Mark Zupan Quotes

Focus on what you want to do, don't be scared to try stuff. You only live once. You gotta take risks at times

I played college soccer before I was hurt, and just to be able to jump back into something that you could be so competitive at or you can achieve, to get to the Paralympics, that's the first really big achievement that you can have. It's the second biggest sporting event in the world. To be a part of it and to get a medal for that, it's unreal.

A tuna steak and a salad? Seventy bucks. Welcome to Los Angeles.

Breaking my neck was the best thing that ever happened to me. I have an Olympic medal. I've been to so many countries I would never have been, met so many people I would never have met. I've done more in the chair, ... than a whole hell of a lot of people who aren't in chairs.

You break your neck, you don't know what's going to happen. I mean, it's foreign. You're in this body that you thought you were - that you were accustomed to, and now you're not. You have to figure out everything. I think the biggest thing for me was getting a license, because it gives you - it gives you your independence back.

There really isn't anything more refreshing then iced Coke out of the old-school glass bottles.

I am a Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech.

If I can be an inspiration for someone, that's fine, but just don't look down on me. Don't say, 'Oh, you're in a wheelchair.

I'm not scared of getting hurt. I'm not scared of, pretty much, anything. If you live your life scared, what's the fun in living it? If you were scared of getting hit by a car, would you still cross the street?

We're normal people. Don't be scared because we are in a chair. People don't understand that. They think, 'Oh, a wheelchair, something's wrong with their heads, something's just not right.' Well yeah, we may be a little twisted, but no more than anyone else.

I am lucky to live in Austin, so I can enjoy the live music.

I wouldn't mind being taller or stronger.

People aren't familiar with wheelchair sports. The only film crew in Athens for the Paralympics was the documentary crew.

For those people who don't know what Whiteboy clothing is, it is not a white-supremacy thing. It is a great clothing line that just says, 'Have fun.

For those of you who worry that I am a skinhead and anything that goes along with that, I am not.

I dream about running all the time.

Playing college soccer was going to be the top of my athletic feats. I wasn't going to the Olympics. I was a decent player, but it's because of hard work, not because I was Freddy Adu. I wouldn't have a medal from the Olympics if I wasn't in a chair. I wouldn't have gone to the Olympics and experienced the whole atmosphere.

I feel pain everywhere. A lot of guys in chairs do feel their legs. But if you don't, there's a thing called disreflex, so you know if something happens, say, you can't feel your foot or your leg and your body reacts. You know something's not right and you survey what's going on.

With all the traveling and promotion I've been doing for 'Murderball,' its been difficult keeping up with my rugby training.

The whole thing is you don't want to be pigeon-holed as 'Oh, he's a guy in a wheel chair. He's very fragile. You better watch out.

Man, if they played the commercials for 'Murderball' as much as they do for 'Hustle & Flow,' 'Murderball' would blow up!

Most people fear pain. I've learned that not feeling pain is a much more frightening proposition than feeling it. In fact, there are times when I'm playing when I actually enjoy it.

I met Evan Rachel Wood, James Woods, Kevin Bacon at Sundance. Steve Buscemi is pretty laid-back. I met Judy Greer in Vegas, and she was cool.

Just because we are in wheelchairs doesn't mean we can't play a fast-paced, full-contact sport.

Number one house rule of pool: don't lose in your own house.

Life's too short not to laugh about yourself and the cards you're dealt.