I think all players reach a point in their career where it's natural to lose some of that hunger, that desire, to sort of break out or be a star.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Too much money at a young age, it just takes your eye off the ball. And you're not as hungry as players used to be. You think you've made it before you've done anything.
There's a tacit understanding among clubs that a good player shouldn't miss out on the big break of his career or a chance at exponentially improved earnings.
When you get to that level, it's not a matter of talent anymore - because all the players are so talented - it's about preparation, about playing smart and making good decisions.
I believe very strongly - and I never brought this up as a player - but I put up, I feel, Hall of Fame numbers with diabetes. If I didn't have diabetes - nobody realizes that, when I was diagnosed at 18, even the doctors didn't know what to do about diabetes.
During such a competition players are there for a long time as well as all the people around them. They need to train, to eat, to go out. There ought to be something in it for everyone. On that particular point, my experience has been a bonus.
There is one common thing in superstars - enthusiasm and humility towards their work. Off sets, they are big stars for others, and they carry themselves the way they want to. When they are working, they are not stars.
So many stars lose their way, and with success become more neurotic, not less so.
A ball player has to be kept hungry to become a big leaguer. That's why no boy from a rich family has ever made the big leagues.
It strikes me that these days, clubs don't even want players who can truly play any more; they just want athletes, quick guys who don't have a football brain, can just run and run; some of them, Jesus. I can never imagine acting like that.
Every athlete, I think, would like to play forever. They never want to acknowledge that they've lost a step or they can't quite do what they did before.