It was a wonderful experience to play in the NFL, and I have no regrets. I truly will miss playing for the Lions. I consider the Lions’ players, coaches, staff, management and fans my family. I leave on good terms with everyone in the organization.
My desire to exit the game is greater than my desire to remain in it. I have searched my heart through and through and feel comfortable with this decision.
One of the flabby lines you hear sometimes is, ‘Speak truth to power’. Power knows the truth. It’s speaking the truth to yourself that’s the challenge.
I sat behind Thurman Thomas for my first couple of years, then my first year starting I won the Heisman. After I won the Heisman, that’s when things changed as far as going to the NFL.
I’m a Jewish boy from Jersey. I was born with a strong sense of right and wrong, and a strong sense that the world can be a ludicrous, unfair, inhumane place.
I’m from Kansas, so there were a lot of vacant lots and open fields to tackle each other in so we could avoid tackling each other on the street. But running on the street and trying not to get taken down on the concrete, that will make you fast, that’s for sure.
The game is the ultimate significance to me because it is so important to a lot of people. It has left a mark on our culture to be voted as one of the best to ever play.
