A lot of these angles are really about trying to mimic broadcast sports angles in order to anchor the scene to sort of normalize it before it becomes abstracted.

I sort of try to write everything for me. I'm a huge sports fan but have no interest in minutiae. I don't remember who won Super Bowls five years ago or listen to sports talk radio. I'm trying to make sure the jokes are self-contained so they're accessible to everyone.

There's nothing masculine about being competitive. There's nothing masculine about trying to be the best at everything you do nor is there anything wrong with it. I don't know why a female athlete has to defend her femininity just because she chooses to play sports.

Part of my growing up was always trying to make my parents proud and always trying to keep them happy. I think part of what held them together was my involvement in sports.

Can they do both? That's a huge balance I think with kids- trying to find the right- it's everything you know it's social life it's academics it's sports.

One of the reasons I'm an actor is because I was no physical specimen as a child. I wasn't athletic and didn't have any prowess in that regard. Growing up in Kentucky most little boys were trying to get into sports and it was very competitive so that was not to be. But I did want to do something.

Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster.

And the truth is those who are terrorists only have to succeed once and those of us who are trying to build an inclusive society have to succeed every time.

Drama lives on conflict. If you're trying to deal with social issues seriously there's no way of avoiding violence which is so present in society.

I think we need to just be very clear about what we're trying to do in Afghanistan. Frankly we're not trying to create the perfect democracy. We're never going to create some ideal society. We are simply there for our own national security.

Since my retirement I've spent a lot of time trying to help the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina. A society like this just can't afford an uneducated underclass of citizens.

The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails they try to poison you. If this fails too the finish by loading honors on your head.

Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma.

We are trying to construct a more inclusive society. We are going to make a country in which no one is left out.

When trying to remember my share in the glow of the eternal present in the smile of God I return to my childhood too for that is where the most significant discoveries turn up.

I love having my hands in the dirt. It is never a science and always an art. There are no rules. And if it comes down to me versus that weed I'm trying to pull out of the ground that doesn't want to come out? I know I'll win.

Science fiction is trying to find alternative ways of looking at realities.