To some Softball is a game; to others it's Life.
I'm a guy here to play football. I'm not here for photos or newspapers or TV shows or trophies or awards. I'm not into all that.
The people who know me, the people who see the passion I have for this game and the respect for it, they know that I don't cut any corners in the way I approach golf.
My motivation comes from playing the game I love.
Once I step on the field, by the things I do in practice and the way I practice, you can't tell that I don't love the game. But I just know it deep down.
When emotions are high, things are said, things are done. Ultimately, these players want to play. I know too many of them love the game too much.
I love baseball, I really do. I always told my Dad, I'm not gonna make it working... I like to play ball too much. Which I did. I played hard. You gotta work at this game. You really do. And its fun doing it if you do it the right way.
If the Masters offered no money at all, I would be here trying just as hard.
If all of us who love baseball and are doing our jobs, then those who get the game from us will be as proud to be a part of it as we were. And we are. This game is a gift, and I am humbled, very humbled, to accept its greatest honor.
I would never play an extra year for money. I play the game because I love it. I just so happen to get paid. If I don't feel I still enjoy the game, I can care less what a year is worth. I'm not going to play the game just because of money.
A winner forgets he's in a race, he just loves to run.
Wrestling has been a way of life with me day in and day out. I won't get too far away from it. I might walk through the wrestling room once a week. I could go every day if I wanted. But just walk through, make sure it's still there.
It is a wonderful tribute to the game or to the dottiness of the people who play it that for some people somewhere there is no such thing as an insurmountable obstacle, an unplayable course, the wrong time of the day or year.
You know what I think? Very few people play because they love the game. Most of them play because they make good money. They keep playing because of the money. I could care less about it. If I don't love the game, no check is going to keep me playing.
