When you win a championship, you realize it takes a level of stamina that most people don’t have.
Through the mid-80s I watched my team struggle, but in 1988 the A’s made it to the Series. I was at Game 5 that year and was forced to watch the Dodgers celebrate a World Series Championship on our home turf.
There were a few clubs in the Championship and I spoke to some managers, but I wanted to play for Tottenham. There was always that doubt that if I left I’d end up regretting it, and I would have definitely regretted it.
I know the feeling of being in a city – and a team winning a championship – as a young person, and then seeing the impact in the community, seeing the excitement for days, for weeks, for long stretch of time, and how special it can be.
I’ve been in a Reds’ uniform, in Cincinnati, owning a house here, part of the community. I cross paths with tons of people. Every time it’s about ‘let’s win, let’s keep going, let’s win a championship here.’ And the support has been tremendous. And I want to be a part of the team that gives that back to the community.
I’ll be disappointed if I retire and I am not part of a championship club here in Cincinnati specifically.
I think of how serious I treat my job and how much I want to be part of a championship environment and team – I sacrifice everything for it.
Every time you fight for a world championship fighters take pride… it’s a special moment to be a main event for a world title fight.
In general, if I owned a sports team, no matter what team it was, and someone asked me, ‘Hey, you won the championship. Would you go to the White House?’ I’d say, hey, guys, you won the championship. You decide what you want to do.
If you win two games, one game or three games, you can still say it’s luck. But when you win a championship over 18 games, it’s not luck.
I saw 14 games in two and a half months at Churchill. It was what I really signed for. They were eyeing the championship and also playing the AFC Cup. So I am very thankful for Churchill, the coaching staff and the players.
Sometimes you wish things would have been different. People still talk about the teams in Indiana. People can’t believe we didn’t win a championship.
I admire Tim Duncan, because he put on his hard hat and said, ‘I’m going to stick it out.’ He was dedicated to one team and to winning a championship.
I’m getting to the point, I’m in my 11th year, I don’t want to play 82 games and then exit to watch somebody else pop champagne I’m tired of that. I want to compete for a championship.
I cannot wait to get to Boston and start to practice with the rest of the team in pursuit of a championship.
Plenty of other franchises have reinvented themselves into winners after hitting rock bottom. The 1976 Tampa Bay team that went 0-14 arguably was worse than the 2008 Lions, but the Bucs reached the NFC Championship Game in 1979 and ultimately won the Super Bowl after the 2002 season.
We won the national championship. We went 40-0 – the first men’s or women’s team in history to ever do that.
When I went to Baylor on a basketball scholarship – and when I thought about the future as a freshman – one achievement I wanted more than any individual award was a national championship.
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