I shot millions and millions of shots, just wanted the ball and felt good every time I released the ball, especially in those last seconds of big games.
The fun part of golf is the variety of shots. In football you can do anything with a ball, but you can do anything with a golf ball as well. When you hit a shot and the ball does exactly what you want it to do ... that's wonderful. It's just great when you hit the ball well. You should always try not to make the ball cry.
I've always been able to shoot the ball, so it's just about continuing to work on your shot and shoot the ball. That's the main thing. Got to get those shots up.
Today's Little Leaguers, and there are millions of them each year, pick up how to hit and throw and field just by watching games on TV. By the time they're out of high school, the good ones are almost ready to play professional ball.
Once-dominant games like straight pool and three-cushion billiards have lost ground to eight-ball - the game of choice for millions of tavern league players - and nine-ball, the preeminent tournament game.
Before every game I used to go out and shot the same shots over and over and over. In the summer time I spent a lot of time just shooting. So really it just came natural. Whether it's a tie game or down by 1 or up by five, it was always the same shot. So I always felt comfortable with the ball in my hands because it was in there a million times before.
The millions and millions and millions of tons of toxic waste dumped into rivers and ocean. Extracting materials in a way that's not sustainable. All of those things suddenly in the last, I want to say, couple years alone, they matter to people. That's a big deal.
I don't know if cortisone is good for you or not. But to take a shot every other ball game is more than I wanted to do and to walk around with a constant upset stomach because of the pills and to be high half the time during a ball game because you're taking painkillers ... I don't want to have to do that.
I'm the type of person where, at the end of the game, if there's 10 seconds left, and you need to get somebody the ball, and you're behind by one, give me the ball. Get me the ball every single time.
Think of golf as chess. You have to think two or three moves ahead every time you hit the ball. Over every shot, you should be thinking, 'Where do I need to put this ball in order to make my next shot as easy as possible.
I believe that good defense embodies seven cardinal principle: reduce the number of your opponent's shots; force your opponent into low percentage shots; control everything within 18 feet; eliminate second shots; no easy baskets; point the ball on all long shots; and prevent the ball from going into the pivot man.
The time to hurry is in between shots. It's not over the shot. It's timing how people walk. You have to add that to the equation. If you've got somebody walking slow and they get up to the shot and take their 20 seconds, what's the aggregate time for them to hit that shot in between shots? That's what really matters. It's not the shot at hand.
In the closing seconds of every game, I want the ball in my hands for the last shot - not in anybody else's, not in anybody else's in the world.
The thing you don't realise is that every time you head the ball, your brain shakes. Every single time. Have you ever headed a ball badly and seen stars for a couple of seconds? That's your brain shaking. Let's be honest: that can't be healthy, can it?
Only great players can have two shots for one ball, like Tendulkar does, and a big reason is that he picks the ball very early.
There's times where I could take all the shots every time I touch the ball, but that's not me. I just play a team game and just take open shots.
I was stealing the ball from all the guys. Every time they dribbled the ball, I used to take it, and I'd go down the court, and I'd either lay it up myself, or I'd pass it to one of my teammates. I was getting a lot of excitement from that; I felt good about doing that.