Going to a powerhouse high school, playing on ESPN a couple times a year, playing a nationally ranked schedule and also playing in the best conference in the world in high school, I was lucky. We'd have no less than nine guys go Division 1 every year.
I started playing this game in the backyard, I started playing this game in middle school and going to go practice without any fans, without any sounds.
This is not the job. We are just playing the game here. I am enjoying the game. I am playing every game as a game of pickup basketball in my hometown.
Say I was playing like a big receiver at whatever school, I would look up his Instagram and see his girlfriend and I'd probably go slide in her DMs. Before the game. You know we get to the game, he probably know about it, maybe he don't. But either he know about it or he don't, but either way I'm bringing it up in the game.
Every team I play, I'm playing them like we playing the Golden State when they had Kevin Durant. Every point guard I play, I'm playing Steph Curry. Every shooting guard I'm playing, I'm playing James Harden. Every three-man I'm playing, I'm playing LeBron and KD.
We were playing every game to win, we just happened to win 27 in a row. Our motto was to try and go out and win every game, but there's nothing really to talk about.
I remember, playing in college especially, I cried in almost every game I played. I just felt so much stress and pressure that I was letting everyone down if I didn't score a goal or win the game. I carried that weight with me into every game.
They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I shall break the rules and they will punish me. I must play their game, of not seeing I see the game.
I don't like people getting the best of me or saying that they beat me. Every game I play, every competition I'm in, whether it's in a game, playing cards, video games, whatever it is, I'm trying to win. That's always been my competitive nature.
In the NFL you can't say this game is the biggest game ever and you get all pumped up and you go win and then you're like 'alright we did it' and then you go out and you play bad for the next two or three. Like every week you've got to be ready to go because they're all big games.
The indoor game is much more of a team game, having to work effectively with a group of 15 to 20 people, striving to improve every day, every drill, even every contact. The beach game is much more of an individual game within a team sport, much less about organized practices with coaches and much more about just playing the game.
When you join the NFL, you start from scratch. As long as I've been playing - which has been since I was eight years old - the game becomes harder at every level. Little league, high school, college - they're different stages you have to go through, and professional sport is completely different again.
I ain't got no problem in Boston, I especially like the attention. I know that I'm one of the top guys in this game and all the attention is on me, I got a lot of people on my shoulder but I'm human. I like to go. I like to have fun. I like to do this and that but I gotta represent Boston and the Red Sox in every way that I do outside this game. ... Like I said I get paid to play baseball no [matter] where I go to play I still gotta go and perform even if I like it or not.
I've used my experience from playing sports in almost every aspect of my life. Playing soccer is where I found my voice, and playing softball was where I learned precision, and in every game I learned to play as a member of a team - to work not for my own glory, but for a shared goal.
Just like every show has a tone, every show has different people on it playing different games. I don't say 'game' in a pejorative sense, I just mean, these are different stories that we tell ourselves when we go to work.
I remember playing a high school basketball game where I didn't eat anything for breakfast. I ate, you know, like a PB and J and some chips for lunch and nothing before the game. I didn't make it through the first quarter. I wish I hadn't have learned that way, but it did leave a lasting impression.