When I look back at football, I've always said to myself, 'I'd rather leave the game and have something in my tank rather than have left all of me out on the field.'
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
On the football field, you're still going out to there to win. And if you're not going out there to win, what are you going out there for?
Once you're a football player, you're a football player for life. You always think of yourself in terms of that. We all do. It's hard to get rid of when you can't play anymore.
I take football as an avenue to different opportunities. Football is not using me; I'm using football.
When you go out on a football field, you are responsible for taking care of yourself. The more rules you get, the less players truly take care of themselves.
When you take a year off from football, you come back for all the enjoyable moments. When you're not playing, you miss out on all the highs, but you also miss these disappointments. But I would rather be in the arena to be excited or be disappointed than not have a chance at all. That's football. That's why everybody plays it.
I've been through a lot off the field. I think that kind of translates onto the field. Football serves for a lot of life lessons, and so it allows me to stay humble and continue to work.
I've let a lot of things go, and obviously football is one of them. I think the hardest thing to let go is your self-image. That's what I'm working on now.
The biggest thing I've found since I left the game - and I'm glad I chose to leave rather than being sacked - is that so many people are in football for the wrong reasons. Not because they love the game, but because they smell money.
You always see people coming back to the sport, and I've always thought, 'Gosh, when you're done playing, wouldn't you just want to stay at home?'
The game of football is something I dearly love, and there's nothing else I'd rather be doing.