The zone is a place that you rarely visit. It's not some place you go every week. The zone is sacred ground.

As I and the rest of my Pittsburgh Steelers teammates prepared that week in late December 1974, we knew one thing: The road to the Super Bowl in the AFC went through Oakland. To achieve your dreams as a team, you had to slay the Oakland Raiders. They were the barometer of what it took to be a championship team.

Donald Evans is a favorite person of mine. His worth ethic, his attitude and his dedication really set him apart.

Everyone knows the presidential candidates and has an opinion about them. But as you get to smaller races, that evaporates and you can win through sheer elbow grease.

Over a 10-season stretch from 1967 to 1976, eight Super Bowl champions either were the Raiders or had to beat the Raiders in the playoffs. The Jets, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Baltimore Colts, Miami, the Steelers each of the first two times... we all had to deal with the Raiders.

I was quitting…As I was taking those steps I was saying, ‘Somebody please stop me.’ Lionel Taylor, our receivers coach, said, ‘Hold up a minute,’ and he sat down in the car and we talked. I don’t know what we talked about but I was glad we talked because I went back. And that’s when it started.

When you think of me as a football player, I would like for people to think that I put it on the line every time. Good or bad, win or lose, I put it on the line.