Having written like 73 blog items about Alfred Morris’s 1991 Mazda 626, I nevertheless continue to be fascinated by Alfred Morris’s 1991 Mazda 626. So a story about Morris taking a 34-hour round-trip winter drive to Florida in the 1991 Mazda 626 will always have a home here.

“I’m still driving my baby, the Bentley,” he recently told ESPN’s Football Today. “She’s still alive and kicking. I actually did a road trip in the offseason; I drove from Ashburn all the way down to Boca Raton, which was like a 17-hour drive, and she made it like a champ. I actually beat a snow storm out. I hit a couple of ice spots in the road, so I was driving about 30, 40 miles per hour — just really slowed me down. But she made it there and back without a problem. Thanks, Mazda.”

The hosts then asked Morris why he doesn’t just upgrade to a higher-priced vehicle possibly more suited to driving back and forth to Florida in winter snow storms. This isn’t the first time Morris has fielded that precise question.

“Because that’s not me,” he said. “I’m not a flashy guy. I don’t like showing off. I’m real reserved. I like flying under the radar; I don’t like drawing extra attention to myself. At the end of the day I’m just a normal guy. My car still gets me from Point A to Point B, and that’s more than enough for me. Eventually, I will get a new car, but I’m in no rush to do that.

“Like I said, a lot of guys still spend money on this and that; you never know when it’s going to be over. I’m just doing my best to try to save as much as I can, to set myself up for life after football. You know, I don’t want to be on that documentary ‘Broke.’

“So I’m just doing my best to save my money, but if I were to spend my money on anything, it’s movies,” Morris went on. “I love watching movies. This is my third time at trying [to start] a DVD collection, because every time I get DVDs something happens to them and I have to start all the way over from zero. So I buy a lot of DVDs; even if I watched the movie in theaters, I buy the DVD. That’s what I spend my money on, DVDs and going to the movie theater. It’s a lot cheaper than buying some expensive car.”

I can see that. If you’re wondering why he had to re-start his DVD collection twice, Morris explained that he previously loaned out DVDs to pals or entrusted the collection with friends, and it wound up severely diminished.

Morris was also asked about having a chip on his shoulder, being a small-school guy chosen late in the draft without many expectations.

“I don’t think I have a chip on my shoulder, to be honest with you,” he said. “I’ve been the underdog my whole life. I’ve always been overlooked. I’ve never been the biggest fastest or strongest, but my work ethic is undeniable, my heart is something you can’t measure. I’ve probably got more heart than anybody who plays the game. Me personally, just my willingness to want to be great, that’s what keeps me going.

“My desire to play in the NFL was to play against the best of the best and be successful at it,” he said. “And I’ve been the underdog my whole life, overlooked, so people always bypass me. But despite the naysayers, I was able to make it to the highest of levels and to be successful thus far doing it, and I want to continue to do that. So that’s my drive, to be the best that I can be every single day — not just for this game or during this year. I always want to be the best I can any given day, because tomorrow isn’t promised.”