During yesterday's post-game
presser, just before he met Alex Ovechkin, Clinton
Portis talked about going to Puerto Rico. Part of
this made Mike Wise's column, but here's the full
passage.
"You know, of course you always come in, 'I want to
make the Pro Bowl, I want to be league MVP.,' " he
said. "Everybody not going to do that, and having the
opportunity to be at the pinnacle in Denver, being one
of the best backs in the league, having the opportunity
to have the money, having the opportunity to have the
fame, I never had a ring. All that don't matter when
you go into the offseason and you high-fiving somebody
else, telling them congratulations when you really
don't feel like it was deserved, you would have rather
it been you in the situation.
"To see other guys celebrate, jump around and show off
their rings? You know, after the Colts won I ended up
in Puerto Rico with the whole Colts team. You know,
they've got their rings and celebrating, and I felt
like the odd man out. You know, I had to go sit over in
the corner. I couldn't enjoy their conversation, so I
left Puerto Rico, you know? I don't want to sit around
and y'all talk about Super Bowls and here I am out of
the playoffs. So I think just for us, to win as a team,
I would love to have our whole team on the island,
celebrating, talking about the Super Bowl."
Field trip!
Other Portis highlights:
On his ever-changing post-game
sunglasses: "I guess you've got to stay up
with the latest trends, my brother."
On his fumble: "Only thing I was
thinking, if I get a corner, it's [shawls] to the
wall....All I could think was 97 yards. I could see the
end zone and I felt like I was gonna get there. I was
running wild, trying to dig and the guy made a great
play on the ball."
On his relief at the fumble not costing a
win: "I don't know what's the best relief you
done have in your life, but it was one of those."
On the focus this week: "When I say
not being focused it's only when you turn the ball over
and have penalties, not that players just don't know
what's going on, when you turn the ball over on the
field, you're not focusing on protecting the ball. When
you have penalties, holding, offsides, you'ree not
focusing on the snap count. I think this week guys
really made an effort. I was the only one that turned
the ball over, so I guess I wasn't focused this week."
On whether he should keep missing practice, for
good luck: "Not practicing boring now, all of
a sudden. Back in the day I probably would have told
you yeah, but not to be a part of practice now it's
kind of boring, sitting on the sideline, watching
everybody else work. Guys come by, 'Aw man, you good,
stay focused,' but you want to be out there....You want
the opportunity to jump around and have fun in
practice. Sitting over on the side by yourself trying
to take a mental rep, you know, if you slip for one
second all of the sudden I'm cracking jokes and playing
with Devin or somebody like that, and I think that's
taking the focus out of them, so I just sit off to the
side."
On his recovery from the injury: "At
the beginning of the week I really didn't think I'd
play. Later in the week, after a couple massages, I
felt great."
(washingtonpost.com)