“As a kid, I played my share of football in the street or in a vacant lot.”

The reason of football is not to be the best but to be the best team

Let’s just win it and go home.

You know, I’m fairly intelligent, but I don’t think my grades reflected that.

Shortly after the end of last season, I felt that I probably would not return for the 1999-2000 season. I also felt that I should take as much time as possible to sort through my feelings and make sure that my feelings were backed with conviction.

I want to thank all of the fans and media who made playing in the NFL such a wonderful experience. I have had the pleasure of meeting many of them.

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.

Running back was always my favorite position.

I don’t want to get too detailed into it, but when you’re a good high school running back, you can almost be whatever type of runner you want to be. If you’re a good size and a good athlete, you can be whatever type of runner you want.

A lot of times I did lose yards on a run, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

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.

Christianity affects your whole life. I feel I’m more competitive, a better player, but off the field is where there is always a battle.

See God gave us the talent, but the devil make us famous.

You can look at everything from pre-Heisman to post-Heisman, and I think that’s why it ranks up at the top, because before then, I didn’t even think I was good enough to be a professional ballplayer.

It’s probably similar to being in New York City and having a cab driver behind you and you’re driving too slow. It’s not the most pleasant thing.

And we shout with the others, When we should keep our mouths shut. Why? After all, we do only go around once. There’s really no time to be afraid. JUST DO IT.

I just felt like I had run out of steam. I just felt like it was my time.

I’m not a hero or a superstar. I’m an everyday guy. I feel happy when children approach me. I feel that something good is happening in life when little kids recognise me.

Every kid I knew had a father with a little stash of men’s magazines which the father thought was secret and which the kid knew all about.

I am who I am: an Irish Catholic kid, working class from Long Island. And I made it big.

I compare songwriting to childbirth. How many kids can you have before your uterus explodes?

I would say my greatest achievement in life right now – my greatest achievement period is – and I’m still trying to achieve it – is to be a wonderful father to my kids.

Your parents were always trying to get you to be careful when you were a kid, and that’s all pervasive in this society.

The party now is having my kids laugh and my wife laugh and my teammates. I want them to see me have fun and put it in a different way.

I like to make things. Its been part of my identity since I was a kid.