Nose Around And You Learn A Lot

Here's the World According to Cleveland's Bob Golic.

?On his transformation in 1982 from linebacker to nosetackle: "I pretty much describe it as Darwin's theory of de-evolution—going from a walking, thinking, upright human being on two legs to a crawling, groveling, sniveling, four-legged beast of burden. Darwin had half of it right. I'm proving the other half."

?On his rudest awakening as a pro: "I was [on a blitz]. I thought I was clear, but right at the last minute, Gene Upshaw moved over to pick me up. It's true what they say. With impending doom, your life does flash right before your eyes. I just put my head down and rammed into him. At that point, the brain cells started dying, and I started making the conversion to nosetackle."

?On playing Mike Webster, Pittsburgh's All-Pro center: "He beats me up, abuses me, throws me around, then comes up to me afterward and tells me I played a great game. He always says, 'Good job, good job' while he's peeling you off the turf."

?On being a seasoned player: "You can tell the veterans in this league—they have the bad bodies. When I was a rookie, I was 6'3", 230 pounds. Now, I'm 6'2", 270. Something's very wrong."