Athletic Journey Quotes

I was never on a mission to be an NFL quarterback. I wanted to be a good high school player, and I worked hard at that. That made me good enough to play in college and then I wanted to be a good college quarterback. During college I played well enough to make it into the NFL. I never took it for granted and really wanted to play hard at each level and I have always had a lot of fun doing what I wanted to do.

Baseball is a rookie, his experience no bigger than the lump in his throat as he begins fulfillment of his dream.

I don't think my experience with professional football has been what you'd call normal but I don't regret it.

I've run a lot of miles over the years, some fast and some not so fast. I've won some big races and I've had some big disappointments, but I enjoy the freedom of running and the challenge of training and competition as much now as when I first started back in high school.

My sister was an athlete. Every time she came home during her break, I would accompany her. Initially, I took part in school sports, but gradually, my sister encouraged me to take it up professionally.

All three of us boys, we grew up playing soccer. It was all of our first love. One of my coaches actually wanted me to try out for the U.S. national team, but I decided to quit to pursue football.

I never thought I was going to make a career out of tennis, to be honest, until I was 10 or 11 years old. One of my earliest memories is when I was seven, and I was competing against players that were three, four years older than me. I didn't take it too seriously at the time. I was having a lot of fun.

I didn't start my whole rookie year.

When you're in sports, you have such a limited time and then, it's all over with, finished.

My coaches were great. My mom and dad. My dad never missed a wrestling meet.

At the beginning, it is all about fun. I had a lot of fun. But then, when I was 10 years old, more or less, I had a coach who said that I had a strange running style. I was about to leave... I had a decision to take: if I leave or if I stay, but as a goalkeeper.

I had only played five games in my senior year in high school. I was not large enough. Hell, when I graduated, I was about five foot four and weighed 120 pounds. I didn't go with the Dodgers until spring training of 1940 and I weighed all of 155 pounds soaking wet.

Maybe there's a little girl who thinks she can be an Olympic athlete, and she sees all the things I struggled through to get here. Yeah, I didn't walk away with a medal or run away with a medal, but I think there's lessons to be learned when you win and lessons to be learned when you lose.

I appreciate everything that happened in Sacramento. It was character building for me, continuing to go out and play hard. I feel like I progressed as a player.

The first time I won a medal in the all-around competition is when I realized that's what I wanted to do pretty much for the rest of my life. Even though I was still doing baseball and soccer at the time, I think I just found that that was more my passion, where I saw a lot more success... I was probably eight or nine years old.

I started track and field when I was 12 and didn't get to an Olympic Games until I was nearly 23. By any stretch of the imagination that's a very long apprenticeship.

When it's all over I might be able to say I've had the strangest career in pro football history.

But put my body through a lot, you know, but it's the price for your body feeling this way for winning. Did I win? I didn't win a championship, but I've done a lot of good things in this first year back, and hopefully I can continue it.

I'm somebody from a little tiny town, who had boxed in leisure centres, and my last fight was in Madison Square Garden against one of the greats. What a great way to finish off.

I'm blessed just making it to the NBA. That was my first goal and dream. Playing with Kobe and Shaq and for a coach like Phil Jackson, and then going to play with guys like Jordan and Jerry Stackhouse, it's just a crazy experience.

By the time I left college, I had won every award you could win - I was Mr. Man! Then I got drafted by the Giants, and you step in that locker room, and you feel inferior in every way. You just have to stick around long enough to give yourself the opportunity to build your confidence.

I didn't think reaching the NBA was a possibility when I coached Derby in 1990. I was right out of college when I went there and was more concerned about playing a bit and getting that out of my system.

I've played basketball all of my life, and I've had things happen on the court that you eventually have to move on from. It's part of some of the obstacles that you meet in trying to reach your pinnacle.

Being a part of the NFL for 30 years was a blessing.

Certainly, when I started bobsledding I didn't think of being in the Olympics some day.