GMA's Michael Strahan discusses evolving TV career, clothing line, high school athletes and NFL
Michael Strahan hosts plenty of shows these days â "Good Morning America," "$100,000 Pyramid" and now USA TODAYâs High School Sports Awards, which he will co-host alongside Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski.
The USA TODAY High School Sports Awards will premiere on Aug. 5.
Strahan played one year of high school football and might have had one sack, he recalled. The Super Bowl champion was so unfamiliar with the game, he wasnât positive the play was successful for the defense.
âI just remember everyone cheering when I got up off the ground,â Strahan said. âThatâs probably the only high school (football) memory I have.â
Strahan discussed a variety of topics with USA TODAY Sports, ranging from advice, to his clothing line, to his media responsibilities and to the current state of the New York Giants.
Questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
USA TODAY: When youâre speaking to somebody (high school age), what do you want the takeaway to be? Whatâs the most important piece of advice you can give them?
Michael Strahan: âEnjoy it. Have fun. Itâs not a business at that point. Itâs meant to be a way for you to connect with your friends, to learn about teamwork, about hard work.
âItâs about just having fun and enjoying the moment, not âOnce I go to college,â or âOnce I go to the pros.â That is so far-fetched for most that, just enjoy the process along the way.â
USA TODAY: I understand your clothing line has âwork-leisureâ apparel, whatâs that all about?
MS: âClothing lineâs been going since 2015. That was more tailored. So we launched our Collection by Michael Strahan, which is men and boys tailored and denim and a lot of accessories. Then we did the athleisure line. Now weâre doing a work-leisure line. I think COVID kind of opened up a whole new idea of work, and what the work look should be, especially if youâre at home and youâre doing all of these Zooms or other ways we communicate now.
"The ability to be able to do those things, still be running around all day, still be able to hit the gym and work out without having to change five times, thatâs work-leisure.â
USA TODAY: What would you like to accomplish ultimately with the clothing? Have you thought about that?
MS: âI think between our collection and tailored and MSX and our athleisure, work-leisure brand, I just love building. I love building a brand that is something that I actually believe in, I actually wear. Every day. Right now, if I go to the gym, Iâm wearing things with my name on it. And it feels good to produce things at a price point people can actually afford and at a quality people can expect. Youâre proud to have your name on it and wear it yourself and represent.
âWeâve been doing well with Menâs Wearhouse and just look forward to build out that relationship, add more categories in the future and make it just a bigger brand.â
USA TODAY: Do you have a favorite part about hosting "Good Morning America?"
MS: âFirst of all, I get to work with fantastic people. Smart, engaged, funny people. Another favorite part is that it changes. Itâs never the same. Thereâs no two days where you, âOh yeah, same news.â ... The enjoyment of that makes me more engaged, because I understand work can change at the drop of a hat."
USA TODAY: How does that compare to Fox work?
MS: âGMA has different tones to it. It has the funny tone, the serious tones, it has the intermediate tones. Fox is just flat-out fun. Terry, Howie, Jimmy, Curt, Jay, itâs like a dream team of friends. And I get to hang out with my friends on Sunday and just watch football, which I would watch anyway, talk about it anyway. Except for here, I get to do it with my buddies and we all get paid.â
USA TODAY: When youâre doing it, going back and forth, it sounds like there are mental switches you have to flip. Did that come naturally to you or is that something you had to work on?
MS: âI think for me, itâs come from football. When I was younger, I always thought I had to figure out ways to get mad at my opponent in order to go out there and be aggressive. Like, âHe said something about my mama!â Well, he didnât say anything about my mama. That only works for so long before you realize, you canât just keep falling back on that. So I had to learn and just do that for the enjoyment.
"So I can sit on the sidelines and have a conversation with you, and then theyâd be like âDefense!â and Iâd be like, âHey Chris, hold on for a second,â and then go out there and be aggressive, ultra-focused, do what I gotta do. Yeah, I can smile at you while Iâm doing it. And then come back to the sidelines, take my helmet off and pick up the conversation where we left off.
"For each job, I need a different switch. The muscle in the brain that I exercise for 'GMA' is different from what I exercise for Fox, which is different from what I exercise for '$100,000 Pyramid,' which is different from what I exercise when Iâm doing anything else. You learn to do that, and I just think itâs made my life a lot easier and it makes everything seem much more enjoyable.â
USA TODAY: Iâm glad you brought up '$100,000 Pyramid.' What can we expect from the rest of this new season?
MS: âYou can expect me to give away a lot of money, which I love, because itâs fun. This is life-changing money for a lot of people, and I think thatâs the great thing about this show.
âYou never know how itâs going to go. You can play it at home with your family. I love to tell people -- everybody thinks that since I host the show, I know everything. I donât. I only know the categories. I donât know those words. So I'm sitting there at the podium, playing along with everyone at home. Thatâs one of my favorite things about it.â
USA TODAY: How was interviewing former President (Barack) Obama?
MS: âFantastic. Itâs always great to talk to him. We discussed, you name it. All kinds of topics. Some that arenât going to make the cut, like golf and other different things. But heâs always fun, always engaging. He looks fantastic. Heâs in great shape, made me realize I need to get back in the gym. Just such a smart man.
"The day before that, I interviewed former President (Bill) Clinton, and heâs always great. Iâve known him for a long time. Itâs really unbelievable to me sometimes. I look at my life and go, âHow did this happen?â Here I am running into people on the football field, I didnât know how to play football, to being a Giant, to doing all these different things and now Iâm interviewing presidents. I take it all in stride and I never not appreciate it.â
USA TODAY: All right, a few NFL things. As vaccination numbers come in, it looks like coaches and staff are nearly all vaccinated. But when it comes to the players, itâs a little more than half. Why do you think thereâs hesitation?
MS: âPeople have their own opinions of how they feel about the vaccines. Certain people feel as if they want more information. They want to know a little bit more about it. They want to see how people are reacting about it. And I canât fault them for that. Weâre human beings. Some people fear.
"But to be over 50 percent, I think thatâs a great thing, and I hope itâs only going to trend up. With the coaches, thatâs great, because you have a lot of older coaches, pre-existing conditions.
"I donât bemoan any player who hasnât gotten vaccinated. I would love it if they did out of their own safety and the safety of their families, but you just have to live the life you choose to live.â
USA TODAY: So if you were a leader in a locker room, and you saw the differences between the protocols at various thresholds, would you encourage it if you thought it would benefit the team? Obviously still respecting individuality.
MS: âI think itâs an individual thing. I look at all of the requirements if youâre not vaccinated, and then look at the things you need to do if you are vaccinated, and itâs almost to the point where you look and go, âBoy, you might as well get vaccinated.â I donât think thereâs a right way of looking at it. You have to look at whatever your beliefs are, whatever works for you, physically and mentally.
"For me, personally, I would get vaccinated. I am vaccinated. I just respect individuality and that not everybodyâs of the same mindset or mind-frame. Would it be great for a team to freely run around and do what they need to without some of the restrictions? Absolutely. But I donât think that would be realistic on any football team.â
USA TODAY: You mention the individuality of it right there, and we saw that last week with Carl Nassib. Do you think thatâs been a long time coming?
MS: âI respect the hell out of Carl. Because Carl did one of the bravest and toughest things for anybody to do, not just an NFL player. Thatâs where I think this gets lost. I donât say, âWell, Carl is an NFL player.â Carl is a human being, first of all. The NFL just happens to be his job. And I just hope that Carlâs career is not overshadowed that he came out, but that we see Carl as a football player, the great football player that he is...
"But I commend him for being brave enough to say, âThis is me.â And not do it for attention. I canât imagine someone having to do that, and not for your own sake, but in a lot of ways, for the sake of other people.â
USA TODAY: Daniel Jones. Is he the guy?
MS: âYou know what? I love Daniel. As a person, absolutely. I think he has the perfect temperament, perfect everything for the position as a Giant. Physically? Iâll be honest with you, what an incredible athlete ... I think he could be that guy. He is the guy. Now I think youâre giving him what he needs, and I think Jason Garrett is going to do the right job setting himself up in this system so he could be successful and lead the drive to a Super Bowl, which Iâm hoping is very soon.â
USA TODAY: Speaking of Super Bowls. Final drive of the Super Bowl XLII, you go up to the offense before they go out onto the field and say something like, âIf you believe it, it will happen.â Was that off the cuff? Planned it?
MS: âI did not plan that. You know what, it was crazy. My dad always said âwhenâ never âif.â So it was always âwhen this happens, when that happens.â For me, my mindset in life and why I didnât stop after football, is (because) my mindset is âWell, let me do something else.â And my dad was telling me before the game, âWhen youâre going to win.â âWhen youâre going to win the Super Bowl, son, when thisâ and Iâm like, well, Dad, I think these guys are undefeated. Theyâre kicking everybodyâs ass.
"To get into that game, where we held the highest-scoring offense in the league to 14 points, and we have the ball one more time, it just came out. Like, âGuys, I canât do anything to help us win. But you can. But weâre going to do it. This is a certainty. When is right now for us.' And at the end of the day, thatâs exactly what we did."