I remember playing for coaches who seemed like military-type guys. It always rubbed me the wrong way.

Music and smells are the most memory-recall, nostalgia-inducing things.

Everybody just wants to appreciate time as it's passing, to be in the moment. It's the hardest thing to do. You're either in the unknown future that you're working toward, or you're in the past that becomes a little abstract.

One minute you're starting left fielder, hitting home runs; the next, it's career over. I was 20.

It occurred to me that it would benefit me to play without emotion - well, without emotion others could see, anyway. Card players profited from having a poker face so opponents wouldn't know how good or bad their hand was, and I figured a deadpan expression would work in tennis, too.

Street football features all the basics of football: you get a lot of touches on the ball, it is fast, teaches you to think quickly and to be creative.

It's a team game.

Academe, n.: An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught. Academy, n.: A modern school where football is taught.