I'm not Ed Reed. I'm Eric Weddle, and you're going to get a great Eric Weddle that does a lot of amazing things on the football field. And there's no pressure; pressure is self-inflicted.
The way I look at it is that somebody in the world, no matter what your field is - teacher, violinist, football player - has to be the best. Why not me?
My hairdresser in the U.K., Adam Reed, has his own line, Percy and Reed, and it's really good. And I use Moroccan Oil and Kerastase as well.
As an NFL player, and as a veteran in this game, no one cares what you're doing during the offseason. They only care about what you do on the football field.
When people start comparing him with (Michael) Jordan then that's not a fair comparison. Jordan was a far more superior player in a very tough league, he was very creative. That's not taking away anything from LeBron because he is a great player, but it is not a fair comparison because Jordan is a far superior player.
I think the thing about that was I was always willing to work; I was not the fastest or biggest player but I was determined to be the best football player I could be on the football field and I think I was able to accomplish that through hard work.
Not only do I admire Jordan's accomplishments and his phenomenal basketball ability, but also the way he has conducted himself on and off the court. I don't think there will ever be another player to have the same impact on the game of basketball as Michael Jordan.
Being compared to that man [Michael Jordan], who has accomplished so much in his lifetime and is known as one of the greatest ever, is an amazing compliment, but I still want to be looked at as an individual and have my own lane and my own career and looked at as "That's Mike." "That' s Michael B."
Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, their level of football professionalism was unknown to mankind. They put in countless hours off the field, in the facility, in the film room, taking care of their bodies.
To me, that's the brilliance of Michael Jordan. He was an incredible, amazing individual player who matched his talents to the team, matched the team's talents to him, and he lived in the middle of those extremes. I don't know how you do that.
When I talk about the early years in Oakland, I don't want to take anything away from who that player was, because that player was still a heck of a player, that player was just young. I played off the field the same way that I played on the field.
The mentor thing is overblown to me. I'm going to coach the player. I'm not going to have another player coach the player. They can be friends but when it comes to what I want him to do on the football field, that's my call, not another player's call.
I grew up playing sports, so I think of what it would be like to be in the NBA if you were a great player when Michael Jordan was playing. You could've been a phenomenal player, but you're in the Jordan era. That's the unfortunate thing about the competitive nature of entertainment. But we know what we signed up for.
Shevchenko is the best attacker in Europe. He has a great deal of consistency and he just keeps scoring - which in Italian football is very difficult. He is a complete player, someone who can do everything on a football field.
I'm OK with having a really good football player with a chip on his shoulder because he's going to come to prove to not only the people that didn't draft him, but himself, that I'm a pretty good football player.
What's so amazing in today's society is people look up to football players. And as a football player, you have a platform. And it's so much more important than any touchdown or trophy or anything you could win with football. Its taking that platform and be able to influence people.