I'm a kid from the small Illinois town of Batavia, who grew up on the Chicago Cubs and made sports his life's work, although there's never been a day where it actually seemed like work.
I grew up in Batavia, Ill., a small town out in the corn fields, west of Chicago. It was boring.
I grew up in central Illinois midway between Chicago and St. Louis and I made an historic blunder. All my friends became Cardinals fans and grew up happy and liberal and I became a Cubs fan and grew up embittered and conservative.
I'm a Chicago Cubs fan. I grew up in Libertyville, Illinois, and attended my first game at Wrigley Field when I was four.
I was a big sports fan, and I had been closely monitoring Hank Aaron's home run totals since I was a kid playing on the sandlot adjacent to the Foundry and Machine Company in Batavia, Illinois.
I grew up in the inner city of Chicago, and then I moved to Robbins, and it kind of raised me. When I was in college, I actually had them change the starting lineup to say 'from Robbins, Illinois' instead of 'Chicago, Illinois.'
I had a chance to choose a couple different places and, well, I grew up - I was a small-town kid from Illinois, so No. 1, just trying to win a championship for my home state.
Throwing out the first pitch at the Cubs game and having 40,000 people give me a standing ovation was probably one of the highlights of my life. You could see what a great sports town Chicago is.
I grew up in a very 'Friday Night Lights,' sports-focused town. I did not play the sports. I was never bullied physically, but I was called names. I was also an overweight kid. I knew what it's like to feel like the other, to feel written off for things that were not in my control - my appearance, my interests.
My upbringing was very un-Hollywood. I was born in New York and grew up on a ranch. I was never really smitten by the business in those days, never a fan type - just a basic kid watching TV. It wasn't like I was an insider. I was never really brought into the show business side of my father's life. I guess that's been a blessing and a downfall. But it's made my own work the initiation.
I never thought about being on a series before. It seemed like such a big commitment. But I love going to work every day. This is not about ego, it's about work, and that's refreshing in this town.
I was born and grew up in Vandalia, Illinois, a small town of about 6,000. It was farm country, and this was the little county seat.
It sounds like a cliche, but it... you do sing about what you know about. And I grew up in a small town, and I grew up in a place where your whole world revolved around friends, family, school, and church, and sports.
I grew up with six brothers, and I'm from Chicago, so princesses and Barbie dolls were not around the house. It was more like sports and comic books, so getting to work for Marvel is like my version of being able to be a princess.
I grew up in Illinois. If you were in Chicago, you were a Democrat. You get out to the suburbs and central Illinois, you're a Republican.
I'm a small-time white kid trying to represent hip-hop. If a hip-hop artist comes up and beats me in a battle, who did they beat? A small-town white kid who ain't never been an MC, who ain't never done nothing. Now if an MC comes to battle and they get beat by a small-town white boy, that's MC suicide.
The Phillies liked the work I had done with the Cubs, and really wanted me there. They were on the phone as soon as my contract was up in Chicago, and it was just a great feeling to be wanted, to be appreciated for the work you do.