I read The Civil War Infantryman , which talked about making 20-mile marches in the dead heat of summer in wool uniforms, then sitting down to eat salt pork. I'm sleeping in air-conditioned hotels, with good food every day and, like, a made-to-order omelet station. Who am I kidding about how difficult this is?

But I do know that just physiologically, when a team comes to Florida, you're hotter than you've been all training camp because you haven't been practicing in that type of weather consistently.

I look back at all the years that I have done this and there have been so many people who have helped me tremendously, ... I know that if it wouldn't have been for them, I wouldn't have made it. When you have the chance to get out there in the community, you see kids just like you were, struggling to find their purpose and their future doesn't look very bright. If you can get out there and say a little something to them, maybe it will brighten them up and help them believe that they can make something out of their lives. It is pretty satisfying.

As a professional football player, I have quite a bit of time in the off-season to pursue other goals, ... I would drive by this little airport every day on the way to work and see these planes coming in and landing. I looked at it and said to myself, 'Hey, I think I can do that.'

Things change from one coach to another and from one system to another and we had a lot of success (14-2) on the field, ... Sometimes when you have the whole team succeeding, everything clicks and things go well. In 2000, Mark Brunell had a lot of confidence in me as a receiver and he just started looking my way. Jimmy Smith went down in a couple of games and he (Brunell) just started spraying it to me. I think those couple of games kind of changed the perception that I could do a little more to help the team than just being a blocking tight end. It was very satisfying to me and nice to have that type of opportunity because my goal at all levels was to be a good all-around player.

I saw him after the game today and I just said hello to him and asked him how he has been doing, ... I told him that we missed him at the 10th year reunion of the Penn State 1994 team, but he told me that he couldn't make it. With five kids, I guess that keeps him pretty busy. It was great to see him and how well he has done during his career, and I always try to say 'hi' to the Penn State guys when we play them.