David McClister

Quarterbacking is all in the legs. You don't even really need a good arm. Of course, I work on it all, but it's all in the legs.

The kids in my neighborhood used to pick on me because my mom, she used to be strung out on drugs. They used to call me "crack baby." I used to get talked about so much, I said, Man, I'm staying inside. My mother made me get out and play with the boys, because I was always around women. She wanted me to get aggressive. So I got aggressive.

The cluster of roses on my right shoulder is for the women in my life who raised me.

It's hard to express in words how important Steve McNair is to me.

I was a big kid. I always had to bring my birth certificate everywhere to prove I was a child, so they'd let me play.

One thing I will say about my mom is that even though she did her dirt — smoking, drugs, alcohol — she always woke up and went to work early the next morning after she had that long night.

I saw everything. There was a hole in the door that closed off my room from the living room. I used to always — my little bad self — peek through that little hole and see my mom and the whole neighborhood. My grandmom worked the graveyard shift, and everybody knew that after she left and the kids were in bed, the party was at our house. Every night. Smoking, dancing, having sex, and there I was, couldn't sleep for the noise, looking through that little hole at a strange world, man. People so strung out that they're stuttering, a-a-a-a-a-a. I didn't know what strung out was, but I knew they were strung out. That was my window on the world. And I thought to myself, I don't know what else is gonna happen to me, but I do not want to be like that.

When the lights would go out, we'd find some money to pay the bill, and then the water would go off. I would take some jugs to my friend's house and fill them up and carry them back to the house so the women could have water for cooking and bathing. Me, I just took a wash-off. Men can do that. Women need water.

I'd wake up in the middle of the night, make sure everything was locked up, make sure my mom's keys were hidden because my uncle used to steal the car all the time, peek in on my sisters' room to make sure nobody was bothering them, make sure their windows were locked. The garage door was broken from my uncle, so got to check that, too. He'd break in and steal what he could carry. I must have lost four Nintendos to him, microwaves, you name it. I love my uncle, I forgive him, but I couldn't respect him as a man. He was stealing from us, his own family, and that's no way for a man to behave, you know? I was about ten.

I started getting in trouble, and I thought, I'm gonna be just like my mom.

One night there was a big fight between the blacks and Hispanics, and I was the one that got arrested. Had me in handcuffs, and my mom picked me up, and, oh, was she mad — at them as well for having me in handcuffs but mostly at me. The car ride home, she cursed me out and told me that if I kept going, I was going to be dead, in jail, or crippled. And it's funny, too, because here she was strung out. That ride home changed both of us.

Thank God I had a couple of other uncles — Keith and Ivory Young and Allen Lane — who would come and take me on rides through the rough areas: "Keep it up, you'll end up on this corner." And then they'd take me to the nice houses, kids playing, beautiful trees, beautiful grass. Lakes! We'd ride by Warren Moon's house, see his initials on his gate. That's the side I wanted to be on.

The last year's been rough — the injury, the controversy, being booed by our own fans, people saying I'm suicidal, losing the starting position. But I've seen worse.

We will all be flat on our backs at one time or another. That's when you figure out what you've got inside.

Oh, the Rose Bowl. It was fourth down and five. Twenty-six seconds left. The national championship on the line. In the huddle, I just wanted everybody to stay loose. So I said, "Look at how ugly they are. Jesus, they're ugly." And then I said, "We're gonna win this game." And I looked at each of my teammates and said, "One more down. Everybody do their job."

I'm in the best shape of my life. I'm back to playing my game and not worrying about what everybody else thinks. That was my mistake: worrying too much about critics. I'm only twenty-six, man. If you think you can write me off, just watch.

I don't know when I'll start again. But I will be the next black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. And I will be in the Hall of Fame.

I didn't know you couldn't spike the ball. I was playing running back, and in my first game I ran a little 28 sweep and scored, and I spiked it just like I saw on TV. I was eight years old, and I was celebrating, man.

That was my first fifteen-yard penalty.

Kerry Collins and I are good friends. He's been through this, too, so he knows. He's teaching me about stocks and investments.

My girl tries to dress my dog. Dogs should not be dressed.

We ain't married, we just act like it.

I want to take care of everybody, but I can't.

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