In 2004 in England, there was one catch that was very special to me. I was bowling in a league match, and the batsman hit the ball over my head. I had to run back to between mid-off and mid-on to take the catch, and I did.
At that speed, batsmen are almost trying to premeditate where the ball will be - they feel like they don't have time to react or move. That's the difference between bowling in the mid-80s and the mid-90s.
I catch the ball. You throw the ball, I catch it. You throw it close to me, I catch it. If you make me do something crazy to catch, I still catch it.
And I know that this is prophetic: that God is going to send this mighty wave - I want everyone here to prophecy with me in Lakeland - that this mighty wave is going all the way out to California, Highway 40, coast to coast aaaaah! and we want to release that mighty Holy Ghost in. Send it all over the world. The wave is moving. The wave is moving the wave is. Come on! Catch the wave. Catch the wave in Canada. Catch it in Canada. Catch it in Australia. Catch it in England. Catch it in Asia. Catch it in Europe. Catch it all over the world.
I don't want a new ball when I am bowling in the subcontinent. I want an old ball that can't get hit out of the ground. I want a ball that when I bowl doesn't have true bounce, so that the batsman can't hit it.
The league is shifting. It's becoming a smaller league, way more speed-dominant. So you're seeing more backs like me who can run between the tackles, pass-protect, catch and become matchup nightmares. You also have more receivers who are getting jet sweeps, doing different things with the ball in their hands.
When he hit it, I knew that it was my ball. But I had to catch it and it seemed like the hardest catch of my life. I said to myself, 'Two hands, just like your dad taught you.'
Apple Computer would not have reached its current peak of success if it had feared to roll the dice and launch products that didn't always hit the mark. In the mid-1990s, the company was considered washed up. Steve Jobs had departed, and a string of lackluster product launches unrelated to the company's core business had failed to catch fire.
I definitely respect Kamara's game. He's a different type of player. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. He can run in between the tackles. Pretty much a do-it-all back.
If someone wants to try to hit a spinner over mid-on, with the ball turning away from the blade, there is a chance of taking a wicket.
I didn't like the way I shot the ball in Milwaukee, so I worked really hard on my shooting - threes off the move and off the catch. And also continued to work on my ball-handling and my in-between game - my runners and floaters.
There is no substitute to taking a lot of a catches as a youngster if you want to do slip catching - you've got to catch, catch, catch. And more than doing the normal stuff, you have to vary your catching - you've got to take some catches with the tennis ball, you got to take some closer, some further away.
So whenever Marnus Labuschagne steps out, he hits the ball over cow corner for an offspinner, or he hits it over mid-off. It's very rare through long-on. And he doesn't have a flat sweep, he has a lap sweep, like a paddle.
We had this little yard, and during the summer holidays, when my mum and dad were working, I spent hours bowling a golf ball at a stick. Just bowling, bowling, bowling. And I got to where I could hit the stick every time, repeating the same action. That's where the darts came from.
I used to catch and take a big dip down and then finally I'd try to shoot. That first year playing the NBA, I was realizing how little time you have to shoot the ball. The time you have from when you catch it to the guy closing out is just a split second. So I had to figure out a way to get my shot off quicker. Then it was just repetition.
Baseball is a universal language. Catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball.
All you umpires, back to the bleachers. Referees, hit the showers. It's my game. I pitch, I hit, I catch. I run the bases. At sunset, I've won or lost. At sunrise, I'm out again, giving it the old try.