Michael Strahan 2001 Fleer Focus NFL Card - New York Giants Defensive End

Man, Michael Strahan is one of my favorite players ever.

Maybe I should make an all time list one of these days. It would be tough. Maybe the list would just consist of players in my lifetime.

But anyway, Michael Strahan is simply a fixture of my football watching childhood. One of the first legendary icons I remember watching from the early to mid 2000's. Just a beast on the field. Terrorizing and devouring quarterbacks year in and year out. Just a really consistent force.

Not only was Strahan a BEAST on the field, he also was well known for his outgoing, funny personality. The guy was just a pretty good entertainer. Also, who can ever forget his iconic gap tooth smile?

Strahan just really had an awesome career. He played for the New York Giants and I've always sort of respected the Giants franchise. Their two recent improbable championships they achieved just pretty much blew my mind. All while wearing pretty sweet looking blue uniforms? Not bad.

Anyway, Strahan is a true New York Giant, you could say. He was a dominant player AND he spent his entire tremendous fifteen year career with the Giants! It's a pretty uncommon breath of fresh air to see a player stay with the same team like he did!

Late in Strahan's career there was not many things he did not accomplish as a player. BUUUUUT he did not have a Super Bowl ring. Entering the 2007-08 season as a 36 year-old Strahan must have known that his chances at getting a ring were getting slimmer and slimmer.

But, amazingly enough, Strahan helped lead the Giants to a MAJORLY improbable Super Bowl victory over on of the most dominant NFL teams in the history of the NFL, the 18-1 New England Patriots. Easily my favorite Super Bowl ever, until the Titans win theirs! I still have the Sports Illustrated issue from that game. The Giants were pretty serious underdogs. They shocked the world that night, I remember exactly what I was doing that night. Time flies.

Strahan performed well in that Super Bowl too. He was not simply a veteran along for the ride. Far from it in fact, as the Giants defense was a big reason they made the playoffs and won the Super Bowl in the first place. Strahan defended a pass, had one sack, three total tackles and a tackle for loss in that Super Bowl.

After getting his ring, Michael Strahan would go on to retire into the sunset. A perfect ending to a legendary career.

I'm very lucky and glad to have this card. Just a clean looking card!

Strahan was really a beast, and he's got plenty of really strong numbers and accomplishments to back that up.

In fifteen NFL seasons, from 1993-2007, literally from before I was born till I was a nearly a teenager, Strahan appeared in 216 games, starting 205 of them. Here's a taste of Strahan's career:

Stats

• 141.5 Sacks - 6th All-Time
• 22.5 Sacks in 2001 - Tied for the most in one season in NFL History
• 854 Combined Tackles
  • 663 Solo Tackles
• 4 Interceptions
• 24 Forced Fumbles
• 15 Fumble Recoveries
• 1 Defensive Touchdown
• 1 Safety
• There are a fair amount of other stats compiled by Strahan, but many of the other interesting categories only became tallied/official categories midway through his career, I feel if I list them it would not to Strahan justice. This dude literally played and dominated two different decades.

Awards

• NFL Hall of Famer
• Super Bowl XLII Champion
• 2x NFL Sacks Leader
• 6x NFL All-Pro
  • 4x First-Team
  • 2x Second-Team
• 7x Pro Bowls
• NFL 2000's All-Decade Team

Plus the Giants retired the man's #92!!

I can't look back at my early NFL memories and not think of Michael Strahan. It's just not possible. A really great talent.

Nowadays, Strahan is a pretty well known TV personality.

Thought's on Strahan's career? I'd love to hear some people's Michael Strahan memories!

I still like using Strahan on Madden LOL.