It's one thing to be 100 percent and go out and play football feeling great. It's another thing when you're not feeling good. You're sick, or you got a nagging injury, and you gotta go out in the cold and go across the middle where a guy's coming full speed at you trying to kill you.

When I was growing up, I was a huge San Francisco 49ers fan. The New England Patriots have a similar mold and plan to win a lot of games - reminiscent to that Bill Walsh era.

I don't say I'm necessarily a professional football player. I'm a competitor. That's what was instilled in me as a young boy.

I would say the greatest challenge, for me, had been my rookie year and learning my spot. It is an emotional battle, as you have good days and bad days. Being young and thrown into this big business is challenging.

When I came out in the draft, people kept asking me, 'So are you a small forward or a power forward?' and I was like, 'I'm a basketball player.' Period.

I thought I would be a sports announcer. All I was was a curious kid who wanted to be on the radio.

Baseball always gets credit for the foundational part of masculinity - the father thing. The eternal game of backyard catch, 'Field of Dreams', the Ripkens, the Griffeys, the Bondses, so on. But football is the real paternal game, because it's a conveyor belt of father figures, in the form of coaches.

As it happens, Cumberland was on the verge of bankruptcy and had to give up football. But the villainous Heisman made it play a game that had been scheduled when Cumberland still had a team, or Heisman threatened to demand a $3,000 forfeiture fee that could well have put the school out of existence.