The only way to stop Jim Brown was to give him a movie contract.
My only focus was the Olympics because in my sport, that is the ultimate. Everything is geared toward that, and my entire life was geared around getting there and winning gold.
I train myself mentally with visualization. The morning of a tournament, before I put my feet on the floor, I visualize myself making perfect runs with emphasis on technique, all the way through to what my personal best is in practice.... The more you work with this type of visualization, especially when you do it on a day-to-day basis, you'll actually begin to feel your muscles contracting at the appropriate times.
One of my favorite movies of all time is Fargo.
This is what makes sports so amazing, that we can start a discussion around a table, in the newspaper, in the magazines, that will get people's attention. And that's what sports does.
As a kid, I was always a tomboy, playing sport and doing martial arts. And I'm pretty opinionated - I've never been told that I'm a weak person.
Winners are different. They're a different breed of cat.
An expert is an ordinary fella away from home.
My favorite thing about being linked to Oakley is getting to hang with the cool people, the cool athletes - like the X-Games guys. Those guys play sports where they can really hurt themselves, and, well, I just play golf. I'm like the wimpy guy over here.
We all laughed. It was more like that whole thing that I was talking about earlier. You go to training camp and after the season is over, you might not see the guys for six months until you go back to training camp.
The ninth grade. I went from 5'9 to 6'8.
Here's a simple way to abolish golf's elitist and exclusionary image and make it a truly all-American sport: ditch that fifties-Republican-martini-drinker's green Brooks Brothers-style sport jacket and make the winner of the Masters slip on something in, say, black leather with plenty of metal studs.
I spent twelve years training for a career that was over in a week. Joe Namath spent one week training for a career that lasted twelve years.
Waving the flag at the 1976 Olympics wasn't my idea. It was too much apple pie and ice cream. Not that I don't love my country, but I felt it was my victory up there, I put all the time into it.
The 'Sports Illustrated' cover was the last thing I shot. That week, I told my agent, 'You know what, I really... I don't want to be a model anymore. I really want to do movies.' And I think he wanted to wring my neck at the moment.
Some critics of racing witlessly claim that spectators only attend to see someone die. This is utter and complete nonsense. I have been at numerous races where death is present. When a driver dies, the crowd symbolically dies, too. They come to see action at the brink: ultimate risk taking and the display of skill and bravery embodied in the sport's immortals like Nuvolari, Foyt, and thousands of others who operate at the ragged edge.
My belief is that sports in school is not an extracurricular activity.
I really believe the only thing you can control in those situations is what you do as a player but also how you interact with your teammates, which is critical.
So the programs all start to all look the same. I watched one free skating competition, and I thought I was watching a short program. Everyone was doing exactly the same elements.
The Olympics are great for notoriety right off the bat, but your body of work is what people remember you for.
Sasha gets a raw deal from the press. She makes one mistake in her program and people rip her for not pulling it off when it counts. But she never falls apart. She never just completely folds and misses everything. Usually it's just one mistake.
I have to consider my greatest accomplishments winning the Olympics because everything that Ive done after that is really because of the Olympics.
I'm patient with crossword puzzles and the most impatient golfer.
I see myself playing as long as I am partially enjoying the game and partially successful and they are paying me. But honestly, two more years is about all I can take.
You can't get big in hockey. You need to be pliable... they've even taken fighting out of the game, so there's no more of those big huge guys who just fight.
