In England, it's a rare thing to see a player smoking but, all in all, I prefer that to an alcoholic. The relationship with alcohol is a real problem in English football and, in the short term, it's much more harmful to a sportsman. It weakens the body, which becomes more susceptible to injury.
I just remember watching Federer the first year he won Wimbledon. He was struggling with his back problem. I remember it vividly. It looked like there was a chance he was not going to finish. He had that look in his eye. Then, somehow, he found the wherewithal to dig a little deeper, and suddenly he wins the thing, and he's a different player.
'SI' came to me and said, 'We want you to do a story on Russell as the greatest team player,' which I certainly agreed with.
To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano.
Christ, he was paranoid about criticism. I used to say: why doesn't he worry about the team and forget what people are saying? He got Phil Thompson, who was a kid coming through when I was a Liverpool player, to have a go at me. So now I don't talk to him.
I am a frustrated saxophone player. If I could, I would abandon all of my books, and I would trade it all if I could play the way people I admire play.
Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late.
It makes you also realize, 'OK, I'm excited to play tennis, and I work really hard to be the best tennis player I think I can be,' but I don't waste my time on stupid stuff, you know what I mean.
Some of the fans here were not too sure about their club signing a player from their biggest rivals. Fortunately, we had a great season and won the League title for the first time in four years. Now, I think, everyone can say it was good business.
Within reasonable limits, a professional player should keep busy at music.
In 1981, at age 31, I was voted the best player in basketball, and the most valuable player in the league.
Even on the greatest teams, there's always one role player.
I believe very strongly - and I never brought this up as a player - but I put up, I feel, Hall of Fame numbers with diabetes. If I didn't have diabetes - nobody realizes that, when I was diagnosed at 18, even the doctors didn't know what to do about diabetes.
Besides being a guitar player, I'm a big fan of the guitar. I love that damn instrument.
It would be useless for any player to attempt to explain successful batting.
I was very slender and small. All my friends were on the team, so I had to make it too. I was a very aggressive player. I wanted to be one of the best, but I just ended up as one of the good ones.
I was two and a half and my folks would put it on the record player and I would run around the house screaming, but I haven't been that hip since.
Since the beginning, I always loved the game. When you grow up in Montreal, one day you want to be a professional hockey player. When I was six or seven, I knew that was what I wanted.
I love to play baseball. I'm a baseball player. I've always been a baseball player. I'm still a baseball player. That's who I am.
Chris is the engineer down at the studio where we do these things. And he's just such an integral part and he has such a marvelous ear. Also it turns out, we didn't know, but he's a pretty good fiddle player.
I always wanted to become a football player, and I thank my parents, as they helped me so much to realise this dream. They always supported me on my path.
I don't think any player lives up to his potential, because people out there put you so high on a pedestal, you'll never be as good as they expect.
I always just wanted to be the singer or the bass player in the band. I'd love to have a band, where I was obviously the singer, but where it wasn't me, it wasn't my name.
SoftBank is not a specialist on any instrument. We did not invent any instrument. Not the best player. But we would like to be a conductor of this information revolution.
I'm a decent tennis player. Good backhand.
For several years, I have had my eye on second baseman Del Pratt of St. Louis. I cannot say that he is a better player than our own Joe Gedeon, but he has played better ball, and we wanted him. Well, how did I get him? I paid $15,000 in cash and gave away a number of good players for him. But what can you do?
There were a couple of years when I wanted to be a football player, but I really always wanted to be a singer.
For me to become the highest paid player in the franchise, it was something I didn't anticipate. But I'm glad. I like playing for Cincinnati.
I'm the most successful bad player ever.
Sascha is an unbelievable player; he's going to be a champion. Hopefully, I can get there one day. Hopefully, I can get to his level. I mean, he's still better than me. But I'll keep working hard, and hopefully we could start a little bit of a rivalry.
I was told by the general manager that a white player had received a higher raise than me. Because white people required more money to live than black people. That is why I wasn't going to get a raise.
I had all the usual ambition growing up. I wanted to be a writer, a musician, a hockey player. I wanted to do something that wasn't nine to five. Acting was the first thing I tried that clicked.
At times like that it's difficult to remember what's at stake, that history is in the making. As a player you feel so cut off sometimes, it can be tough... Which is why it is an enormous advantage to play at home.
James Ralston, my guitar player, has performed with Tina Turner for about 22 years. Jim Hanson on bass has played with Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell and Bruce Springsteen, and they're fantastic musicians and amazing singers they get a really cool vocal sound together.
The situation was, the team I was on when I got injured went down to the lower leagues. In America, they don't have that relegation, so when the team went down to the lower region, every player has his value, and they went off and sold any player who had value.
When I arrived at Chelsea, I had got used to playing 50 games, and suddenly, I was sharing my position with another player.
