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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 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.
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.
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.
As I was coming up, it always seemed like I was learning. If it wasn’t from school, it was the ‘hood. The influences of the ‘hood are very powerful.
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.
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.
The goal of my Foundation is to give young people a chance to better themselves and establish a base for a successful future.
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.
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.