Bo Jackson

BO JACKSON QUOTES

Actually this weekend I have to buy my girl track shoes - following in her dad's footsteps.

Actually, I think they were about the same because I lettered in all sports, and I was a two-time state decathlon champion.

As a 9th grader, I competed with the high school kids and out of 600 people, I finished 10th.

Back before I injured my hip, I thought going to the gym was for wimps.

Being the 8th out of 10 kids, and being the one that stayed in trouble, I sort of became a momma's boy.

But now in this day and age, people are more prone to go out to try new things to enhance their performance on the field - to enhance their physical appearance.

But now, I get up every morning and go to the gym because I don't like waking up stiff or in pain and wondering if my hip is going to hurt me.

By doing that and being very competitive, the grown-ups started telling me even back before I started playing organized ball that I was too physical and too advanced for the kids my own age.

Don't sell yourself short because without that you can't go far in life because after sports the only thing you know is sports and you can't do anything else with that.

First of all, I really never imagined myself being a professional athlete.

Growing up as a kid, the back of my house faced a little community airport about four or five miles from my house.

I also tell them that your education can take you way farther than a football, baseball, track, or basketball will - that's just the bottom line.

I always wanted to be a pilot.

I am a firm believer in if you can't get it the old fashioned way, you don't need it.

I guarantee you that's what Jeff Gordon does. He uses everything the fans throw at him to stoke his fire and it drives him to be better at what he does.

I hate to blow my own horn, but I gave a lot of people fits.

I have been a fan all my life, but now I have been out of football for over 10 years, and out of baseball for a little over six years and I don't go to games.

I have no problem with my hips - I can still do the things that I used to do. I can run, I'm just not the fastest person on the field anymore.

I love going out and doing new things.

I think everyone would love to see Jeff Gordon lose or get run into the wall, but I think he uses that - similar to me.

I took a lot of things for granted - especially how I treated my body.

I wanted to stay close enough so mom could see me play - where I could go home if I needed to.

I was a pitcher, shortstop and outfielder, and the Yankees tried to sign me out of high school as a first-round draft pick in 1981. I turned them down to go to college.

I was always active - I went from baseball to football. I didn't have time to work out.

I was always an Alabama fan growing up, but when the Alabama recruiter told me I would probably not be able to play until the end of my sophomore year, or the beginning of my junior year.

I was the type of guy that used to get up in the morning and go out and just out run everybody on the field without stretching or warming up or anything.

I would say my greatest achievement in life right now - my greatest achievement period is - and I'm still trying to achieve it - is to be a wonderful father to my kids.

I would sit out and watch the planes land and take-off.

I wouldn't change a thing.

I've always played with kids that were five, six, seven years older than me.

I've taken up golf in the past five or six years, and most of the time there aren't too many people out there that can drive a ball further than I can.

If I miss anything about the sport, it's the camaraderie of old teammates.

If you have four years to complete your college education, do it.

In baseball, I was a pitcher, which I hated because there was no action there.

It occurred to me in my junior year of high school. I got my first letter from a big college. I still have that letter to this day - a letter from Indiana.

It would be like you going home and turning the TV on and watching what you do for a living. You just don't do it.

It's all about the attitude, gut, heart and determination to go out and give 120% every time to try and help the team win.

My favorite driver is always either the bad guy or the underdog.

My sophomore year I placed 2nd, and my junior and senior year - I got smart and piled up enough points between myself and second place where I didn't have to run the mile.

My workout was running down fly balls, stealing a base, or running for my life on the football field.

Once I step on the field - being baseball or football, I prepared myself mentally in the locker room prior to the game and once I step on the field, I'm the meanest S.O.B. on the planet.

Really, it's not harder to train for them because once baseball starts you play everyday almost.

Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there.

So you have to be more mentally focused in baseball.

So, baseball is probably more physical of the two mentally.

So, I got a lot of recruitment letters from track.

So, when I was supposed to be playing little league ball, I was playing pony league, and when I was supposed to be playing pony league, I was playing with the men's semi-pro.

The first game was against Wake Forrest - I'll never forget that game.

The only thing I would change is during the summer - when I was working my summer job, if I was smart, I would have taken flying lessons at Auburn.

The way strength and conditioning has helped me now is that I make it a point to go to the gym everyday if I can.

Well, back when I was training, probably the only nutritious thing on the market was Gatorade - that's all that we knew.

When I was a kid, everybody in the neighborhood picked me to be the one in jail or be in the cemetery by the time I was 20.

Whenever I wasn't watching the planes, I was playing community baseball, football, or something like that.

With football, you practice.

Yes, I watch NASCAR.

You have a lot of people on the run and really don't have time to sit down and eat a balanced meal.

You practice Monday through Friday in college, or Monday through Saturday in the pro's - and then you just go out and knock somebody's head off.