By the time I was 8 years old, sports had pretty much taken over my life.

I too have my own demons, and I have struggled. I've made my own mistakes, and I'm not proud of them.

My father was a sergeant with the Connecticut state police. My mother was a hairstylist.

I guess that's what I was: a set of abs. And they lit the abs and shot the abs and sent the abs on their way. The photographer didn't look at my face once. I was humiliated.

I wanted to grow up to be just like my father.

A father's disappointment can be a very powerful tool.

I wasn't even 20 at the time, but it taught me something about drugs. They can take a good man, a warm, funny, loving family man, and turn him into a loser and worse.