Michael Strahan’s warm-up routine on GMA has nothing on his NFL pre-game antics. The TV host was a celebrated American Football star before launching a career in television.
For 15 years, Michael played as a defensive end for the New York Giants and had quite the routine ahead of his games.
During an appearance on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Michael confessed he liked to get into the heads of his opponents, and did so in an unexpected way.
“As the years went on, I even learned myself, football players try to look mean in a game program,” he said of the individual photos of the team members.
“They try to look so mean. But if you look at somebody in the game program and you hear they may be mean and they look like this,” he said while smiling at his host. “A mean person smiling is an insane person.”
An example was then provided with an image of Michael in a program appearing on screen.
Sure enough, with his broad smile and glint in his eye, the star had an unnerving edge about him.
“So I’d be in the program doing glamour shots,” he added.
Michael also detailed a bizarre conversation he would have with his socks ahead of his games.
“I would look at my socks,” he explained. “Not verbally but go, ‘hey which foot do you want to be on today?’ Like, I didn’t speak out loud to my socks because my teammates would’ve thought I was nuts.”
However, he revealed that in his mind his socks would “debate sometimes.”
Michael said he felt “clumsy” if he put the socks on the wrong feet. “I had to listen to the socks,” he quipped.
The order in which he put his clothes on played a big part in his pre-game routine too and he said he would spend time making sure it was all “perfectly timed out.”
“I had a whole routine of doing stuff,” Michael recalled. “Everything was in an order. Get there at a certain time, lay out my uniform, put things on in a certain order at a certain time.”
Athletes and their pre-game rituals
While Michael’s pre-game routine may be deemed unusual by people not in the game, he’s by far the only sports star to have a ritual or superstition.
Serena Williams — Just like Michael, tennis ace Serena Williams has a routine that involves her socks. She has a lucky pair she wears every tournament. She’ll wear the same pair for the duration of the tournament and if she wins, they go with her to the next.
Rafa Nadal — Rafa Nadal’s well-documented OCD is evident in his actions on and off the court. The tennis champ points the label of his water bottles towards his end of the court. He wants to be the last to stand up after a water break, and he insists on being the first to jump after a coin toss.
Jason Giambi — It was all about the underpants for the New York Yankees first baseman, Jason Giambi. After retirement, he confessed he would often wear a gold g-string to “break out of a slump.”
Moises Alou — Former baseball player, Moises Alou, used to urinate on his hands before a game. He said it helped toughen up his skin and prevent blisters.
Michael Jordan — Lucky shorts were the key to winning when it came to basketball legend, Michael Jordan. He would wear his University of North Carolina shorts underneath his Chicago Bulls shorts for every game.