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JUST MY TYPE
COLTS HERO
ANDREW LUCK
Indianapolis fans are excited about their rookie QB, who has completed 62.5% of his passes in preseason play. Just don't ask him to sing.
DAN PATRICK:How does it feel when a coach plays your mistakes over and over again on video?
ANDREW LUCK:[Laughs.] You get used to it.
DP:What play have the coaches spent the most time on?
AL: It might have been the pick-six [against the Steelers in Week 2 of the preseason].
DP:Seeing you on the sideline after that play, you didn't seem too upset.
AL: I definitely wasn't happy. I tried to own up to my mistake, tried to show it was my fault and no one else's. Then you have to realize [another] series is coming up pretty quick after the extra point and kickoff. I have to make sure my mind is right to go out there and redeem myself.
DP:Have you been hazed?
AL: Besides having to sing Country Roads by John Denver, not too much.
DP:How did that go?
AL: It went awful.
DP:Why that song? Was it because your father, Oliver, played at West Virginia?
AL: I chose to sing Country Roads. I figured I'd sing a song I knew some words to.
DP:I thought players sang their school fight songs.
AL: Yeah, but Stanford's fight song is the rock song All Right Now. They gave me a free pass.
DP:When you do karaoke, is that your go-to?
AL: To be honest, I've never done karaoke in my life.
DP:You have to experience that.
AL: Obviously I'm not living.
DP:What advice would you have for USC quarterback Matt Barkley about going into the season a Heisman favorite?
AL: Realize it gets harder. It doesn't get easier. There's a misconception that if you come back for a year, the game's that much easier. Don't expect people to just lie down for you.
DP:What's the question you've gotten the most since you were drafted?
AL: In my situation you're going to get questions about Peyton [Manning] and the great impact he had on this franchise. It's to be expected.
DP:Do you get nervous before games?
AL: I definitely get nervous. It's a good thing. I wouldn't say I'm bugged out by any means. But to have a couple butterflies has always been normal.
DP:Is the speed of the NFL a lot different from the college game?
AL: Definitely a big jump. Especially the linebackers. In college, you get a tight end on the linebacker—at least at Stanford—that was a good matchup. Now, those linebackers can run, they can cover, they can do a lot of things.
DP:Explain what happened when you were scrambling and slid into the end zone against the Steelers.
AL: That was a terrible slide. I'm very glad they called it a touchdown.
DP:You know it wasn't a touchdown.
AL: [Laughs.] They called it a touchdown.
DP:I thought the defense was going to take your head off.
AL: I probably should have pitched it.
DP:The Colts will make the playoffs if ...
AL: If we win enough games to get into the playoffs.
DP:Oh, c'mon.
AL: If we take it week by week and play good football.
LSU wasn't winning when I went there. Michigan State wasn't winning when I went there. Toledo wasn't winning when I went there. And Alabama really wasn't winning when I came here. I guess I gotta go someplace else."
—NICK SABAN, Alabama coach, responding to Steve Spurrier's statement that every coach wins in Tuscaloosa
GUEST SHOTS
SAY WHAT?
Roger Clemens told me he believes Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and other players linked to steroids belong in the Hall of Fame. Clemens doesn't believe PEDs even give players an advantage. "I don't think it helps you," Clemens said. "I think it hurts you." ... I asked Oregon coach Chip Kelly for his reaction when he found out Matt Barkley was returning to USC. Kelly wasn't happy: "I did it with Andrew Luck, I did it with Matt Barkley—I threw up. Somebody's got to tell those guys they need to go after three years." ... Browns QB Brandon Weeden is tired of talking about being a 28-year-old rookie. "I'm kind of dreading [my] 30s," Weeden said. "Everybody already wants to talk about my age, and that's all they want to talk about. It will get worse when I turn 30." ... Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he's not an angry person, even though he's had a number of heated arguments with umpires, including one that earned him a two-game suspension: "My wife says the only time I get this mad is when I'm talking to umpires or my ex-wife."
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MICHAEL J. LEBRECHT II/1DEUCE3 PHOTOGRAPHY (PATRICK)
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CHARLES LECLAIRE/US PRESSWIRE (LUCK)
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ROBERT BECK (MATTINGLY)
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JAMIE SABAU (WEEDEN)
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BOB ROSATO (KELLY)
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RICHARD CARSON/REUTERS (CLEMENS)
