Athletic Influence Quotes

That's the thing with me being a former athlete: in the way I attack characters and attack poetry is from the base of being an athlete.

When I was born, I lived with my dad for two years. I was always watching him on a tennis court as a kid, he was a fanatic. Boris Becker would come to the house and play chess.

I feel like my game is more like LeBron's than Kobe's, so that's why I think I gravitated toward his game more.

I took all the courses you would need to be able to go to law school. But my experience in college with football made me want to go into coaching.

I think that sports, particularly football, gave me an opportunity to be out front, to be a leader, which helped me later on, when I got into politics.

If it wasn't for my dad, I would never have known about pentathlon, because it's not popular at all in Australia.

The old G's, or the gangsters, turned me away from the street because they knew my dad, and they had a lot of respect for my dad, but because I was an athlete.

I looked up to Cristiano Ronaldo, and then it was always Didier Drogba.

I don't believe it's too far-fetched to think that we as college football players can make a significant, positive difference in the youth culture of America simply by embracing the responsibilities that accompany this place of privilege.

First of all, in any sport where you can measure distance, height speed and all of that, you see how athletes have changed their sport and made it better. I believe, with every generation, the sport has improved. Certainly, in the men's game, that has been the case. I think that I played Pete [Sampras] at his best, I played Roger [Federer] at his best.. I believe wholeheartedly that Roger and [Rafael] Nadal have pushed the game much further than myself or Pete ever did. Their options on the tennis court are considerably more than ours.

I grew up watching LeBron.

When I look back at my basketball career, I want to say I tried to inspire as much as I could.

I grew up trying to be like my idols, and one of the main people in my life was my father. He played football, and when your father is telling stories about the game he played... Everybody wants to be like their father.

I just really try to model my game after Steph Curry.

I copied (Shoeless Joe) Jackson's style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He's the guy who made me a hitter.

A lot of players will tell you, 'When I was a kid, I watched Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron, Magic, and I wanted to be just like them.' For me, it wasn't like that at all.

I've definitely changed as a person because of professional boxing.

The thing I like about college football so much is you can affect these guys a lot more when they are 18-22, 23 years old in terms of people and having a chance to be more successful. They are still a value type development, where you have a chance to help them mature a bit and help them be a little more successful in life.

All of us growing up, if you're a professional player or a college player, you're molding your game after guys. You see guys, you see things guys do. Like Randy Moss, I'm a Randy Moss guy.

Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.

Growing up, I looked up to major league baseball players, and now these young women have amazing, incredible women all across the board, from swimming to gymnastics to softball to basketball.

Kobe meant a lot to me growing up.

Tiger had the advantage of high school, college, and a father who knew golf. I was self-taught. Blacks really won't play golf in great numbers until some of these basketball and football stars buy some golf courses where blacks can play.

My dad always played sports. He played football. I always wanted to play football because my dad played football, but my mom never wanted me to play football because she said she couldn't take me getting hit.

My four older brothers were my favorite players. That's why I got into football and sports.