I can't understand why the front pages of newspapers can cover bird flu and swine flu and everybody is up in arms about that and we still haven't really woken up to the fact that so many women in sub-Saharan Africa - 60 percent of people in - infected with HIV are women.

People often ask why aren't you reading about what it is you're working on right now? And the truth is you only get three pages a night before your eyelids close.

I can't just react on the strength of an email and three pages of synopsis and say I'm going to take off for three months of my life.

They read their sports pages know their statistics and either root like hell or boo our butts off. I love it. Give me vocal fans pro or con over the tourist types who show up in Houston or Montreal and just sit there.

I don't have the insight with the Longhorns that I do with the two teams that I own but as a fan and reading the sports pages I'm bullish about the Longhorns.

I never thought I'd make the pages of 'Sports Illustrated ' because I've always been skinny.

The newspapers loved pinup pictures of pretty young swimmers and as a national champion I got more than my share of space in the sports pages.

Louie and Seabiscuit were both Californians and both on the sports pages in the 1930s. I was fascinated. When I learned about his World War II experiences I thought 'If this guy is still alive I want to meet him.'

I find interesting characters or lessons that resonate with people and sometimes I write about them in the sports pages sometimes I write them in a column sometimes in a novel sometimes a play or sometimes in nonfiction. But at the core I always say to myself 'Is there a story here? Is this something people want to read?'

I always turn to the sports pages first which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures.