Lying out there like a killer in the sun

I remember parking the car under this bridge in Pasadena and walking with my uncle to the Rose Bowl from there. We were sharing a salami and pepperoni sandwich with lettuce and peppers, and when we stopped on a stone wall to eat it a black Rolls Royce drove by with its windows down. There was a breeze, and when I looked down to wipe the crumbs off my chest I could feel the sun on the back of my neck. It was one of the rare moments when my life was better than the guy’s who was driving the car.

There was this time during my senior year of high school when I left the house and didn’t stop riding my bike until I got to a gas station on the other side of town. It was hot, I still didn’t know where I was going to college, and I was pretty sure I was in love with a girl who was taking too long to realize she loved me too. I went inside and bought two cans of orange soda. I remember drinking them like they were going to evaporate in 9 seconds, like you do when you drink from the garden hose and don’t stop until you run out of breath and the water spills out and gets the collar of your shirt wet. But sitting down with my uncle, Michigan hadn’t lost yet. The sandwich tasted significantly better than the orange soda.

I remember when they showed this video montage of Bo Schembechler before the game. And how the guy standing in front of me didn't bother wiping the tears off his cheeks because he knew there would be more of them. I remember I was relieved because my uncle went to get a beer and didn't see me cry when Steve Breaston walked to midfield.

I wish the endings were ever as good as the beginnings...

Lloyd: "It all starts with a guy that is going to make good decisions on whether to field the ball or not, where to fair catch it. Experience is something we don't have. When you lose a guy like Steve Breaston, it's like losing a great kicker like Garrett Rivas. You take all those kicks for granted. You take all those plays Breaston made for granted."

Marques Slocum: "I like to hit people. I think I'm very physical"

Johnny Thompson: "Playing the run, that's just all instinct. I'm good at that."

Lloyd: "He's part of who I am, so I don't sit around and think about him being gone every day."

Lloyd: "I don't believe in shootouts, unless we're doing the shooting."

Lloyd: "I know this: I think most people, the older you get, the more you realize the people in your life are important. All the other stuff, it really comes down to relationships you have. I think you have a greater sense of what's important."

Mike: "(4 years ago) I was a little pup and no one wanted to talk to me cause I was this little guy from New york."

Mike: "I dont know, probably, I probably would (take Harbaugh's phone call). Yeah, of course I would take his call. If a man calls me I'm gonna answer the phone."

Mike: "I love Jake, you know, Jake's one of my favorite people on this team. Even off the field he's one of my favorite players on this team. On the field, obviously I'm his number one fan."

Chad: "I know what coverage every team can give you."

Chad: "We're not going to be sitting back relaxing eating a bag of chips, but we're going to be confident and comfortable with what we're doing because we've been here and we've experienced it."

Rio:“I love playing with Chad, Mike and Jake. They're probably my favorite people in the world because being in the huddle with them you know you have their back and they have yours, especially with Mike. Everybody knows how Mike is -- he doesn't take any crap because he wants to win harder than we all do.”

Rio: "I don't rah, rah, rah and all that, but when we get out here everybody knows I'm going to get my yards"

Crable: "They want us to get to know each other, hang out with each other, become brothers and really understand each other."

Terrance: “It makes you feel good that your coach is excited -- truly excited. Sometimes you get that fake hype, but Coach E is always excited in whatever he does.”

Adrian: "I feel like my head is in a different place right now. I've had talks with a lot of people, a lot of time to think … a lot of 6:00 A.M.s sitting in an empty stadium thinking about how I could have done things differently. I'm at another level."