There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down the other is pulling up.

There are dark shadows on the earth but its lights are stronger in the contrast.

Where there is no struggle there is no strength.

There are almost no sports within which mortal accidents are not a reality.

Anyone could be in the orchestra or sports team or arts club at my school. It was precisely the kind of inclusivity that now meets with a sort of scorn and derision as a prizes-for-all culture that generates only mediocrity. There's something so insulting about the idea that including lots of people means mediocrity.

I'm a huge fan of Chicago sports and Chicago food and I love going home and my family is still there. I guess it's pretty easy to have a normal life in Chicago.

I played a lot of sports when I was a kid so I get in that ballgame mindset of being really really respectful but at same time saying to yourself 'Don't back down a single inch hang with these guys if you can.' If they throw it high and tight you have to stand in there you can't take yourself out of that moment.

They read their sports pages know their statistics and either root like hell or boo our butts off. I love it. Give me vocal fans pro or con over the tourist types who show up in Houston or Montreal and just sit there.

So while you're an athlete and you have that platform what you want to be able to do is make it work for you as much as possible because there's going to be life after sports.

I was a huge theater geek growing up and that was not the easiest thing in the world especially growing up in Chicago where sports are really the norm. I was always off to the theater at night from 7 years old on. Friends there in the Midwest who could talk to you about the idiosyncrasies of 'Pippin' were few and far between.

There's nothing masculine about being competitive. There's nothing masculine about trying to be the best at everything you do nor is there anything wrong with it. I don't know why a female athlete has to defend her femininity just because she chooses to play sports.

I think we have our sports within our own culture that are huge with baseball football basketball and hockey. Those are the sports in America that we grow up with and soccer isn't really there yet.

We really love all sports but we don't think in the long term. The reason we did Kingpin was because there was a script we really liked and we saw the possibilities.

Over the years I've enjoyed working for WFAN and MSG - two sports giants in the industry. There couldn't be a better fit due to the long-standing history both entities have had with NY sports.

In America we have three major sports - baseball football and basketball. They get the most coverage. Then there's things like golf which mop up most of what is left. But track and field? We are way at the bottom of the totem pole.

I always loved the way music made me feel. I did sports at school and all but when I got home it was just music. Everybody in my neighborhood loved music. I could jump the back fence and be in the park where there were ghetto blasters everywhere.

In fact there's a lot to legitimately hate about pro sports and the way they are conducted.

There is a huge responsibility on all of us to get England through. It would be one of the biggest disasters in sports history if we blew it and we must make sure it does not happen.

I don't think there are many larger lessons to be found in sports.

For guys playing sports at a high level for money I can't put my finger on it but in a man's world of sport there is something visceral to beating another man.

There's steps that I've taken already and each week talking with the sports psychologist on a routine basis and working with the different programs that we're going through. This is all stuff that you can say you're going to make a difference but I'm putting it into action.

And I realized that there was no sports reporter so I started covering sporting events.

One of the most difficult things for people who have been successful in sports is adapting to the daily world where you can't get an answer from someone until 5 o'clock tomorrow. There is always an excuse. Living 40 or 50 years like that doesn't get too exciting after a while.

I would never encourage my children to be athletes - first because my children are not athletes and second because there are so many people pushing to get to the top in sports that 100 people are crushed for each one who breaks through. This is unfortunate.