Graham Taylor Quotes

My mum is, like, my biggest fan, and she's the one who will basically do all the publicity for me back home... She'll constantly be talking to me saying, 'Dan, what's going on? We've heard this. Tell us about it! Dad wants to know!' And so I'll give them as much information as I can, and Mom and Dad are both my biggest fans.

It's not just the NFL. Every other league has a draft. It has been fundamental to the success of professional sports.

I used to say my biggest accomplishment was just getting drafted, whether it was the first pick or the 100th or whatever.

The night I got drafted to the A's, obviously it was a great day of my life, but I've been a football player my whole life.

That's a special time, to get drafted.

I joined the international stage quite late. I didn't do many of the youth age groups, so to come into the senior team and to be offered a Nike deal - a very, very low Nike deal to start with - but I was jumping up to bite the woman's hand off to sign the piece of paper.

I was national amateur champion. I was 24 years old. My father was there, and I couldn't wait to see him, and my mother. I went up and was waiting for all the accolades, and my mom was teary and happy and my dad looked at me and said, "Well, boy, you did good," and that was it.

My dad was the one who really loved basketball, and he was the one that put the basketball in my hands, and my mom was 'Team Mom' of all my teams. I used to play for three or four teams at once and she would just spend her entire afternoon driving me from practice to practice to practice.

Dad's Jewish and Irish, Mom's German and Scotch. I couldn't say I was anything. My last name isn't even Downey. My dad changed his name when he wanted to get into the Army and was underage. My real name is Robert Elias. I feel like I'm still looking for a home in some way.

I was at Home Depot with my dad looking for paint when I got the call to open for Taylor Swift. That was wild, because I was crying in Home Depot, and people were looking at me funny.

I lived at home off and on until I was 37. I have about a million college credits. I'd worry about writing about anyone else because I'd be invading their privacy, but you can use your mom and dad and their dog for everything!

I watched my mom and dad build everything that matters - a family, a home and a good name.

My dad lived a good life. He was a simple guy. His family had been poor, and he joined the Marines to be able to send money home to his mom and dad and brothers and sisters. He genuinely had the intention to live a good life and to respect other people.

In the back of my mind, I always knew I wanted to be in the sports representation business. Being an ex-player, I knew that those were the people I wanted to work with.

Winning is everything, especially at this stage of my career - I'm going into Year 7. Because I've been franchise-tagged twice, I've been in a position where it's not about the money so much; it's about winning. I want to win.

You have to find a man that's going to respect you. With my husband, I tell him all the time the fact that he grew up in a home with his mom and his dad and they were married until he was grown made him have certain values and certain respect for me.

The only thing you are really here to do is play football. So when you get a chance to go to the draft, and that part is over with, and you get signed on to a team, and you're ready to go, now it's back to everything you've been doing to get to this point, and that's play football.

I wanted to be the Number 1 overall pick.

It's a great opportunity to get picked top 10 in the draft. It's just a dream that I've always had.

I would love to end my career as World Champion.

Playing in a big tournament is one of the biggest things for a professional footballer.

If you were to ask me, I think my jersey will be hanging in the rafters when I retire in Sacramento.

I think being able to make the playoffs alone is an outstanding accomplishment alone and something not a lot of people get to experience in their careers.

I really wanted to get drafted by the Knicks, and it was a dream come true. I wasn't even hearing the boos that night. I was just having a special moment with my family, hugging them.

I grew up dreaming of being a Hurricane and I'm so proud of playing the number of games I have for them.