When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.
You gotta know that you're better than anybody, 'cause to me, if you don't go in like that, you're gonna lose! They're gonna punk you out! On any stage, court, business venture, on the anchor desk - whatever. You've got to go in believing, 'I can do this better than anybody.'
I grew up on hip-hop. I grew up on Run-D.M.C., Whodini, LL when I was in college, so I'm more of a music fan. I probably have the most eclectic collection of music in my Grand Cherokee. Literally, in a span of a week, I'll go from 2Pac to Boyz II Men to Sister Hazel, right down to West Side Story or the Wiz. I love show tunes.
Working out is my way of saying to cancer, 'You're trying to invade my body; you're trying to take me away from my daughters, but I'm stronger than you. And I'm going to hit harder than you.'
When I'm sitting around watching a game with some friends, and we're all excited, and Jordan is driving in, we might say, 'Come on Mike, break me off a little somethin'-somethin'.' I decided to take that and translate it into what I do on 'SportsCenter.' Just add statistics.
I make myself have energy. It's stubbornness in the face of cancer.
I'm blind in my left eye. Contrary to what people say, it is not a glass eye, so I have to protect my eyes at all cost.
I'm probably not as big of a hip-hop fan as people may think. I'm not up on all the artists and know all their stuff.
For almost 20 years, I've reported on some amazing feats of athleticism for ESPN. But the one thing that stood out, game after game, is that it takes a team to win. When I got cancer, that lesson got personal. And Team Livestrong became my team.
Writing is better if it's kept simple. Every sentence doesn't need to have perfect noun/verb agreement. I've said 'ain't' on the air. Because I sometimes use 'ain't' when I'm talking.
You've got to be true to who you are and what you do. I'm more of a hip-hop feel person. Music is how you feel. The younger the mind, that's how I wanna be.
I've got corporate executives, my bosses... this is true... who will text message me... and say, 'Hey a, heard you had chemotherapy today, want me to stop by and pick you up something to eat and bring it to you?' Whose boss does that? My bosses do that.
In the South we experienced, you know, some black kids who gave us a hard time because - cause 'you talk white.' We didn't talk white. We talked fairly proper. Plus, we had a Midwestern accent, so we didn't have a Southern accent, either. So it wasn't really talking white; it was talking different.
People always talk about the nausea that comes with chemotherapy. For me, it's more like a queasiness. And it can be intense. It's an uncomfortable, gross kind of 'blech' feeling.
When they told me I had cancer - a very rare form called appendiceal cancer - I was shocked. But I went straight into battle mode. Every morning, I'd wake up and have an internal conversation with cancer. 'All right, dude,' I'd tell it, 'go ahead and hit me. But I'm going to hit you back even harder.'
Diversity means understanding.
A lot of rappers say 'I'm talking about stuff that goes on, what I grew up in, that I know about.' And these journalists say, 'Yeah, but you're making 80 million dollars, that stuff's not about you.' Look how long he's been making 80 million. He grew up poor in an urban city and the things he's experienced and knows.
The most important thing I do is I'm a dad.
I keep working out for me, but I also keep working out for my daughters. I want Taelor and Sydni to know that I'm still strong. I want to walk them both down the aisle. And I still plan to. I hope to. I don't know. That's what cancer robs you of. Cancer robs you of the ability to look past today.
My style is black. It's hip-hop. It's who I am.
