Quick Snap

NFL
Matt Birk
MINNESOTA VIKINGS CENTER

Having a quarterback stick his hands under your crotch takes a little getting used to. I don't want to experience that feeling anywhere but on the football field.

Football is the hardest thing I've ever attempted. You push yourself on the outside to see what you've got inside.

I went to high school at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, so technically I'm a Cretin. I've been called worse.

I didn't start playing football until I was a high school sophomore. I was going to play for one year; then I got talked into another and another. This is my 15th year of another.

As a kid I went through a pyromaniac stage and almost lit our neighbor's garage on fire. My parents were pretty upset, but we didn't get along with the neighbors, so they weren't that upset.

To help pay tuition at Harvard, I joined the dorm crew. When I'd show up at the room of a cute girl to scrub her toilet, I knew my chances of getting a date were pretty much shot.

Every Sunday, I try to overcome my fear of failure. I'm pretty good at failing now.

I first saw my wife at a greasy spoon, where she was a waitress. I'd go there four times a week and suck down a dozen ice teas so she'd have to keep refilling my glass.

My parents once busted me and my two brothers for stealing a pack of Starbursts. The moral was: Don't steal candy, and if you do, don't leave the wrappers around.