For me, I just want to be a role model, put a positive impact on the kids that are watching the sport, that want to be a part of the sport, and leave a good everlasting impact on the sport, continue my legacy down the road.
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.
Basketball is sort of an interesting sport that, you know, the top player on your team makes so much more of an impact than the top player in any other sport.
I like rugby - I watch it from time to time. It's basically football without pads but probably a little bit more dangerous than football. You've got to be a lot tougher in that sport - but I definitely like watching rugby and watching those guys knock each other around. It looks like a fun sport.
I have an impact and people look up to me now. It's more than the money.
The certainty that our football, the football of Spain, is recognised, that's very important to us - perhaps more important than the successes and the joy that you can create. Football hasn't always been appreciated, and luckily our football is appreciated now, at all levels of society.
I spent my entire childhood going 'look at me, look at me, look at me,' before realising I needed someone to look at me for more than just what I was showing off for.
For some reason in today's society, people look up to football players and you have a voice. And it's because of that voice you have the opportunity to impact people's lives.
If you look at other countries, you see they have different values: defend more, pass the ball out more, winning is holy. In England, you could say that sport itself is holy. They say, 'Look, guys, it's about more than just winning.'
So many times in today's society, we can put football No. 1. And I've done it in my life at certain times. You put football number one, this game is more important than anything else. Well, really, it's not. It's just a game.
The best thing about football for me is the reacting. It's a lot of instincts. But training, for me, it's more for the meditating. And I spend more time training than actually playing football. So I get into that zone during training more than anything.
You know, I never looked down the road and said, 'Hey look, one day, the Hall of Fame.' It's always about playing each and every game 100 percent and I thank my teammates for getting me into the Hall because football is a team sport, not an individual sport.
Football is the best team sport in the world, and it is good to hear that more and more kids are playing football in India.
The truth is, what Americans enjoy about football is much of what makes the sport dangerous. However, I believe there must be a way to find the art of success and vitality in football, without the driving the level of impact that causes serious risk of head trauma, paralysis and other life-changing injuries.
I retire from competition with great pride at having had a positive impact on my sport. I intend to keep training and practicing martial arts for as long as I live, and I look forward to watching the new generation of champions carry our sport into the future.
The sport [football] is simply more and more identified with violence, both in its inherent nature and in its savage personnel... [The National Football League] now needs a guardian, not a CEO.