Quotes from Stephen Rodrick

All backups take their cue from Elrod Hendricks, the patron saint of erstwhile catchers.

One of the hallmarks that a British actor brings to his public persona is an adept sense of self-deprecation - see Daniel Craig and Damian Lewis.

Some eco groups suggest that as many as 73 million sharks are killed globally every year. Hammerheads, blue sharks, mako sharks - they're disappearing, and they ain't coming back.

'TMZ' has the cash to buy off valets and info like flight lists or even the limo list of what celeb is being picked up where and when.

Matt Leinart's L.A. duplex looks more like a Chuck E. Cheese safe house than a millionaire jock's crash pad. There's the requisite leather couch and flat-screen television, but the rest of the ground floor is bare except for a pile of Nick Jr. DVDs, a high chair, and a SpongeBob SquarePants director's chair.

James Salter has been a fighter pilot, a rogue, and a climber. He counts Robert Redford as a friend.

Lance Armstrong has a 17th-century, 15-foot Spanish fresco of the crucifixion hanging on the wall of his Austin mansion. This doesn't mean - and some of you Armstrong acolytes might want to sit down for this - that Lance is Jesus.

In college football, fans wallow in a culture of failure. Unless you root for Miami, you sadly wait for disaster to strike your team in a manner not seen outside of Fenway Park.

Publicists cater to bloggers because they can play them; bloggers cater to publicists because they want their ads.

Rick Rubin eats no cheese.

Legends like Jim Murray at the 'Los Angeles Times' and Shirley Povich at the 'Washington Post' were the most beloved guys at their papers. They'd write a cherished column for 30 years, and that was it. There was nothing else to do, no higher job to attain.

The thing about living without a father if he's always gone is that it takes a long time to realize he isn't coming home.

When superstars go down, no matter how sympathetic the circumstances, fans know the franchise could be sunk.

NFL fans have less sympathy for fallen players than the Romans had for blind Christians.

I arrive a month premature, with my dad's brains but not much else.

I tested in the top percentile for IQ, but I couldn't tie my shoes or really ride a bike without training wheels until I was almost 7.

'TMZ' took the illusion of privacy away. Now the paranoid star just assumes someone is always there. Decoy cars and false itineraries are floated to throw 'TMZ' off the scent.

I was a classic attention deficit disorder kid, always bored and mouthing off at school.

I grew up in a town without fathers.

Ever since Mike Tyson was champ, twenty-something dudes have microwaved nachos, popped opened Natty Lights, watched sharks do unspeakable things on TV, and whispered a billion 'Whoa, dudes.'

From the outside, Rick Rubin's house above Zuma Beach is a generic millionaire beach home. There's a rarely used tennis court and a circular drive.

As a kid, Terry Bradshaw didn't amaze me. My hero was Steelers backup Terry Hanratty, who nabbed two Super Bowl rings while completing three passes.

There are times when a sports figure doesn't deserve sympathy.

Peter Rodrick was one of only around 4,000 men in the world qualified to land jets on a carrier after dark.