Howie Long

“I went to Villanova.”

“I almost said no to 'Broken Arrow.' I ended up doing it on a lark.”

“When I was playing football, I was offered little parts in movies, but I always said 'No, thanks.' It didn't seem to be the right time.”

“I used to live at Jack-in-the-Box.”

“I just want to make a few action movies.”

“Some guys, when they retire, they say they're doing it to spend more time with their family and then they do five other things.”

“When I talk to kids, I have a theme: If you work hard, life is easy.”

“You have to lead by example - my 80th play has to look the same as my first play.”

“Everything I've done after football requires so much less focus, less work, less stress, it's kind of like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. You no longer have to be the toughest guy in the world.”

“I was a big kid who never played any organized sports. You played a lot of sports in the streets and I excelled at that, but I was never confident enough to go out for Little League. I was afraid I might get cut, or I might not be able to hit the ball.”

“Run into other people for 20 years, you're gonna have pain. But I'd do it all again... It's like I say to my kids: 'Good things that happen are often a byproduct of a sacrifice you've made.'”

“Interestingly enough, on every team there's usually a minimum of two and a maximum of seven knuckleheads on a roster.”

“I think you get used to being looked at. It used to bother me when I was young. But you get more secure with yourself at least as a man the older you get.”

“I really don't know what would have happened if my uncle hadn't taken me in. He took a hoodlum and turned him into a student-athlete from Milford.”

“I hate to admit it, but my family was on the back burner for a good part of my career. I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I took my VCR home, ate dinner, went to my room and watched five games. Four days after the Pro Bowl, I'd be at the gym. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Football was my way out.”

“Professional athletes, like it or not, have a responsibility to the kids of America.”

“I grew up in the streets in Boston in a row-home neighborhood playing hockey.”

“You know, most of my friends are either dead or in jail. There were a lot of tragedies.”

“I like John Riggins. He's one of the guys I look up to. He doesn't try to change his act to suit his profession. He just gets the ball and tries to ram it down your throat. I respect that.”

“You don't have to sell the fact that a football player has toughness.”