Junior Seau

“I can't handle rollercoasters. I have no control of it. It gets to me.”

“No, I want my kids to be Tiger Woods. And Serena Williams. I dig those two.”

“I'm afraid of being average. I have a real fear of being just another linebacker.”

“When I first started playing football, a headache was called a 'headache.' And now it's called 'a concussion.'”

“My background wasn't one blessed with all the luxuries in life. Nothing is forever and I realize that.”

“I want to be the best. That's just the human way.”

“You can't live on last year, you can't live on the year before. I can't bring in my 13 Pro Bowls in the locker room and say, look at me. No. That is gone. That is the best thing about the game of football is that everybody starts over.”

“Leadership can't be fabricated. If it is fabricated and rehearsed, you can't fool the guys in the locker room. So when you talk about leadership, it comes with performance. Leadership comes with consistency.”

“Football is a chess game to me. If you move your pawn against my bishop, I'll counter that move to beat you. Football is the same way. I study so much film that I know exactly what teams are going to do. I love knowing what a offense is going to run and stuffing that play.”

“I'm basically a homegrown American.”

“There's a window in my life which is football. I try to remember that it's not going to be there forever. That's why staying humble is important; knowing who I am and the message I'm sending out. I always try to be a person first, before I'm No. 55 on the football field.”

“To chase an athlete that really doesn't want to speak with you and when you finally get him, gives you three words and you have to write a story based on three words of information he gave you, that's pretty tough.”

“I've tried to bring the mentality of the outside linebacker to the inside and the rough, tough style of an inside linebacker to the outside. The middle linebacker always has been known as kind of a big plugger. Outside guys are known to be able to run. I just try to make big plays wherever I am.”

“Being a part of the National Football League for so long, I've come across so many trainers and equipment managers who've allowed me to be who I am today.”

“The best meal at my restaurant is the whole right side of the menu.”

“No, I didn't forget Samoan - I understand it when you talk to me but, you know, to put phrases together I sound like I do in English.”

“I'm not retiring. I am graduating. Today is my graduation day. Retirement means that you'll just go ahead and live on your laurels and surf all day in Oceanside. It ain't going to happen.”

“No excuses and no sob stories. Life is full of excuses if you're looking. I have no time to gripe over misfortune. I don't waste time looking back.”

“As a sophomore, I wanted to play varsity in three sports. And I accomplished that. It was a great feat that year, and something I held special. I wanted to bring a championship team to Oceanside High School, and it happened. It was a great year that I will never forget.”

“I was a quarterback in pee-wee football. I always wanted to be quarterback. They're the leaders, they make the calls. It didn't work out because I didn't have the arm. I also played wide receiver my senior year in high school.”