I wanted to really ingrain myself in the culture and the people. And I apologize about having an allergy to dairy products that gives me some irritable bowels, but other than that, I mean, I've embraced just about everything else Wisconsin - especially when it comes to sports, but also the people and the interactions with our fans.
When you're competitive, the last thing you want to do is come out of a game, regardless of what kind of injury it is - whether it's an ankle, a knee, a rib, or a head injury.
Authenticity is everything! You have to wake up every day and look in the mirror, and you want to be proud of the person who's looking back at you. And you can only do that if you're being honest with yourself and being a person of high character. You have an opportunity every single day to write that story of your life.
The beauty of our country is that when it was founded that they took some time to lay out civil liberties in the first 10 Amendments - the Bill of Rights. I'm a firm believer in those civil liberties and the ability to have your own opinion.
As you get older, the summer is less of a vacation and more of a training period by yourself away from the team. It's exciting for me. I felt like I've been really getting better as far as my conditioning every single season as I get older.
I think as you get older, you realize there's always going to be critics. Critics are going to win every time because they can change their critique based on the stats and their own personal feelings.
I think as you get older, you realize there's always going to be critics. Critics are going to win every time because they can change their critique based on the stats and their own personal feelings. It's less about proving people wrong, the critics wrong, and it's more about challenging myself to keep this level up.
It takes a career, a lifetime, to build up a reputation, and only one misstep for it all to crumble away.
For me, it's always been about preparation, and the more prepared I can be each week, the less pressure I feel and the more confident I am. As your confidence grows, it's only natural that the pressure you feel diminishes.
The majority of the time, they take air out of the football. I think that, for me, is a disadvantage.
There should be a minimum on the air pressure but not a maximum. Every game, they're taking air out of the footballs I'm throwing, and I think that's a disadvantage for the way that I like them prepped.
I've spent years trying to time up my drops with my throws. You learn to listen to your feet and trust your positions.
I know a lot is going to be on our shoulders, especially the way we're starting games out. We have to start faster; I have to be sharper from the start, and I will be. And I'm confident that if we can get this thing started out a little better each week that we can get on that roll and be tough to stop.
We got to think of other ways to help these kids out because there's a lot of kids who get hurt in college and then don't make it to the NFL and don't have insurance, and their entire lives are changed when they put their bodies on the line for their school.
When you're throwing the football the way you want to, you're not thinking about it. You're not thinking about your drop or your release point or the trajectory or where your feet are. It's just coming off your hand exactly the way you want it to, fluid and confident.
To me, the flag represents the greatest ideals of the United States of America, not the worst, but different people look at different things and have different feelings about it. That's what freedom of expression is all about.
You always have to be on at times, and occasionally people get upset if you say no to a picture when you're eating dinner or something, and that's kind of the hard part. Or if you get crazy rumors that swirl around you from time to time that are just silly.
I went to University of Illinois team camp. And that was a big deal for me. I got MVP of the camp, but they offered another kid from the camp, which was fine. I laughed with the couple coaches I know who were there at the time, who were part of recruiting the other guy.
I think you need to be intentional at times about your leadership - where you're eating lunch, who you're interacting with, making guys feel like you're interested in what they're doing. If it's authentic, then it's going to be an easy conversation and easy hangout time.
I still feel like I've got a lot of great football in front of me and the way that I've taken care of myself better the last few years. I think is going to put me in position to be able to play really well late in my 30s and even in my early 40s, possibly, if they'd like to keep me around that long and I can still play a little bit.
