An interview with Victoria Azarenka at the Sony Ericsson Open (2 April 2011)

Victoria Azarenka, who has ties to the Oilers goaltender and his family, defeated Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-4 to win the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami’s Crandon Park.

Q. When are you moving to Miami?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Today. (Smiling.) I'm staying.

Q. Talk about the match. Obviously you got off to a great start after the 1-1 situation and Maria was spraying the ball. You just played well the whole way, didn't you?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I think I had the right tactics. You know, she likes to swing big, and when she has time it's very heavy and coming fast. So I was trying to take time away and not let her do that. So I think it seemed like she was missing a lot because of my game. But in the end she really stepped it up. I don't think I did something wrong, she was just going for her shots, catching few lines, and playing really good. So I just had to really hang in there and keep playing my game.

Q. How did you break her so often? Was it her serve or were you so confident in the return game?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I think I have one of the best returns. That's one of my weapons. It was a little bit tough on one side with the sun. I think she felt a little bit uncomfortable. For me it was also a little bit uncomfortable. Right after your first shot sometimes it's a little blurry.
Besides that, yeah, I think I was returning really well today.

Q. You seemed comfortable and relaxed. Is that the case, and why was that?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I'm very relaxed all the time.

Q. You seemed right at home.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, you could say that. I think I changed my mentality a little bit. I'm enjoying myself so much on the court that there's no room for me for frustration, even though I know somebody's really pissed off about it. They want to see me very emotional. They like it. But that's how I am right now.

Q. What is it about the conditions here or in Miami? Do you think it's a coincidence that you've won two of the last three times here against big time players?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, I think the heat really suits me well. (Laughing.) No, I mean, it feels good. Hardcourt is one of my favorite surfaces, and I've been just really working hard for this last two tournaments. I played very good tennis in Indian Wells, and unfortunately got injured. It was amazing for me to come here, didn't really practice enough, and step up my game so well. With that, I really have to thank my physio, J.P., who did an incredible job for me to be able to play here.

Q. What's the key about your patience? Because in the past, you lose your head and you lose the match.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: You're absolutely right.

Q. What's the key?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: What's the key? I just don't care if I lose. I'm just there to do the best I can. I'm going to fight for every ball, and for me it's just to do the best job as possible. What outcome comes out, it's not up to me. I'm just there to do my best job.

Q. You talked a few times about being so happy and not caring about losing and stuff. You mentioned you had a bad period after Dubai. Talk a little bit more about how you arrived at this present mentality.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Well, it was kind of funny, you know. I went home and spent three days at home just by myself and just realized few things what I want to do with my life, how to really find that balance to raise my level. I guess it takes time and sometimes loneliness to realize what you have to do in your life. So I just came to practice before, and I just tried every day to be happy, to enjoy myself on the court, and do, as I said, the best job as I can.

Q. What was behind this gesture here after you won?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Spinning. I didn't realize, you know, I won the match because was so crazy. I was like fourth match point, or I don't know which one.

Q. You didn't realize it was match point?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: No. I mean, I realized it, but in my head it was just spinning a little.

Q. Maria's only two years older than you but has been around for a long time. When did you first see her? There are similarities in your games. Is there anything you took from her watching her coming up?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I wouldn't say that, but I know she's been around. She's really one of the youngest players to be on such a high level. That's really remarkable from her game and her personality. But, no, I don't think we have the similar game at all. The similarities are that we're both aggressive players. The way we hit our shots, the way we play the ball around, I think, is very different.

Q. I think most athletes would probably tell you if you don't care if you win you're probably not going to win. Seems contradictory.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, for sure. Well, you always care to win. What I meant by not caring about losing is not to create such a big drama out of it. If you lose the match, I mean, you just lose a tennis match. It's not the end of the world.
You can see so many things happening in the world, and I know it sounds a little bit out there, but look what happens in Japan, for example, and we're here playing tennis, being able to do something that we love. So, I mean, why make a big deal out of it?

Q. The last three players you played in the tournament, Clijsters, Zvonareva, and Sharapova, they made a lot of mistakes playing with you. Do you think it's just a coincidence, or it's your game that makes them play not too well?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I think it's the game that you make. Because for example, when I lose to somebody and I make mistakes, people don't say, Oh, she didn't play well. They say, for example, Clijsters or Zvonareva really beat her. So I think it's in the other way. Sometimes players make more mistakes, but also you can take it in the way your opponent makes you to miss. For example, you can see so much with Caroline's game. She makes players miss, and not because they're playing bad.

Q. Were you thinking of quitting when you came to that decision a few months back? If so, what would you have done?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't know. I would have fun.

Q. Were you thinking of quitting?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: For a second. For a second, really slight second, but then my mom just kicked my ass for that. (Laughter.)

Q. How does that trophy feel different from the one two years ago?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: It's more heavy. (Laughing.) And it's different. But it's very special. You know, it is very special.

Q. Is it any different winning it the second time?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: It's always different. Always. You know, it's different mentality right now.

Q. Now that it's all said and done, who has the better shriek?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't know. I think mine is quieter.

Q. Did you think she was louder today?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't know.

Q. What do you do with $700,000? When they hand you that check, does it boggle your mind?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Well, you know, you have to pay taxes from it, so it rips your heart out. (Smiling.)

Q. Is there something you want to buy?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: If I want to buy something? You know, I have absolutely everything that I want in my life. It's not money that's going to make me happy.
But it's nice. You know, it's good. You can't complain.

Q. Have you heard from Caroline yet?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I heard from her yesterday. She wished me good luck. I don't know if she's here. I would love to know if she's hear. We can go celebrate maybe.

Q. Do you think you're able to win a Grand Slam this year or to be No. 1 at the end of this year?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: You know, a lot of French people like to put pressure on somebody, right? You know, I'm really thinking about it. Definitely it's one of my goals to try to climb up highest ranking as possible. But I would like to take it step by step and really develop my game. It's really developing right now. I think you can see the difference. So I would really like to stick with that and move forward.

Q. You haven't won a lot matches last year on clay. What do you think you need to improve on clay this year to do better?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Well, last year I was injured throughout the whole clay court season. It started in Marbella and I couldn't recover. So the most important is to be healthy, and, as I said, try to develop my game. Because you have to adjust for the clay with the movement, with your shots. So just really have to be smart and work hard to get ready and change a little bit the way I'm going to be playing on clay.

Q. When were you first aware of Maria? Wimbledon final? Did you see her on TV?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Maria first time? Yeah. I saw her when she was 12 first time, and then when she was 14 she was like three times bigger. (Smiling.)

Q. Was that a junior tournament?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, at Eddie Herr.

Q. With Caroline Wozniacki, did you learn something from her?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I think you can learn a lot from her, how she is on the court. She is such a good fighter. She really plays every ball, no matter what. You can see how much -- if she's not feeling great she can turn the matches around. I think everybody, you know, can look up, especially kids, to really look up how well she does that.

Q. When you got the two let cord winners in a row to win that game, were you thinking, This is my day or what?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I have to be lucky sometimes. You know, you have to be sometimes lucky. But unfortunately she got a let at 30-All after, and I was like, well, you know, it's going to go back and forth. You got to take it what it is. Unfortunate, but sometimes it's luck also.

Q. Do you have a preference in terms which major you would like to win?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: No. It's the same points. Maybe a little bit different of prize money, but title is good.

Q. But your game seems perhaps better suited to hardcourt, you think?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Probably. But as I said, you have to adjust and be smart of how you prepare yourself to play on clay or grass. I had very good matches on grass. I played very well last year, so we'll see.

Q. Do you feel that by winning the tournament, like Maria, that you're going to be getting more endorsements? You have the perfect name to sell Victoria's Secret.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: It would be good. My agent has to work hard for it. But thanks for the tip.

Q. When you say home, is it Minsk?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: It's Belarus, yes, Minsk.

Q. When are you going to play doubles with Caroline?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Doubles? Well, she doesn't want to play doubles. She's all about singles.

Q. You won in Memphis.
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Yeah, we did. I don't know, but I would love to play with her one day. I'm playing with Maria Kirilenko right now. She's a fun girl. She's a great friend of mine. We have some great results. We'll see with Caroline. One day for sure.

Q. You had great results when you played with Shahar Peer, too. Any chance of that?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: I don't know. Right now I'm playing with Maria until the end of the year, but you never know.

Q. Are you going to drink champagne tonight?
VICTORIA AZARENKA: Red wine.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

Maria Sharapova's Interview after beating Andrea Petkovic in the Sony Ericsson Open 2011

The post-match choreography was all Maria Sharapova’s, with the Siberian blowing little kisses to all sides of the stadium after an astonishing turnaround in the heat and a gusting wind that was splaying the palm trees (31 March 2011).

Q. In light of the week you've had and with the weather conditions today and she's playing great, how satisfying is that win today?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I'm really happy that I'm back in the finals here. I missed this tournament so many years. So to be back in the final and -- I started off really well in this tournament. Almost lucky to be here. Had a tough one the other night and also a three-setter today. She's been playing the best tennis of her career and beat some good players here, so I was really happy I was able to change things around after losing the first set.

Q. She said that one of the things that makes you such a good champion is that you sense right away a weakness in the other player and basically you jump on that. She said that she felt that you sensed she was hesitating, whatever. Can you talk about that?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, to be honest, I felt like I was just making a lot errors in the first set and I wasn't moving my feet at all. And especially with the wind I wasn't moving towards the ball and letting the ball come to me and not really being aggressive. That's what's won me so many matches in my career is when I step in and I hit my strokes and they come deep. I just wasn't doing that. So first and foremost I felt like I had to start doing that and making little steps and adjusting my game a little bit. More than anything, I sensed that she was tired -- probably a lot of the dancing that she's been doing -- and I took advantage of it.

Q. She thought you would be tired in the third after the long match you had the previous night. Didn't seem to be that way.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Because I didn't do the dance after. I wasn't tired.

Q. It's the steps, is it?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't know what it is. I just know that I won my match and I won it today again.

Q. Clearly you feel physically good, strong. You say you were hitting your groundstrokes pretty powerfully in the second and third set.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I started to. Yeah, I think that's really important. I didn't feel like I had in the beginning. I don't think it was because of that. I think it was just because I was not moving that well. I knew that I had to make that adjustment, yeah.

Q. Is that the best you've served in a while? You really picked it up in the second and third set.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I did. But I felt like in the first set I wasn't returning or serving well, and that took the pressure away on her serve. And even when she had second serve opportunities, she just had a lot of confidence. I didn't take a lot of that out of the way.

Q. You were very dominate in the second set. Going into the third set, how did you feel? Did you feel there's no way you could lose or this match is still up for grabs?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I wish I could feel like that. I would be overconfident if I felt like that. But it's tricky, because you have to figure that it's one set all. And although you just won the set 6-0, I still felt like we had a lot of deuce games, as much as we did in the first set, I just didn't win them. It was a matter of making sure that I was doing the same things that I did in order to change the match, to keep doing them and being consistent about that.

Q. Seems like the Russian women were really dominating the game five years ago, and that's changed lately. You may meet Vera in the final. Will that be exciting?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, absolutely. Another girl is from Belarus as well. So all from the same region, I guess. But, yeah, we had a lot of great results from our country many years ago, like you said, so it obviously would be great to play Vera. We haven't faced each other for a while, so, yeah, it would be nice.

Q. What would it mean to win this tournament?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: It would mean a lot. It's the biggest tournament I think after the Grand Slams. Like I said, I'm pretty fortunate to be in the finals after having a few tough ones like I had the previous rounds. Yeah, I look forward to going out there and getting it done.

Q. Are you back? Do you feel like you're back to the top, you can get right to the top again?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I feel like I'm finding my form. Like I said, I was looking to play a lot of the matches before I came to Indian Wells. I really felt like with many matches and staying healthy that I would feel better and my form would start coming back to me, and my tennis as well. I feel that that's playing out really well.

Q. Talk about what happened with your shoulder and sort of the process of coming back from this and maybe why it took a little bit longer than you hoped and how you've had to adjust your form to help your shoulder more?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Um, I don't know how much you know about it, but I had a couple minor tears in it, tendon tears, that weren't initially seen in the first MRI I did, and I played with it for a little while. Got a little bit worse after that. We caught it a little late, and that's why I think it took a little longer than it should have. I tried to rehab I believe the first two months. When that didn't help I had surgery on it. Probably took me six, seven months after the surgery to come back to the tour.

Q. Have you had to change your serve?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I did in the beginning, yeah.

Q. How about now?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Um, well, in the beginning I had a much shorter motion. Just kind of took it straight up. My joints are pretty loose in my shoulders and kind of throughout my whole body. That's one of the reasons why I think I got the injury in the first place. So in order to start earlier I had to change it. Now it's not as long as it used to be, but it's pretty much there.

Q. Do you and Sasha ever exchange competitive strategies about each other's sports?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Give me an example.

Q. He's had his ups and downs over the years. Every athlete does.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah.

Q. Talk about certain situations...
MARIA SHARAPOVA: It obviously helps that he's an athlete and understands the perspective and the mindset going into matches and being an athlete. It's quite different to many other things in life and careers. We have that between each other. We're obviously in different sports, but we -- although we're all in sports and we understand each other, it's not something that we constantly talk about.

Q. Is there any one piece of advice you gave him or he gave you that stayed with the other person?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think that stays between us.

Q. I didn't mean to say what it was...
MARIA SHARAPOVA: You just asked the question. (Laughter.)

Q. Have you exchanged things?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, of course. Obviously he's my fiancee. We talk. We talk about many things. He understands what I go through obviously, like you said, from an athlete's perspective. It's very different. You have ups and downs and wins and then the losses, and he's always there for me and understands what I go through. So it's very nice to have that.

Q. Your return of serve today again was very phenomenal, and you also mentioned it earlier. Has that always been such a strong part of your game?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I didn't think so in the first, but I think that was one of the adjustments that I had to make for the second and third set, was to really -- you know, by me saying being aggressive, it starts from the first ball you hit. That starts with the return, because it puts something in their mind when they go up to the line. They have to go for a little bit more maybe. So I've been returning quite well throughout this tournament, and it's something that's going to be quite important in the final.

Q. Talk about your match maybe against Azarenka.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Um, she plays really aggressive and swings really hard from both sides. You know, a great returner. It'll be tough. I lost to her the last time we played - in Stanford that was, I believe - so, yeah, I'll look to change a few things around if I play her.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

Floyd Mayweather's ESPN Chicago interview with the Afternoon Saloon

They don’t call him “Money” for nothing. Now that Floyd Mayweather doesn’t have very much going on in terms of boxing, he’s found another way to spend his time and make money at the same time. Mayweather has turned to gambling on sporting events. Mayweather recently bet on the Chicago Bulls and posted on his Twitter account a picture of his betting slip that showed he won over $37,000.

Nice chunk of change just based on one night of betting. However nothing close to what he could make if he finally steps inside the ring with Manny Pacquiao in a fight that every boxing fan wants to see. Since that is clearly not happening any time soon, Mayweather will just have to settle on betting on sporting events. It’s working pretty well right now.

Floyd Mayweather joined ESPN Chicago with the Afternoon Saloon to talk about his bet that he made on the Bulls, what is the most he has won on a bet, how often he bets on sporting events, whether or not he is going to fight Manny Pacquiao, and answers his critics that believe he is “ducking” Manny Pacquiao.

How much money is the most he has won in a bet:

“In a week? Or in one bet? Probably $560,000 to $700,000. (Host: Do you remember what it was or remember the game?) I know the last big, big bet that I made, one of the largest bet was the New England Patriots. I think it was against the San Diego Chargers. I bet them for the money line of $500,000 and it brought back $560,000.”

On why he bet so much on the Bulls:

“At first I was going to bet $100,000 on the first half, but I happened to be asleep because the Atlanta Hawks happened to be on a slump. At this particular time, what’s going on in the NBA right now, Derrick Rose is the leading MVP candidate in the NBA right now I truly believe. I believe in his skills. He’s an amazing player and that’s one of the players you can bet on. If the team can stay 100 percent, they have a good chance to get to the Finals facing probably the Heat in the East. Then in the West this year I think it’s either going to be the Spurs or the Lakers.”

How often he bets on sporting events:

“Every day. You have to find one that you truly believe in and truly feel you’ve got the ups and that’s the one that you load up on.”

On a potential Manny Pacquiao fight:

“The thing is this I’m an American citizen and I represent this country with the red, white, and blue. The only thing I want is the people in my country to stand behind me. I’m in my own country and I have a lot of people against me. Our country is a great country, it’s a clean country, and all I ask him to do is take the test, that’s it. He takes the test and we got a fight.”

What he would say to the people that believe he is “ducking” Manny Pacquiao:

“Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Floyd Mayweather goes out and makes money for Floyd Mayweather. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. When it’s all said and done and my career is over, the fans don’t come pay my bills, the fans don’t put my kids through college, and the fans don’t put my kids through private school, I do. Through my hard work.”

If he realizes a fight against Pacquiao could potentially save boxing:

“My job is to keep my family close and take care of my family. That’s my job. My job is not to fight for everybody else, my job is to fight for Floyd Mayweather. You don’t go to work for the radio station for everybody else, you go to work to do what you do because that’s what you like to do. When it’s time to hang it up or give it up that’s what you do.”

More on Pacquiao:

“You guys must realize this about Pacquiao, that’s just a media creation. That’s somebody who just came around. For someone to beat me would be abnormal, for someone to be him is normal because he has already been beaten three times and knocked out twice. It’s nothing new.”

Listen to Floyd Mayweather on ESPN Chicago here

Landon Donovan and the L.A. Galaxy Are Poised to Win the MLS Cup This Year

The 2011 version of the Los Angeles Galaxy has been designed for one purpose and one purpose only, win the MLS Cup. This is Landon Donovan’s last year and the final year of David Beckham’s multi-million dollar contract, so the sense of urgency is there. L.A.’s coach, Bruce Arena, has assembled a balanced team of veterans, young role players and several superstars, the most recent being Juan Pablo Angel, who captained the New York Red Bulls last year and had been its leading scorer and did the same for Aston Villa in the English Premier League. The Galaxy bring about a swagger and attitude that is rare for MLS clubs, and that comes with winning games, lots of them. The last two seasons have ended with L.A. losing in the MLS Cup Finals. Not every team has the talent and ability to win a championship every year, but that may not last past this season with Donovan and Beckham potentially headed back overseas to play. So it is now or never for the Galaxy.

Landon Donovan joined ESPN Radio LA to talk about whether the hatred for their rivals in the MLS has caught on with the fans compared to that overseas, whether David Beckham is going to be done with the Galaxy after this year, and if he is going to come back after next season.

Whether the hatred for their rivals in the MLS has caught on with the fans compared to that overseas:

“Yeah not quite to that level, but certainly when we get to the stadium. It used to be where anytime a ‘star player’ came into the stadium all the fans would kind of cheer when their name got announced, they were happy to see, but at some point, it was probably three or four years ago, when I would go to stadiums, our other guys would go to stadiums, actually some pretty nasty chants and some pretty nasty comments, which is not great for the individual hearing it but overall for the league it is good because it means the fans are starting to get it and they care about their home teams.”

If he can have his anonymity in his hometown and whether the World Cup helped gain him notoriety:

“That is kind of how I realized how big that was last summer and you can’t really get a good feel for it when you are in it, when you are in South Africa and you are there every day, but now if I go out without any sort of disguise, any hat or glasses or anything like that, yeah there is people are going to recognize me and that is good for our sport and we need that. It is not like when you see an NBA guy, you know an NBA guy even if you don’t really know their face. They are so tall and so big and imposing, that you are going to know him. I think it says a lot about where we are getting, that people are starting to recognize us.”

Whether David Beckham is going to be done with the Galaxy after this year:

“I don’t think he is done playing. His future with L.A. remains to be seen. I think a lot is predicated how this year goes for him personally and for the team but he is still fit, he still moves around like he is in his early 30’s so it will be interesting to see.”

If he is going to come back after next season:

“I am not done. Oh yeah, you never know what can happen but I am imagining I will be here and I certainly don’t plan on retiring anytime soon.”

Landon Donovan on ESPN Radio LA with Mason and Ireland (the interview starts at the 22:45 mark)

Tyson joined 1100 ESPN in Las Vegas to talk about his remarkable life story

Check out mike's Mike Tyson’s nearly hour long spot in-studio on 1100 ESPN Las Vegas. Tyson joined the studio hosts as well as welterweight champ Zab Judah to field questions and have a long conversation all about his life. Tyson talks in depth about his past, his present and his future, with some commentary on politics and society sprinkled in. He’s candid and he keeps the hosts nodding their head and cracking up with laughter throughout.

Tyson joined 1100 ESPN in Las Vegas to talk about his remarkable life story in and out of the ring — from the darkest moments doing drugs, lying to himself, wasting his career and alienating everybody around him, to his recent journey back to respectability and inner peace. The range of topics discussed is so dizzingly diverse I wouldn’t even dare try to summarize. Just take a listen for yourself.

Editor’s Note: Segments of the interview are NSFW, but because they weren’t edited by the radio station, I’ve transcribed them as they came across over the air:

On the under discussed fact that Holyfield was head-butting him when he bit his ear off:

“Yeah but I don’t cry over spilled milk. I just wish Holyfield the best. I have great deal of respect and admiration for him. He came up the same way I came up. We didn’t have nothing. We want to win. We didn’t have nothing at that time. We want to win. Our destiny, our life — like other guys, they box just for sports or to stay out of trouble, and then they have education. But this is my life; this is Holyfield’s life. I want to be champ of the world and then everyone will know my name because I never was anyone. “

After a discussion about Holyfield still boxing Tyson was asked if he was keeping off the pounds so he wouldn’t be fat and unable to wipe his ____ after using the bathroom:

“No, I had to have people do it for me. I was like a sumo wrestler. I had stool girls to do it for me. You know, sumo wrestlers got stool girls. They put them over each cheek and got them to scrape all the stuff off, just scraping around.”

On all the projects he’s staying busy with, most notably his Animal Planet series:

“What I’m really trying to convey here is gratitude. HBO and Doug Ellln the producer of Entourage, and Spike Lee and John Ridley, theyre going to do the first pilot of the stuff we’re doing with the particular character from Newark, Jersey — a troubled kid who becomes a sensational fighter. It deals with the zenith and the of success. There’s going to be my stories, there’s going to be a whole bunch of fighters’ stories in there.”

If he can share more about this potential upcoming show, a project that’s not been discussed to the best of the host’s knowledge:

“This is very interesting. We’re discussing it with a television magnate right now. It’s going to happen. We’re looking forward to it.”

On the premise of his Animal Planet show about racing pigeons:

“Well my show is basically discussing the history of the racing pigeon, and I’m just a neophyte, I’m just a novice in this particular genre of pigeons. I’m more of a fancy bird type. But this is something different. We take them something like 300 miles and we race them with like ten other groups of birds, and we race them and see who comes back first. If you come back first, you win.”

On the recent HBO special on him where it was disclosed that he’d been bullied by some of his peers in the pigeon racing world:

“Yeah that’s pretty interesting when people say I’ve been bullied. You know, bullying is a big thing now. But if you’ve never experienced bullying in the inner city…even in I don’t care, the suburbs, even in Jackson Hole, Wyoming by some billionaire cowboy — you’re going to experience bullying. I don’t care who you are because it’s the nature of human beings for the big to pick on the small. Even for tigers and lions — they don’t pick on other tigers and lions, they pick on something small that’s less threatening. That’s smart. In America we say why don’t you pick on someone your own size? Why, so he can hurt more when he hits me? No. So it’s a part of human nature, who we are. So we’ve got to prevent bullying.”

On the time he recently took out of his schedule to speak to a group of young college students at Mississippi Valley State:

“Hey, it’s my pleasure. Listen, I may know a few things about boxing and animals and pigeons, I just…my mother went to an all-black college in Winston-Salem North Carolina, so I don’t know, there’s just people that love the idea of all black colleges. And I love it too, because I’m a descendant from black college graduates. I’m a descendant. But I don’t know. Help me, maybe I don’t undertsand. Maybe I need to speak to people who know about this — if we’re to move on, why is there a purpose for black colleges if we’re going to ever get together and kill racism. We’re living in a democracy aren’t we? How it can it ever be a democracy if we have black colleges. It really can’t be. If this is America where we’re all one people, that can never be true. That’s just my views, some people think differently. But we can never have true integration if we have the Chinese American front, the Iranian-Jewish church. No, we all have to be one. If we’re religious people then we’re all that religion. We don’t have to say I’m a Russian Jew and you’re an Iranian Jew where I let you know where I’m from. No, we’re all Jewish, we’re all Muslim, we’re all Catholic — it shouldn’t have to be so separated like that. It always causes dissension. I don’t care what it’s called. If it was called the white brotherhood school, it would be an outrage. The White College of America! Are you sick man?!? Everybody would want to kill…the white people would want to blow the school up! Man, please. All the liberals here? Get out of here man.”

If he’s surprised that he decided to get re-married:

“No, check this out man. When my wife married me, I was OD’ing every day. I was a mess. I didn’t deserve a prostitute with full-blown AIDS. I could have gotten one, but I didn’t deserve her. She was slummin’ if she was with me at that stage. We’re putting it together We’re putting our foundation together one brick at a time, and it seems to be going well. We had to get reacquainted. We’re started to get reacquainted now that we’re married.”

On how rough the neighborhood was that he and Zeb Judah grew up in:

“Well it was like any inner-city neighborhood that society don’t care about. Now it’s a beautiful neighborhood. They’ve got security cameras everywhere watching everybody. They’ve got white women with sassy mouths that now live in our neighborhood. It’s an invasion of something! Because white did a u-turn and black, I don’t know what black did, but white did a u-turn and black evacuated somewhere. I feel like when I go back to Brownsville, my whole life is a lie because it’s not what I said it was to reporters in the ’80s . It’s not the same place. What happened to the tough guys? What happened to you look out the window and you don’t go outside because the guys hanging out on the corner? Those guys don’t exist anymore.”

If he has any sort of relationship with Don King:

“No, no. I don’t have hard feelings towards Don, but he’s been real cheap with tickets to the fight lately, he’s been a real cheap fuck. The last fight I was at, I think he did it on purpose but he put me and my friends in the back. I didn’t do nothing to him; I don’t know why he did that to me.”

If there was ever a reporter from back in the day that he wanted to whack:

“Well back in the day I wanted to whack everybody. I’m not going to do that now. Shit, you can’t get me into an argument now.”

If he’ll promise to not go on T.V. for a dancing competition wearing tight clothes again in the future:

“No, I can’t dance, I agree. But I am taking dancing lessons now and I’m going to Argentina and I’m going to learn how to do the greatest dances of all time and it’s called the tango.”

If he goes to strip clubs anymore:

“No way, Jose. My wife, before we got married, we used to hang out in strip clubs together. Now she became this married woman with kids, ‘oh my Mike, no, we can’ do that! Oh my, you’re hanging around those people again.’ I don’t know what happened to her.”

His take on what’s going on with Charlie Sheen:

“I don’t know what’s happening to Charlie. If he’s passing the tests everyone’s giving him. He is acting a little bit strange, I like to be on the show too, but I believe that’s my dark side thing. We’re going to get it together Charlie. I don’t know where he’s at. But this is where I’ve been, I don’t know if he’s there — I’ve been a damn fool, I’ve been on drugs and embarrassed myself and other people too of course, and I thought I was awesome. That’s where I’ve been, so I don’t know. I’ve been in places where I wish I could move under a rock and not look at myself no more. So I don’t know, but Charlie doesn’t seem to feel that way yet. Again, I don’t know what Charlie’s going to do. If he says he passed the tests, I’m great at tricking those tests when I was on drugs. I don’t know if Charlie’s doing that, but this is something I’m great at — lying to myself. But if he says he’s passed the tests then I believe him 100 percent. But then we’re dealing with a personality problem. I don’t know. I just wish him the best of luck with everything.”

On his early-career fight against Trevor Berbick and how he went into it with an STD that wasn’t disclosed to anybody:

Of course I had VD. Of course I was embarrassed to tell anybody you know? Well I told my trainer Kevin Rooney, but I didn’t understand, I’m just a 20 year old sap. I’m thinking this is postponement because I’m sleeping with some tramp. I’ve got to tell you a story about that stuff, this is so crazy. So we went to the fight, I won and I was so excited to get out of there because I’m dripping with sweat like a [incomprehensible word due to laughter] in July. So I can’t wait to get out of the ring. So that was over. But I had to persevere because this was my life, this championship was what I dreamed of all my life and I wasn’t going to be denied.”

On if he was scared when he was sent away to prison in Indianapolis:

“To tell you the truth, I was never scared about prison. I was basically born in prison my adolescent and young adult life. I’ve been in and out of reform schools, so I wasn’t worried about getting along with me because the worst thing you’ve got to do is stab somebody, throw some gasoline on somebody and light ‘em — the scum bag stuff, I was born to do that stuff. I just wanted to get out of there safe so I could go back to the cushy life that I had because I had vengeance on my mind. I’ve got the Count of Monte Cristo on my mind because while I’m in prison I’m reading the Count of Monte Cristo. So I’m strategizing my revenge, my comeback to the world basically which has really meant nothing really, but in that little controlled environment I thought I was Dante from the Count of Monte Cristo and I was going to accelerate my skills and become better than I was when I came out. And I still was a dope.”

On his recent foray into acting:

“What I can tell you about my acting career is I have one. I’m just so happy that somebody gave me a job.”

Listen here to Tyson with Seat Williams & Paul Howard on 1100 ESPN in Las Vegas

Meet Anthony Robles, the Inspirational One-Legged 2011 NCAA Wrestling Champion You Won’t Ever Hear Complaining

What was the greatest sports story of the past weekend? Some may argue it was Virginia Commonwealth rolling into the Sweet 16 after no one believed they deserved to be in the tournament. Some may even say it’s the Butler Bulldogs, who find new ways to win nail biting college basketball games in the closing seconds. What most people won’t realize is that the best sports story of the past weekend or even the past month, had nothing do with with college basketball or even billionaire owners locking out million dollar football players in the courtroom. It had to do with overcoming adversity and making the most with what you’re given, not complaining, and fighting with all the heart you have.

Ladies and gentlemen meet Anthony Robles. The 22-year old, one-legged wrestler, took home the 125-pound NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship in Philadelphia on Saturday. Robles defeated defending champion Matt McDonough of Iowa 7-1. The NCAA Division I Championship crown for Robles capped off a perfect season at 36-0 for the senior out of Arizona State. Robles plans to move onto motivational speaking now that his wrestling career is over. He would like to return the favor and help those in need of a pick me up.

You would never even know Robles had a disadvantage because he dominated his competition. It was an emotional weekend for Anthony Robles. We could all learn something after seeing this story unfold. It proves with heart and desire anything can be achieved.

Anthony Robles joined The Dan Patrick Show to discuss when he started to participate in organized wrestling, whether he was naturally gifted at the sport when he first started competing, if he he ever get treated differently by his coaches and teammates because of his physical ‘handicap’, if he ever feels sorry for himself despite all the success he’s carved out for himself as a young man, what he was thinking in the moments prior to his championship match on Saturday, and how he’s looking forward to helping other young men in similar situations achieve their goals now that his own wrestling career is over and done with.

When did you start wrestling?

“I started wrestling when I was freshmen in high school. I really didn’t have an interest in it, but my older cousin was a wrestler and he was just kind of dragging me to the practices. One day he just asked me if I wanted to jump in and as far as one of his guys and I just kind of ran with it from there and fell in love with the sport.”

Where you good at wrestling right away?

“Oh no, I was terrible actually. That first year I finished with a 5-8 record and I was actually last in my city, so I wasn’t very good starting off.”

Do you get treated differently by your coaches and teammates?

“No I don’t and that was actually one of the things I really wanted to stress starting off wrestling and especially getting into Arizona State. I wanted to be treated like everybody else. My parents didn’t raise me with any special treatment and so I grew up thinking I was just a normal kid. I wanted to be treated as such. It was real important for me as a captain, as one of the captains at Arizona State, to show the guys I’m just like them and now I can be right alongside of them busting my butt and working as hard as they were.”

Do you ever feel sorry for yourself?

“Absolutely not. I believe god made me this way for a reason. I’m just going to do the best with what I have. I mean people ask me every once in a while ‘If I had the opportunity would I change having one leg?’ I say ‘No.’ This is how I am. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m proud of who I am and I’m just trying to make the best of it.”

You’re going out there for your final matchup for the title. Everything you’ve worked for is right in front of you. What are you thinking?

“I was terrified. I can remember I was waiting there ready to run out on the mat counting down from twenty seconds just knowing this was going to be on live television and as soon as the guy said twenty seconds my stomach just started to churn. I felt like I was about to throw up. I ran out there with the roar of the crowd and as soon as I stepped out on that stage it just felt like you know everything was just back to normal. Just like I trained for. Just like any other match. I was just pumped to go. It just seemed like everything happened so fast. When I got off the mat I couldn’t really remember what happened in the match, but it was a great night.”

What is next for you?

“Competition wise, wrestling, I’m done. People have asked me if I would like to try out for the Olympics: I don’t really see that as the next path in my life. I really want to focus on motivational speaking. I’ve been working with a professional coach on the side, who’s helping me develop my speech outlines to just help me in increasing my speaking skills. Now that wrestling is done that’s going to be my main focus. I just want to be able to turn around and kind of help people in the same way that…there’s some people in my life who have helped me to excel especially in wrestling, just in life to achieve things that people wouldn’t have thought possible or given me the chance to do. I feel like it’s my obligation to turn around and help people the same way.”

Listen to Anthony Robles on The Dan Patrick Show (Interview starts at 2:25 in the podcast)