It's not an issue. Everyone's focused on us trying to get a victory. That's where the focus lies. ... We're trying to win a game. Who cares about that (other stuff). If we'd played 'em two years ago when it happened, maybe it would be different.
I'm just fighting a lot of high-level guys. I feel everyone is trying to be tactical, everyone is trying to put their A-game out there, and I have to find a way to win. I'm all about moving on and trying to get better.
I'm trying to win, go out there and get a victory. That's what it's all about at the end of the day. That's what I do each and every game.
I'm trying to be morally responsible and no more. I don't have an agenda I'm trying to push. People talk about Three Days of the Condor as being anti-government but the last statement in that movie is the CIA guy saying to Robert Redford, "Ask 'em when they're running out. Ask 'em when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask 'em when their engines stop. Ask 'em when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. You want to know something? They won't want us to ask 'em. They'll just want us to get it for 'em!"
The reality is that Qaddafi has been trying to talk to us about his weapons system for years, and we ignored him. The Libyans even came to me about two years ago and offered me a chance to go through their facilities because they couldn't get anybody's attention here.
Every time I get in the car, I'm just focused on being the fastest, trying to win the race, trying to get pole.
When it comes to the game they both focus on different things. Pep is maybe more about positions, dominating the ball while Jurgen is maybe more like winning the ball and trying to score goals as quick as possible with high intensity.
With social games, I bring my friends, and maybe they'll bring a friend or two, and when you're playing a game, you don't need to focus on trying to come up with things to talk about.
Trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things. Excellence and victory are conceptually distinct . . . and are experienced differently.
I always try to think about what I can do to let people know that I'm just like everyone else. I have two girls here at home I'm trying to raise. I'm trying to be a good stepmom. I'm trying to stay fit and be a good model and break ground in the acting world. I'm working that same struggle every other woman is trying to work.
I'm not nearly as much of a fan of the NBA as I was maybe 10 or 15 years ago, or certainly as I was when I was a player. It's become more entertainment focused, and less focused on the purity of the game.
I lived in Italy for a number of years and I was really digging around trying to get my hands dirty, trying to learn about Italian music. And what I ended up gravitating towards was this stuff from the '50s and '60s and maybe early '70s, where there were these incredibly talented pop singers that weren't using pop bands.
I think all of us set out to try and reach as many people. That's the whole point of being in a band: trying to get your music out there. So, any opportunity to do that, within reason. We're informed about where our music is going to be used; we get to say yes or no. There are things we can turn down, and there are things we can agree to. When it comes to movies and stuff like that, it's great for us. I don't think it's selling out. Maybe 10 or 20 years ago it was seen as selling out, but nowadays I think it's the only way to get your music out there.
Look at Obama - he is now [2015] trying to help us environmentally but he should have done it eight years ago. He's trying to salvage his legacy and trying to do something good but we needed for him to show leadership from day one.
You've always six teams who are trying to win the title, and the other five have failed. But by word of saying it, it's not failing; it's just the way it is. The last two years, we didn't win it, so it wasn't good enough, but if now we win it, the other teams will say the same.
I realized in the five years off, what I missed was being around the young people, the organization, the practice, the fourth quarter of the game where you're behind, trying to get back to win the game late. It's not about the rings and trophies and money, that's not what you got into it for.
That's what I am trying to be, just trying to affect the game any way possible, rebounding, getting a block, or trying to get a stop even when your shot isn't falling, because, at the end of the day, all that matters is whether you win or lose.