I grew up in a very small town, on a farm. There was not even a TV in my house at that time. I didn't have much connection with the outside world and couldn't see martial arts. When I was 10 or 12, that's when we got our first TV. We only had maybe two channels. At 16 years old, I remember watching Marco Ruas on TV.
Golden bridge, silver bridge or diamond bridge; it doesn't matter! As long as the bridge takes you across the other side, it is a good bridge!
I look to the right as I cross the bridge and smile to see the tip of the Eiffel Tower soaring over rooftops in the distance on the other side of the river. I've seen it in photographs a thousand times, but seeing it in person for the first time that reminds me that I'm really, truly here, thousands of miles away, across an ocean from home.
You come to our stadium and look at the aura of 100,000 people. You look up there and see an Army tank coming at you. You see it on a TV screen, it's one thing. You see it at a movie theater, that's something else. When that thing's coming at you 70 feet high and 180 feet long, now that looks like a tank.
I live 10 miles outside of Bath, where there are about 10 houses. So it's nice and peaceful and quiet. Keeps your feet on the ground, basically.
Growing up where I grew up, we looked to athletes. They were our first heroes. They came from the same places we came from. I mean, you can't watch TV and see someone who is successful that you can really relate to. That person isn't real; he doesn't exist. But athletes traveled the world, had these big houses and gave their families a better life.
I have a fear of water, believe it or not. To put a wire 12 feet over a swimming pool frightens me. I don't like water.
I used to play as a No. 10, in Bilbao, in most of the games, but when I came to United, when you come to one of the biggest clubs in the world, you realise that if you want to be a No. 10, you have to score 10, 12 goals per season.
We made part of the record in Miami, and I would go down to the beach, and not 20 feet from the water I see a fish that is at least seven feet long swimming close to the shore. I did not go back in the ocean the entire month.
Now in the States if you look at the TV, you see the advertisements, the TV programmes, the pop videos, and the movies, they're all the same style. I think it's very condescending to the audience to assume they only have a three second attention span and so they don't leave anything on the screen for any longer. I don't understand that.
We didn't build our bridges simply to avoid walking on water. Nothing so obvious. A bridge is a meeting place. A neutral place. A casual place. Enemies will choose to meet on a bridge and end their quarrel in that void... For lovers, a bridge is a possibility, a metaphor of their chances. And for the traffic in whispered goods, where else but a bridge in the night?
The first TV babies are now writing with a TV mind that has no attention span at all.
Faith—is the Pierless Bridge Supporting what We see Unto the Scene that We do not— Too slender for the eye It bears the Soul as bold As it were rocked in Steel With Arms of Steel at either side— It joins—behind the Veil To what, could We presume The Bridge would cease to be To Our far, vacillating Feet A first Necessity.
I had size 12 feet when I was 10, so I thought I was going to be 6 8. My goal was to be able to dunk a basket. I wound up being 6 1 with size 14 feet. I got the raw end of the deal.
I've always said I'd rather see a club that's won 10 or 12 in a row than a club that's lost 10 or 12 in a row because they're tougher.
I see Lord Buddha in the 21st Century across national borders, across faith systems, across political ideologies, playing the role of a bridge to promote understanding to counsel patience and to enlighten us with tolerance and empathy.