Yeah. I'm to the point where this might sound crazy, but I like [being a sports celebrity] for the kids, but I don't really enjoy this aspect of it. I know it's a byproduct of it. I know a lot of people want to be famous and be a celebrity, and that was sort of an undesired consequence of everything that went on in 2010. I'm not complaining. But at my core I'm a pretty simple kid from a small town, and I've been doing this a long time. So I'm actually excited for the day when I can kind of step away from it and really just be a normal person again. ~Landon Donovan to four reporters
Donovan — because of his demeanor, his candor, his So Cal-style — doesn’t get nearly the credit he deserves for the effort he puts in, the pressure he deals with, the demands on his time he endures. He’s been the face of American soccer for a decade now, which is a long time for anyone, much less a quiet guy who’s happier with his dogs on the beach than in front of 60,000 fans.
He knows how lucky he’s been, but no one really understands how hard he’s worked for everything. If anything, soccer is the easy part for Donovan. The rest of the superstar persona is more exhausting. So, when the footballing side becomes more difficult — he hinted multiple times at his decreasing abilities — it’s not surprising that the game becomes less enjoyable. ~Noah Davis