Being there every week for my teammates is really important to me. It's about accountability. I hear stuff about the 'toughest quarterback in the league' and all that; what's that mean?
I want to be an NBA all-star and help my team win. That's what it's all about, is winning. I'm a competitor... People said a lot about me being selfish and stuff like that. Getting into the league, I can't wait to shut that down. I'm a guy who wants to play and to win and love my teammates.
In this league you might have a quarterback within your division that you're worried about running all over the place, the next week it's a running back, so to be able to have multiple answers for every situation is probably a benefit for everybody.
You won't hear me talk about my politics, you won't hear me talk about my vegetarianism, you won't hear me comment on the Iraq war. You'll only hear me talk about being gay and being an actor. I am just public on those two issues.
One thing I always really enjoyed about Quincy Jones' production technique was that there were so many layers to every song. Like, one week you'd hear a new trumpet-line, then the next week you'd hear - be hearing a new guitar-line.
Greedo taught me a lot. I don't say that about every artist. Some artists might teach me stuff musically, but Greedo taught me stuff about being a man and being a musician and being a creative, and being different from other people.
When you start a new job or a particular journey, you really don't know what to expect. I mean, you hear about your name being on the bestsellers list, but it doesn't really mean anything. Like, really, what does that translate to?
I know my role on this team, and I'm expected to prepare and to perform every week and play well. I relish that opportunity - to be somebody the guys can count on week in and week out, to play really well. That's what really motivates me: to make my coaches proud, my teammates proud, and the fans proud.
You don't want to read about your quarterback in the newspaper every day of the week.
Championships, I get it, it's very, very important. But I also know that my competitors will probably say that I'm one of the toughest competitors and toughest guys to beat. That's all I really care about, is having the respect of them.
Being on the same level as everybody is really important to me. I'm trying to do really basic stuff like communicate, convey, talk, see, and invite joining and intimacy. What I'm trying to do is attach. It's not about being separate.
The security of computers and the Internet is a horrible and dangerous mess. Every week we hear about breaches of databases of Social Security numbers and financial information and health records, and about critical infrastructure being insecure.
I don't like to wonder about it-I just like to do it. That's what I mean about the image stuff and all that. There's far too much emphasis being placed on that kind of stuff... the whole emphasis on what does it mean? Everybody has their own particular vision.
It's one of the best feelings in the world to hit the quarterback like that, hear the crowd go crazy, and then to watch it on film. You look forward to those types of plays. The best part about it is that you never know when it's going to come. Every play you've got to go hard and every play you've got to think and believe that you're going to get that quarterback sack. If you don't get it that play it might be the next play so you've always got to be thinking about it, and when it comes, it's the best.
I'm probably the toughest (expletive) here. Ain't no
question about that with me. I'm the toughest guy
here... I'm clean. I mean, I ain't got no marks on
me. I don't know nobody else who can say that
who came out of any sport. I ain't got no marks on
me, so I've got to be the baddest dude I know of.
I worry about getting work, and then when I get it, I worry about doing it well. I don't want to just go through the motions and give people stuff. This stuff is really important to me.
The way you talk to your teammates and push them and the way you treat them is important. There is a fine line between trying to help your teammates and criticizing them. The toughest part for me is how to keep my teammates accountable but at the same time do it in a loving way that doesnt judge or condemn them. It's definitely been a struggle and I'm trying to learn how to lead consciously in a way that honors God.