I should really be retired. But then you find out how much you get in retirement. I don't know how you make it. It's really rough!
When I first retired from the game, I had times in my life when the days just wouldn't move.
When I retired from the NFL, no one knew who I was, and I had to start all over. I ended up doing security in L.A., and I was just on movie sets and watching.
With the whole supermodel thing, even when you're not really modeling anymore, people still call me that. And I'm like '... retired.'
I have retired, but if there's anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.
I think that I've still not been successful at playing the role of the retired actor, and I'd like to work on that.
I have seen countless colleagues struggle to come to terms with retirement. I learned a lot from Richard Dunwoody when he was riding, and I completely understand why he took off and undertook what most people consider mad challenges.
Too many fighters stay in the game for too long. They stay because it's awfully hard to walk away from the roar of the crowd. Really hard. You live for that and so you stay too long. And you might have a wife and kids to feed. So you keep fighting because you don't know how to do anything else.
For in all the world there are no people so piteous and forlorn as those who are forced to eat the bitter bread of dependency in their old age.
Retirement is purgatory for the former sports star. The world outside organized sports is unforgiving.
And when I retired, trust me, not only did Nolan Ryan, but the entire Ryan family had withdrawals from baseball. And it was tough.
Obviously, everyone knows it is hard to hang it up, but I'm definitely going to try and do it the right way and not like how combat athletes have done and hold on too long for every last fleeting moment. I don't want to be one of those people.
I've seen a lot of guys who can't get beyond their playing days.
Sister Hinckley and I are learning that the so-called golden years are laced with lead.
