Mailbag: Favre has a message for Strahan and my views on texting

Over the phone from Mississippi , Brett Favre had a message for Michael Strahan this morning.

"If you see him,'' Favre said, "tell him, 'Congratulations, great career ...' and tell him he was one hell of a player.''

Favre and Strahan , of course, will forever linked by the sack that broke the NFL single-season record in the final game of the 2001 season. Favre ran to the line of scrimmage, either dove at Strahan 's feet -- which appeared almost certainly to be what happened -- or slipped. Favre claimed then, and still says now, that he did not take a dive. This morning, when he woke up, he saw the sack replayed on TV.

"I just laugh at it,'' he said. "I don't even think about it. There are so many plays in that season, and in his career, that people can focus on, and if they focus on that ... Shoot, people can have their own opinion. I'm glad he has the personality, which I do too, to be able to say, 'So what?' ''

Favre on Strahan 's announcement:

"I was a little bit shocked. I guess the timing is good, after winning a Super Bowl. I hate to say it in comparison to me, but he's still got a lot left. When you played that team, it's amazing a 15-year vet is the guy you have to be most concerned with taking out of the game. That's the way it was with us this year. And that's what offenses attempted to do with him, I always thought.

"I mean no disrespect, but I think his personality and charisma, in some ways, gives people a false impression of the type of player he is. He's so likeable and polite and well-spoken and funny -- he's not the [ Lawrence Taylor ] type -- that you almost lose sight of how tough and ferocious he is. He doesn't really fit the mean defensive-end, Deacon Jones -type guy. Tremendous player, good friend. I hate to see him go. He went out with a ring. Pretty awesome.''

�€� One note before I get to your e-mails. I meant in my column yesterday to give you some ideas for Father's Day books for that special dad in your life. Then I gave Jason Peter's book all the attention at the top, and realized, "How can I tell people to buy the book? It doesn't come out 'til July 8?'' So anyway, I never got to my other book suggestions.

One, if you're a Steeler fan, is Ruanaidh: The Story of Art Rooney and His Clan, by Art Rooney Jr. , the son of the late Art Rooney , with Roy McHugh. (The name Ruanaidh' is Gaelic for Rooney .) I've found over the years that Steeler fans are among the most intense readers and collectors of good stories about their beloved team, and this book is overflowing with those stories.

Of particular interest is the beginning of the Chuck Noll Era, when the Steelers stopped being bums and began one of the greatest decades any pro football team has ever had. The internal meetings are recounted in great detail by Rooney Jr. , who was there as the personnel director. Rooney Jr. and Noll forged an alliance that helped make the Steelers the first team to mine for talent at the historically black colleges and lesser colleges often ignored at that time by the NFL .