Michael Strahan clocks in on football, fashion and fear

You’re a Hall of Famer who played 15 years for the New York Giants, then capped your final season with a storybook Super Bowl championship. You’ve since evolved into a triumphant entrepreneur, with your own clothing lines and a talent management-production company (SMAC Entertainment), not to mention a major TV career, including co-hosting “Good Morning America” and being a fixture on “Fox NFL Sunday.” How do you explain all your success? The opposite of football — be nice to people! [Laughs.] I think that you realize that nothing in your life happened because you’re so great that you did it all yourself.

So for me, it’s about team. It’s not about me as an individual.Why do you think you appeal to such a wide audience? I remember I did this April Fools’ prank a couple of years ago where it looked like I fixed my gap.

And people flipped out! So many people were like, “Good for you, if that’s what you wanted to do, we’re so happy, you look great!” But then there were people like, “What are you thinking? How could you do that? You let down Gap Nation.” And I’m like, “There’s a freaking Nation? There’s a Gap Nation? Is that like Wakanda or something?” The reaction was kind of amazing to me, but I also think, and I say this to people all the time, “The gap in my teeth is kind of disarming.” Because you obviously can’t walk around this long in life with a gap like this and really take yourself too seriously. You gotta be able to laugh at yourself.