|
A bottle of champagne from Seattle's John Randle
arrived at Michael Strahan's hotel room in Hawaii.
NFL Films chased him until the Giants defensive end
stood still long enough to do a public service
announcement. Then he did a couple of TV promos
leading up to Saturday's Pro Bowl.
Even across the Pacific, people want a piece of
Strahan's time. He is, after all, the league's record
holder for sacks in a season.
And he's loving it.
"I'm Michael Strahan of the New York Giants
..." he began during one promo Thursday.
Then he kept reading the cue card, "Where the
heck is that at?" he said, referring to the
network's name.
It was NHK of Japan. He continued.
The next was for the network Telepu.
"Where's this place?" he said, making a
face.
Italy. Whew, he was finished, off the hook.
Strahan says he hasn't yet realized how great last
season was.
"Maybe sometime when I'm sitting around in the
offseason," said Strahan, who seems to be friends
with everyone.
Strahan was credited with 22 1/2 sacks last season,
his ninth in the league. His previous career best was
15 in 1998.
"I won't say it's a dream come true because I
don't know if I ever dreamed I would have a chance to
do it," said Strahan, 30, who's playing in his
fourth Pro Bowl. "It's almost too unbelievable to
comprehend."
Strahan's final sack was controversial. The Giants
ended the season at home against Green Bay, and
Packers quarterback Brett Favre, a good friend of
Strahan's, appeared to let Strahan sack him for the
record in the final minutes.
Favre has said he didn't take a dive to give
Strahan the sack.
Detroit defensive end Robert Porcher has no
complaints about how Strahan got his record-breaking
sack. And other players also have offered their
congratulations.
"I'm happy for him," Porcher said.
"He works extremely hard. I think if anybody
deserves it, it's him. They all count. That's the
unwritten rule linemen have. It doesn't matter how you
get them.
"I know there's been a lot of talk, but nobody
gave him the other 21 he got."
Strahan isn't going for any big numbers today. His
priorities: Have fun and stay healthy.
And winning wouldn't be bad either. A victory would
bring him $30,000, which he would use to pay for his
family members who came to Honolulu. Players on the
losing squad get $15,000.
Almost everything went Strahan's way during the
season, so why not now?
"It just seemed to happen and it happened the
right way," he said. "Whatever I did seemed
to have good results. It's one of those seasons you
can't explain. I look back at some of the games and
some of the sacks.
"You get four a game, three a game, 3 1/2 a
game. Those numbers are things that don't happen
multiple times in one season, but for some reason it
did happen this year, and I'm grateful."
Finally, after his job was done with the film crew,
Strahan grabbed Philadelphia quarterback Donovan
McNabb for one final photo. Strahan must have posed
with almost all of his NFC teammates.
|
