When my TV show, 'Sports Jobs with Junior Seau,' assigned me to be a 'Sports Illustrated' reporter for a weekend, I didn't realize I'd have to squeeze it in around another sports job. I had planned to retire from the NFL to enjoy the cushy lifestyle of a full-time reality TV star, but I wound up getting run over by a bull.
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.
The best meal at my restaurant is the whole right side of the menu.
You see a hockey player, you'd never know he's a professional athlete. But you put the skates on him, and he becomes a beast.
No, I want my kids to be Tiger Woods. And Serena Williams. I dig those two.
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.
From my old neighborhood, I learned nothing was guaranteed, not even life itself. You better get it today, because tomorrow is not promised.
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.
I remember when I was 6 years old and my brother used to go seek out guys that were 13 to come over and play football against me while he was the 'permanent quarterback.' I didn't know exactly what the age difference was, but I was already playing against older guys.
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.
When I first started playing football, a headache was called a 'headache.' And now it's called 'a concussion.'
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.
Ryan Leaf is doing great now. If he progresses the way he is now, we're going to have a quarterback that's going to be reckoned with in the near future. And that's not political.
I wanted to perform well for my mom and dad, because in high school, I didn't have a job. My brothers, they worked at Pizza Hut or places like that, but sports, that was my way of giving back.
Being a reporter and chasing down an assignment isn't an easy thing to do, especially when you're dealing with athletes that are so focused and trying to get their little game plan together to perform under adverse conditions... it's tough.
I can't handle rollercoasters. I have no control of it. It gets to me.
The Super Bowl is a game. Life is for real. What I went through helped me get to where I am today. I won't forget. I can't forget. Because a man who forgets his past sometimes loses his soul and forgets where to go in the future.
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.
A lot of children can go back and look at their childhood and find reasons why it wasn't perfect. But why whine about something no one can fix? You deal with it.
In order to gain the respect of your players in the locker room, you can't just perform on Saturday. You have to do it consistently during practices, meetings, and in the weight room.
