and Kurt Menifee, we want to just build businesses that we manage. We want to build businesses off of who they are, things that are organic to them. We don't do it for money. We don't do things for money. You can have your client and somebody can write them a big check to do this.
44:47If it doesn't fit, then we won't do it. And sometimes it's hard to understand, even for the client, because sometimes I was that client to go, con, hmm, that's a lot of money. But if they don't get paid, we don't get paid. And we always try to do our, we always make sure their best interest is what we're after, not our own. I think when you do that, you build friendships in a family environment in which what we have at our company and that's what we always hope to maintain. How long do you want to work for? I don't know. When you do something repetitively, I don't care what it is, and it's the same thing, it can become the same thing and I don't want to lose gratefulness of being there and being a part of something.
45:25So I'm a big believer in football. When it was done, it was done. I could have played a few more years. They wanted me to play. They doubled my salary the next year. I said, no, I'm good. And one day I may be like I say, like Forrest Gump when he's jogging. and then he just stops and got all these people behind him and they go he turns around that i'm going home now and they're like well that's it that's me when it's over well i was going to go home because you you kind of said that to me a couple weeks ago but then i was talking to a couple of your uh friends who said uh uh for him retirement is more a dream than reality i had a conversation last night at dinner with a friend of mine we have a little bet i'm not tell you how many years we bet on but we have a little bet about how long I'll work.
46:14At some point you got to look back and I love my life and I enjoy my life but at some point my kids are in college I want to be able to go to college I want to be able to say yeah let's take a trip not oh you know I got to get this vacation time off well there's a game on Sundays I can't I want a life where there's some freedom at some point. Is it in two years, three years, five years, 10 years, 15, 20? I don't know, but I guarantee you this, I'll be off TV before a lot of people are sick of seeing me on TV. You were guest hosting in Episode Alive, actor Channing Tatum's on. What about what you did got you the job, and how did you find out you actually got it?
46:56Boy, the first time I ever did that show, I was scared to death. and then by the time Channing came on, I had done a few and I had nothing to lose. Think about it, I was the last guy they were going to hire. You got Regis Philbin and you got me? You're not going to follow Regis Philbin with me. A guy who had no experience in that genre of television, an ex-athlete, a guy, a big six-foot-five black guy, just ain't going to happen. So I went in and I didn't have any fear. So when Channing came on for Magic Mike, I was the day before, I'm like, if Channing's coming on for Magic Mike, maybe I should say, I'm the real Magic Mike, and I should rip off and do a striptease, just joking, just like that.
47:36I throw it out into the room, and the producer's going, would you be willing to do that? And I'm like, yeah. I didn't think they were going to be able to pull it off. I'm like, no way they make pants that quick, that tear away. I forgot, they have costume departments on television. So they made the pants, they did all these things. the next day, he comes out and I just go back and I change it to those pants and it was like, here we go. And you just gotta do it. Those are things I would never do if it weren't for that show and on the show. There's things I do on TV I would never do anywhere else.
48:12How'd you find out you got the full time? I got called up to the office of Dave Davis who runs ABC, local ABC station here, and I get called up there and I walk in and it's Dave, it's Michael Gelman, and it's Kelly. And we sit there and they start some small talk about the history of ABC. And I'm going, okay, why do I need to know the history of ABC? But I'll listen. And then Kelly broke in and just said, hey, we want to know if you consider taking the job full time. And she started talking. And I literally, I did like, Larry McGuire said, stop. You had me at consider. I wanted it to be memorable.
48:55And it was. And that was that. Four years. Four years of it. Obviously it was tabloid fodder. Rumors swirled amid the switch from live to GMA. Heidensight certainly 2020. But if you had to do it over again, what if anything? Nothing. There's nothing I would have done differently. Nothing to do differently. You know, I handled it as professional as you can handle it, and I have been a professional from day one there to the last day I left. And I treated it just like I treated my NFL career, just like I treat everything I do. I do everything to the best that I could do the most respectful way to everybody around me so that I have no regrets.
49:39So when I left there, it was tabloid fodder, but I think that was more for the tabloids in the seldom than it ever was for me because I left, I slept well, I still sleep well, and I wake up now every day and I go to another great job and live was a great job a great learning experience for me but you know just like everything else football was one point in my life that moved on to sports tv was moved on to daytime tv was moved on to morning news and you I have the opportunity to do something that most people don't I get a chance to evolve to do different creative things and one day I may wake up and morning tv may not be there then it's time to move on to something else.
50:15So I always have done everything the best, most respectful way, and I have zero regrets about anything. I was having dinner with a Hollywood producer a couple weeks ago, told him I was working on a taping with you, and I'm interested to get your reaction to this because he's like, for the life of me, regardless of the amount of money, I don't understand why Michael would make the switch to GMA because you go from a place where you have your name in the show that you can host the rest of your life if you wanted to being one of several. But that's not your perspective, and so I was curious to get your reaction.
50:53I think that's a way of somebody who's on the outside looking in who doesn't understand. And that's also a very selfish way of looking at it. And I'm not surprised it came from somebody who's in a business where it's all about me. I've got to get mine. I'm not from that business. I've gotten mine by working with other people. Sports was great. I mean, sports set me up to where I don't have to work. A lot of people don't understand why I work as much as I do. I do it because I love it. I don't do it because I care about the attention. I don't have to do it. I do it for my kids if they see a great example.
51:25And I could care less about having my name on the show. More eyeballs are on GMAs than when they go, George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Michael Strahan. More people see that and see live with Mike Kelly and Michael. I could care less about having my name. If they didn't want to put my name at GMA, I'm fine. I just want to be in great working environments, working with great people, having a great experience, man. And a lot of people think, oh, why would he leave? He wants to host that for the rest of it. Who wants to host something for the rest of it? I don't want to do that forever.
51:56No. People get so complacent. It makes me sick that someone, you know, think, well, you got a good job. You just got to keep it. Religion of sports, how did it come about? Religion of sports, I had a conversation with Gautam Chopra, Deepak's son, years ago. Met at a diner in L.A. And a mutual friend of ours connected us. And we're just sitting there talking and eating. And a friend thought there was something that we could work on together. And Gautam brought up religion of sports and explained the whole thing to me. And I was like, you know what, that's fantastic. Really amazing. But years went past.
52:35And then we finally started to work on it after some time. and it just got better and better. The concept of it got better and better. We sold it to Direct TV, the audience network, kicked it off at the Tribeca Film Festival, and it's just taken off from there. And then we brought, Tom came in. Tom Brady. Tom Brady came in. You know him, you call him Tom, I'm joking. But Tom Brady came in and added another level to it all. and Tom is talking about the ultimate driven guy. I'm amazed at what he does because I realize physically you can do something. But when you don't have that motivation internally, it's so hard.
53:19And I can't imagine, I know the motivation I have for 15. I can't imagine having the motivation he has now to this day. It's amazing to me. And he brings that same motivation to what he wants to do off the field. And Tom's been very particular about what he wants to do. He only wants to be a part of the best. And we've sat down and had this conversation about religion and sports and what we do. The content, everything we do has to be the best. It has to exemplify the people who are involved. And none of us are involved in anything that we don't want to be the best at. And we all have become this incredible team and put together incredible pieces and two years on DirecTV and hopefully more.
53:59And then we had the Tom vs. Time series that has been gangbusters for Facebook. And one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. And we're going to continue to grow this business, continue to roll it out and hopefully continue to bring everybody a lot of great content. Thanks for listening to this week's podcast. Don't forget to leave a rating and review. And for more in-depth interviews, visit GrahamBenzinger.com.
54:27Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax, and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-CONTACTS. Oh my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-CONTACTS.com today to save on your first order. 1-800-CONTACTS
From the publisher
We revisit Graham’s 2018 chat with the Super Bowl champ turned Emmy-winning TV star, Michael Strahan. The seven-time Pro Bowler reflects on his move from daytime TV to morning news, predicts his eventual retirement and reflects on 15 years with the Giants. Strahan also discusses his childhood in Germany and a deep conversation with his father that changed everything.
