I worked half my life to be an overnight success and still it took me by surprise.

This is just what I have thought when I have seen slaves at work - they seem to go through the motions of labor without putting strength into them. They keep their powers in reserve for their own use at night perhaps.

Tonight I should like to thank all those who have shared my work and to acknowledge the debt that I owe to my wife whose encouragement to put research before all other things has been a great strength to me.

At Casablanca we did 'Midnight Express ' 'Flashdance ' and 'The Deep.' My willingness for risk has always been my strength.

The strength that I have comes from irrigating the citrus plantation ploughing in the vineyard guarding the melon fields at night. I believe that's what gave me the strength.

And I watch 'Saturday Night Live' religiously I have since I was a little boy. I watch it basically like one of my favorite sports teams.

I was a huge theater geek growing up and that was not the easiest thing in the world especially growing up in Chicago where sports are really the norm. I was always off to the theater at night from 7 years old on. Friends there in the Midwest who could talk to you about the idiosyncrasies of 'Pippin' were few and far between.

Monday Night Football started in 1970 and when it started it was something extremely special because sports had not been aired in prime time. So it was a novelty and a lot of people thought it wouldn't work and of course it worked spectacularly well.

But sports photography isn't something you just pick up overnight. You can't do it once a year for fun and expect to do a good job. And I take pride in what I do.

Bobby Knight told me this: 'There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.' In other words a good offense wins.