Athletic Challenges Quotes

When people ask me, "Who was the toughest pitcher you ever faced?", I have to say that there has never been a pitcher who over-impressed me. That's not meant to be a bragging statement. It's just that I get up for good pitchers.

Injuries are a big factor when you're trying to go on a championship run.

My idea behind the film was to show the struggles an athlete continually endures. There is always a story behind a successful sportsperson. In 'Soorma,' we have tried to recreate that.

Since that moment in Houston where I fractured my collarbone, I've experienced a lot more experiences in the NFL than I had up to that point. A lot of them great, some of them not so great.

Pressure? Well it ain't hitting in forty-four straight games, because I done that and it was fun. The playoffs are pressure.

Golf is the only game I know of that actually becomes harder the longer you play it.

I just want to go out and compete. Plus the main thing is, at 55 I need a good amount of time to prepare just to make the weight cut. At 70 I can just take fights as they come and just compete as much as I want.

For sure, with golf it's not a physically demanding sport like tennis. That's what makes tennis great - you combine both things. It's a very mental sport and at the same time can be dramatically physical. But I do admire the mentality of sport more than the physicality because physical performance is much easier to practice than mental performance.

When I was younger, I initially hated football because they put me on the offensive line because I was the biggest kid.

You come from the college, you're the man. I was second-team All-American. I got drafted by Toronto, but they just took me because I was the best man on the board. They didn't need me. I didn't get a whole lot of help or guidance. I wasn't playing. I couldn't get reps in practice. And it's big-boy basketball. Grown men.

I had only played five games in my senior year in high school. I was not large enough. Hell, when I graduated, I was about five foot four and weighed 120 pounds. I didn't go with the Dodgers until spring training of 1940 and I weighed all of 155 pounds soaking wet.

When you get to the big leagues, the talent pool is on such a level playing field, you have to find a way to separate yourself from incredibly talented guys. Especially when you go through the injuries that I've had, you come back, and you might not physically be able to do some of the things you used to do.

It's tough to be a 15- or 16-year-old athlete competing around the country. There's tension, there's media. I had no idea what I was getting into.

Obviously in the world of sports, you go through different ups and downs than in normal life. You might be on top of the world playing or you're sidelined with an injury.

People think I'm soft and bailed out on basketball. But it was five knee surgeries.

My lowest points was getting injured and pulling out of fights.

Every now and then, you'll get one of those days when you're feeling rubbish or when you have to pretty much drag yourself out of bed to get to training. But then you'll see the Olympic pool, and all the excitement and adrenaline will come rushing back.

Football comes naturally to me, but basketball is a challenge, that's why I like it so much.

Most people would say safety was my best position. To me, the biggest challenge and most gratifying thing I got out of playing football was playing corner, because it was a bigger challenge than playing safety. Playing corner provided me my biggest thrills and my biggest headaches.

Growing up as a high jumper, I said if I could ever jump 2.40, I'd be pretty satisfied with my career. It's definitely a barrier for high jumpers.

Tennis is one of the only sports in America where the sport doesn't grow with the size of the person - it just forces you to swallow the whole pill.

And I'd be lying if I told you that as a black man in baseball I hadn't gone through worse times than my teammates.

When I was younger, there was a sort of stigma attached to my stamina. My dad took me swimming one day and I just was no good at it, so my dad said, 'Your stamina's bad.'

I've had four knee surgeries in my career. I just don't do small injuries. The highs of winning are always balanced out by the lows of being injured and missing games. There was a time when I was out for nearly a year, having already been out for six months with another surgery before that.

I didn't pick wrestling over football. My coaches picked that for me. I never wanted to wrestle in college. I always wanted to play football. They thought I was too small, but I had a lot of heart.