I do have a son. He's out of school now. He never played football. And it had nothing to do with me. I was actually crushed that he didn't play football. I thought, 'Oh my God, this is awful.' My brothers all played football. My dad played football.
I played for Middlesbrough's youth team. At the age of 16, I went into a shed at the training ground and was told that they weren't signing me on, so that was the end of that dream. Football was my life. I played football when I got to school, football every break and football as soon as I got home.
When I was three or four, only football was in my head. I went 10 years, and nothing changed - only football, football, football. The strange thing is, nobody played football in my family before.
I was born in a mining village, and you either played football or played football. If you didn't play, there was something wrong with you.
I always played sports when I was young. I played football and baseball for eight years. I loved football.
I like a lot of sports. Especially football - it's my favourite sport. My uncle played football in Barcelona for nine years and played for Spain in three World Cups.
My dad always played sports. He played football. I always wanted to play football because my dad played football, but my mom never wanted me to play football because she said she couldn't take me getting hit.
It's football. You play football. You just play injured. That's how it is. A lot of it comes from my dad. He played for Hayden Fry University in the '80s. He used to tell me about the injuries he played with. One time he tore his ACL in Week 6 and then played in the Rose Bowl in Week 12. So, if he could do that, I can do anything.
It's not like I played my first football match in England. For me, football is pretty much the same everywhere; the ball is round, but maybe tactically, things are different than at other clubs I've played for.
In any football I have played in - and I have played in League One and as an international at the World Cup - the bare minimum is running around and showing the desire for the shirt. Then, the higher you go up the leagues, your football takes control of that.
I'm just god-gifted: I have a talent. Even when I played basketball, no one ever taught me the game. I just played it. And with football, I just converted basketball to football and just played.
Football is not played on paper, it is played on a pitch. This game is not mathematics and in football, two plus two very rarely equals four - it's usually three or five.
I was a ball guy. I played basketball, baseball, football. I excelled in football the most. I played running back, wide receiver, safety, kick returner, punt returner.
I played football and lacrosse in high school. They wanted me to play football at Amherst, which I did not do because my schedule was full enough as it was. But over the course of my student days, I played pretty much every sport out there.
I played football. I wrestled. Those were team sports and I played for the school. When I was younger, I played kick the can and stuff like that. I loved that.
I'm a football guy at heart; maybe I should have played football for a living instead, because I play a lot of football videogames; I'm really into them.