I was just sort of oblivious to what was going on. When Thome had surgery, I knew I'm the guy for the long haul and am trying to step it up. Knowing you're going to be in there every day is a big thing.

He was sort of an inventor of a tough-guy look, whether he knew it or not.

It's about surgery. It's our show sort of on speed.

He does a great job. He's still the same guy I knew when he was 18 years old at Southern Illinois. He's a hard-working guy. Very thorough, very sincere. He's a small-town guy who has a passion for coaching basketball.

I think we just knew that we had a movie when Rachel walked in the room.

I flew out to D.C. to see the guy who did my other surgery (on his thumb last year). It was in my best interest to have it done now. They said if there was a month or maybe two months left in the season, I'd be fine.