People want to be Lakers. There's just so much pressure, and some guys handle it and some guys can't.
When I was in the 9th or 10th grade, Cheryl was All-American, and she was getting all the pub. I thought to myself, 'Why isn't anyone paying any attention to me?' I used to wish that I wasn't Reggie Miller, that I was Reggie Smith or Reggie Jackson.
When I used to play, the manager would tell us that you are as good as your last performance. That made all the players more hungry to finish strong.
If you're on the varsity team, the responsibilities are a lot bigger and there's more stress, but you also walk around feeling probably like you can hold your head high.
As an Oklahoma quarterback, you learn to perform under pressure.
You dream about the Olympics for so long and you have that one day, then it's over, and when you don't run well there is this huge letdown. It took me years to deal with that. I feel like I almost had to cleanse myself of that experience.
At the Olympics, you have almost nothing to lose, but at the Olympic trials, you have everything to lose. You have the last four years of your life to lose.
What was most important to me at the Olympics was going out there and performing my best. When I messed up the first jump combination, which was my big move, it hit me that I messed up the program of my life.
As a quarterback, when you do have a three-and-out or things do not go right, you are the first one to know. You know more than anyone out there what went wrong and what needs to be corrected and don't necessarily always need to hear it when you come off to the sideline.
I set myself high standards on the pitch and I know I have not always lived up to them this season.
You're only as good as your last kick.
When I was younger, I had a fear of being judged as a footballer, and my worst fear was feeling like I didn't belong at the level of football I was playing.
I'd be lying if I say that not scoring a Test century was a burden on me.
I still remember my quote from the 2007 World Cup, when I said scoring two threes was as good as hitting a six. That was me trying to justify what you couldn't. To me, and this was before I became director of cricket, we just couldn't do that again.
There was huge pressure, especially before the big games. Not many people believed in us, but we believed in ourselves. We wanted to do something good and we did.
He (Jackie Robinson) knew he had to do well. He knew that the future of blacks in baseball depended on it. The pressure was enormous, overwhelming, and unbearable at times. I don't know how he held up. I know I never could have.
You always expect to hit for more power.
It does take a lot of effort to perform, playing for England. It's a huge amount of sacrifice to do and one day I might just wake up and say 'you know what, I'm done with it.'
To portray not only a boxer but a boxer like Roberto Duran, I needed to understand all the difficulties and the pressures of the sport itself.
I have learned from the first Olympics, of course. When I went to my first Olympic Games, I experienced all of the pressure and was able to win the gold medal. I try not to feel the pressure, and I try not to be nervous when I am on the ice and when I compete.
The problem with me is I always think I should've done better. I felt that after the World Cup final and through my whole career.
I'm nothing more than a sports slave.
I had a lot of pressure in my career: when you play at World Cup or Champions League final, there is pressure on your shoulders.
If we lose games, and I don't score a lot, they gonna say I'm not scoring enough.
