Strahan, Why So Sad?

POSTED BY Kenneth England, 30 August 2007

It's Aug. 29 — the NFL season kickoff is right around the corner, and Michael Strahan still hasn't decided whether to report to the Giants. NY Daily News is reporting that Strahan is still taking "the next day or two" to sort out what he wants to do regarding the season. This is just one of those situations where fan perspective and player perspective are worlds apart.

Fans of the NFL can understand why veteran players will sometimes choose to pull a holdout maneuver during training camp. No human being in their right mind wants to be out in the hell of a triple-digit-heat-index summer day exercising, running reps and performing in contact drills. Likewise, fans can understand why vets don't want to participate in meaningless pre-season games and why they sometimes continue the holdout through those games. They are useless for long-time vets that have excelled in their careers, and in reality, is a stupid risk that could result in a loss of experienced players for a season. Fans understand all of that on a rational level, even if they might wish to see their favorite players play on an emotional level.

But what fans can't understand is turning down massive sums of money (by our standards) by worrying about pride the way Strahan is. He is apparently upset about the lack of respect that the Giants organization has shown him; but Strahan, surely you have noticed before how little love there is in the mechanics of the NFL. It is inherently an exploitative sport where athletes are quickly consumed and discarded for newer and healthier (and cheaper) bodies. Strahan, in all reality, has had an NFL existence that is nearly storybook: a long, productive career and a legacy of being well respected by the fans. Not to mention his time with the Giants has been very lucrative for him.

So, after having one of the best career arcs one could possibly hope for in the NFL, why not just stop the whining, stop losing money for not reporting (reportedly nearly $500,000 in fines now), play the one more year that he obviously wants to play and then ride off happily into the sunset? Just be like everyone else, look to your job for money and look elsewhere for love.