He had told us he was under attack every day, ... People kept telling me he'll be in a safe place because he's a doctor. The truth is there is no safe place over there. It was very nerve-wracking not knowing from one day to the next if it was going to be the last time I was going to talk to him.

My first day there we got hit with two mortar rounds. They left a nice size crater. They were only 75 feet from where I was supposed to be sleeping, ... Between the gunfire, the helicopters constantly flying over us ... if something is going to land where you're sleeping there's not a whole lot you can do about it.

I'd love for that whole parking lot out there to be full of people enjoying the day, and not just the game. This is a good start, and we're just going to build on it.

If he would have stayed in the game, it might have been a long day for us. We just didn't play up to our level.

The first day is always delicate for me. Tomorrow, I have to jump well, throw well and run well. My nerves are under control and I'm going to stay focused.

This didn't look like the best use of our resources and at the end of the day, even if we won, there wouldn't be anything beneficial to anyone anyway. So it just didn't seem fruitful for us to pursue this.