National Football League

L.T. admits to making bad decisions

Published Jan. 26, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

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NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor played the game with reckless abandon, and that recklessness spilled over to his personal life.

It turns out, Taylor controlled himself about as well as opposing offensive lines did when he played for the New York Giants.

In an interview on Showtime's "Inside The NFL" on Wednesday night, Taylor, who was sentenced to six years of probation in March for paying an underage girl for sex, admitted he had no control of his off-the-field actions.

"As a football player, I know everything about football, I mean as far as defense and stuff," the Giants legend said. "I know what every player is supposed to do. I know where every player is supposed to be. I can see the play before it happens.

"The problem with me is, sometimes, managing my life. Because I make a lot of bad decisions, and that's the process that I'm going through now."

Taylor, 52, said he initially took the severity of his crime so lightly that when he was arrested in May 2010, one of his first thoughts was whether he would be able to make his golf tee time.

"I'm sitting in the daggum police station and wondering, 'Oh wow, what time am I going to be let out of here? If I can play golf, I've got a tee time at 7 o'clock,'" he said.

Taylor also said he used to be able to get away with much more when he was playing for the Giants.

"Nowadays, you guys (media) are on 24 hours a day, so everything that happens is actually exploited a little bit more or is blown up a little bit more and more people know about it," he said. "So now you have to really discipline yourself.

"For years, I had no discipline. I could do what I wanted to do as far as playing in New York. I could do what I wanted to do as long as it was still within the law."

Taylor also admitted during the interview there are times when the 10-time Pro Bowl linebacker feels "really, really depressed."

"I just wish that I could have an easier road in life," he said. "Because as easy as football is to me ... is as hard as life is to me. I'm just hopeful that life will come easier."
 

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