I have a collage of pictures of my dad holding my brother and me. I look at that before every game just to remind me about having no fear or regrets and to go out and enjoy the moment, because I know how precious life is.
I defend just like my brother Todd lived. He taught me how to play defense by the way he lived his life. I defend like every game is my last game, like anything can be taken away at any moment, and that's what my brother taught me. That's what he always preached to me, so that's how I believe the game should be played.
I remember me and my brother would watch 'Beavis and Butthead' or 'South Park,' but we'd be all secret about it because we didn't want our dad to know. And then before I know it, I'm in fourth grade and me, my brother, and my dad are watching 'South Park' together.
I've just stopped worrying about what the game plan looks like, how many targets am I going to have in a game, all of the stuff that would distract me when having fun out there on the football field. It's allowed me to be less stressed and enjoy my teammates more and go out there with a loose mentality and have more fun.
If I wake up in the night terrified, I try to find a way to not let the fear have me. Every moment you spend in fear of cancer is a moment you've wasted enjoying life. Replace that fear - get in the moment and enjoy it.
All I can say is what you already know: some days are treasure. Not many, but I think in almost every life there are a few. That was one of mine, and when I'm blue -- when life comes down on me and everything looks tawdry and cheap, the way Joyland Avenue did on a rainy day -- I go back to it, if only to remind myself that life isn't always a butcher's game. Sometimes the prizes are real. Sometimes they are precious.
My father and mother have given me so much love, so much support, that it would trivialize their parenthood if I would reduce it just to basketball. But my dad does call me before and after every game. And when we lost a game we shouldn't have, he told me it wasn't my fault. And I appreciated that, because he was trying to pick me up.
I just invited close friends and family, the usual suspects whose opinion I value but who I know will enjoy the film [Before I Go To Sleep]. I don't know how difficult it is for them to suspend their disbelief because they obviously know me and what they're seeing is not me.
I always speak with all the players during the week before every game we play, because it's important for them to know what I think and for me to see how they are before the game.
One of the things my dad kept instilling in me was the joy of the game. He made it fun for me. A lot of the time I see kids that don't enjoy being out there and that's a shame; you're supposed to enjoy the game.
I've never played for my dad. I played against my dad actually in high school. That was fun, but he taught me how to play the game the right way. Respect the game, give it all you've got and regardless of what happens, have no regrets.
I don't know if me and my dad have necessarily touched on this because we talk about Reid but not a lot. But me wrestling, I think, ultimately saved my dad's career and not only saved my life but definitely put a whole other chapter that no one saw coming because it could've been rock bottom after my brother passed away.
You know not having my real dad around and having a step dad made me want to be a great dad. So now I have been one for 9 years. And now 3 daughters. So, that is what I am - a dad, first and foremost, before anything else. It's just something that comes natural now.
Me, I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know its not some place you can look for because its not where you go. It’s how you feel for a moment in your life when you’re a part of something and if you find that moment, it lasts forever.
There have been those moments in my life - in all of our lives - where you think, "I could literally be dead at any moment." Once you go down the rabbit hole, you realize how precious life is and you realize you never realized before how precious life is.
I don't believe in having friends on the field. I mean, my brother, my dad, my mom, grandma was out there, it's on. After the game we can be cool. It doesn't matter. That's how I feel like you've got to respect the game of football.
The 2006 playoffs were such a rollercoaster for me. I was able to lean on God and know that no matter what things were going to work out the way they were meant to work out. I had that trust that allowed me to go into the games without fear. When I prayed before games, I was able to just let it go. When I played in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, I prayed more that day than I have my whole life. That was a day that I leaned on the Lord a lot. It helped me to face some of my fears.