I played to the best of my ability. Played to win and was fortunate enough to have won a Stanley Cup and a couple gold medals and played on some really good teams... I'm not going to look back and say I wish I could have done this or that.
Looking at the way the game is played, I'm envious of the conditions. We played on some ropey World Cup surfaces. I genuinely never look back and wish I earned the money they do today, but I do think of that element.
I got interested in coaching while I played at St. Joseph's. Because we played a national schedule, we played teams coached by Nat Holman, Joe Lapchick, Hank Iba, and others. I could see the impact the coach had on their teams, and I thought, 'That's a pretty good thing to do.'
I've played with some of the best that have ever played, obviously. I don't know if there is anybody that is a better technician than Peyton Manning. Tom Brady is another quarterback that I was fortunate enough to play with for a bunch of years.
I really enjoyed the period in which I played my cricket. I can look back now and wish I started 10 years later and played in the T20s. But I also wish I was born 10 years earlier so that I could have been part of the all-conquering West Indies team of that time.
If you go off the Senior Bowl, that's basically what I can do. I played H-back, I played fullback, I played tight end, I played slot receiver, I ran routes, I caught some balls, blocked, just doing that stuff.
When you look at the best of the best, those quarterbacks played with one team. And if you point at a couple guys who didn't, who changed teams, it really was against their will.
I played 18 seasons. That's a lot. There is some that played more. Brett Favre I think played a couple more. There is a few. There is a few guys that played more, but not many.
I've played under some of the biggest and best managers and achieved almost everything in football. Of course it hurts when people question it, but I've come to the end of my career and can look back and say I've achieved everything with every club that I've played for.
Johnny Ringo to me was just the best antagonist that I've ever played, because I played him as a guy who has a death wish and had done everything that he wanted in life. As far as he was concerned, a gun fight was about as exciting as it was going to get.
I have played against (Michel) Platini, (Diego) Maradona, (Johan) Cruyff and played with George Best — a lot of big names, but none of them has been able to do what Messi does. Two years ago I said that the best player I played against was Maradona and the best player I have played with was Bestie. But I can now say I have never seen a player as good as Messi. He’s in a league of his own.
Look at great teams like Detroit a couple of years ago; they win the Stanley Cup and guys only score 25 goals, nobody has a really big season.
When you're a kid you always played to win a Stanley Cup in the streets or on the outdoor rinks, and when you do it for real, it's a pretty cool moment, it's something that I'm always going to remember.
I'm sure there were concussions galore back when we played, but the doctors would just say, 'Shake it off,' or something like that... or 'Come on, you got to be tough... get back in there.' I see so many guys who played pro football in their 50s now who are so debilitated from having played it.
Let's say that the teams I played in were all excellent. I played with many, many great players and incredible teams.
Imagine what I could have done in ten years. I could have learned to speak Japanese. I could have played every RPG video game ever created, and if I spoke Japanese I could have played the foreign ones too! Man, I could have built a spaceship in my backyard and flew it to the moon and back, if I wanted.
I had a good theater career for years. I played Hamlet when I was 22, and I've played some really great roles.