We have to do regular checks of our staff every six months and we have found no lung or any other health problem for 10 or 15 years.

It's a big blow for the industry.

Once I found out it was a bone bruise and it takes four to six months to heal, then I was fine with that. It's only been four months, and it's definitely gotten better. ... I just have to be patient and wait for it to heal. I mean, if the season was going to start today, I'd wind up playing. It's not one of those things where I'm going to be out. If we had to play a game today, I'd be ready.

The current situation is unacceptable. Recruitment agencies make all the checks they can on staff but these checks are only as good as the registers provided.

I said, to be a New Yorker you have to live here for six months, and if at the end of the six months you find you walk faster, talk faster, think faster, you're a New Yorker.

It took about six years to get the Black Lung stuff. It didn't come just instantly. Sometimes, I see lobby groups, today, upset because they work the whole session and nothing happens.