And, well of course, Count Basie, and I think all of the black bands of the late thirties and early forties, bands with real players. They had an influence on everybody, not just drummers.
As a guitar player, you can gravitate to the blues because you can play it easily. It's not a style that's difficult to pick up. It's purely emotive and dead easy to get a start with.
I listened to classical guitar and Spanish guitar, as well as jazz guitar players, rock and roll and blues. All of it. I did the same thing with my voice.
When I played, I never needed the spotlight, nor did I want it. I simply wanted to play baseball and be respected by my teammates and the opposing players.
At 49, I can say something I never would have said when I was a player, that I'm a better person because of my failures and disgraces.
I know that baseball players have certain rituals or habits that they develop, because sometimes it becomes somewhat superstitious if they get on a streak and want to do the same thing over and over again.
Now that I am much older, I have had a number of sax players tell me I was responsible for them playing sax. Some of them I have admired over the years.
It (proof by contradiction) is a far finer gambit than any chess gambit: a chess player may offer the sacrifice of a pawn or even a piece, but a mathematician offers the game.
If you look at a multi-player game, it's the people who are playing the game who are often more valuable than all of the animations and models and game logic that's associated with it.
Black players had an issue with Joe Torre. They weren't treated like everybody else. Even I got called out in a couple of meetings that I thought was unfair.
I know so many players who say they wouldn't entertain coaching, until they retire that is, and then they want to take their coaching badges. I suspect this might happen with David Beckham.
Between the daylight gambler and the player at night there is the same difference that lies between a careless husband and the lover swooning under his lady's window.
Iran is central to our foreign policy in the Middle East, a major player in global energy markets, and a key country in terms of our interaction with the Muslim world.
How can a coach have any influence over a player that's making over five times more than he is?
No player can become accustomed to New York's climate in August in a few days. The playing conditions, the courts in New York and France are very different.
The angle from which the line and ball are seen makes a tremendous difference in the call, and the player who is inclined to fret inwardly about decisions should realize this.
The Porto players were with me for two and a half years, they believed in me, in my methods, in the way we do it. The next day I go and a manager arrives who works completely differently.
I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.
I think whenever anyone asked me why I wanted to be a hockey player, that's where it all started, watching the Winnipeg Jets play as a young kid.
I don't know anything else but the Lakers. This has certainly been more than a job for me as a player. It has certainly meant more to me than just an occupation.
Make no mistake about it. These are not 'kookie' birds. Right now the greatest player, the big tent on the political scene in America, is called the Tea Party movement.
