I don't care for media or people being critical of me.

I had the pressure when I started my career at 18 at Cologne, when people were saying, 'Ah, Podolski, the new hero of Cologne.'

The main thing is to score a goal in the first half. Then everything will be possible.

I think when I play No. 10 or as a striker, I am in this position to score more goals, and I can shoot more.

You don't want to let the other team feed off your outward physical demeanor. But at the same time, you can't go out and play this game and not expect to just be angry and be competitive and be excited and have that fire in your belly.

I started writing stories in sixth grade. But writing wasn't cool, like being good at sports, or being part of the in crowd, or winning fights on the playground.

From a personal point of view, you want to be playing in every game, but when you have to cope with the heat, the artificial surfaces, injuries, and tactics based around the coach's selection, you can't do it all.

In high school, baseball was life. My senior year, I had the highest batting average on the team. I was one of the starting pitchers. I wanted to play Division III ball and eventually coach.