Strahan wasn't the only athlete at the Gala. Most of the others I spoke with said they weren't surprised that Strahan decided to hang 'em up. Jets safety Kerry Rhodes said he ran into Strahan at the Kentucky Derby and came away convinced that he would retire.
"He’s had a long, good career and he won a championship, so it didn’t surprise me," Dolphins DE Jason Taylor said. "I hate to see him go, but it didn’t surprise me."
Like Strahan, Taylor is getting on in years. I asked him when he started thinking about his football mortality and devising an exit strategy. "If I could do it the way Michael did it, that would be great, to win the whole thing and sail off into the sunset," he said. "But you never know what’s going to happen in this league. You never know what team is going to get hot and have a chance to win it. But I’m preparing for life after football. That’s why I did Dancing with the Stars this year and we’ll see what happens."
Another Dolphin -- Dan Marino -- also said he wasn't shocked.
"I think he could probably still play," Marino said. "It’s all about, in your mind, are you going to be able to go through the whole thing of getting ready to play again. That’s what it is. When you get later in your career, you have to be willing to make those sacrifices to be willing to play. And after you win a Super Bowl, he probably feels pretty good about it. He’s been a great player and I can understand why he’s doing that."
I asked Marino when he realized he wasn't going to play anymore, when the switch went off.
"I don’t think it went off until probably two years after I retired," he said. "It never leaves you. Even after I retired I still felt like I could play. It just was the circumstances were I didn’t want to go play somewhere else and I was hurt the year before. But as far as playing and the feeling that you want to play, I don’t think that leaves you until years and years later."
But Strahan, like Marino, will likely be headed to a TV screen near you. Doesn't that help fill the void?
"It can’t replace any game that you ever played," he said.