The opera ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings.
In Washington Post 3 June 1978
Dan Cook
Sport is imposing order on what was chaos.
Anthony Starr
Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.
Bill Shankly, In Sunday Times (UK) Oct. 4 1981
Anybody who watches three games of football in a row should be declared brain dead.
Erma Bombeck (1927 - 1996)
Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life. Violence and committee meetings.
George F. Will (1941 - )
Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.
George F. Will (1941 - )
For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks-not that you won or lost-
But how you played the game.
Grantland Rice, “Alumunus Football,” Only the Brave and Other Poems, p. 144 (1941)
Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein.
Joe Theismann, Former quarterback
If it weren’t for baseball, many kids wouldn’t know what a millionaire looked like.
Phyllis Diller
For people to judge a man’s worth and his very manhood according to the way he feels about sport, and not to recognize it for the piddly, inconsequential goings on that it really is…
Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, Northern Exposure, Birds of a Feather, 1993
I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out.
Rodney Dangerfield (1921 - 2004)
Not every age is fit for childish sports.
Titus Maccius Plautus (254 BC - 184 BC)
If all the year were playing holidays; To sport would be as tedious as to work.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), ‘The First Part of King Henry the IV’
Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical.
Yogi Berra (1925 - )
For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name,
He writes ‘not that you won or lost’ but how you played the Game.
‘Alumnus Football’ (1941)
Grantland Rice
Sure, winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.
In Sports Illustrated 26 December 1955 (often attributed to Vince Lombardi)
Henry ‘Red’ Saunders
Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead.
~ Roger Bannister (After becoming the first person to break the four-minute mile, 1952)
Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision.
Muhammad Ali, American Boxer
When I step onto the court, I don’t have to think about anything. If I have a problem off the court, I find that after I play, my mind is clearer and I can come up with a better solution. It’s like therapy. It relaxes me and allows me to solve problems.
Michael Jordan
My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you’ll win… channel your energy. Focus.
Carl Lewis
My dad has always taught me these words: care and share. That’s why we put on clinics. The only thing I can do is try to give back. If it works, it works.
Tiger Woods
I’m tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.
Shaquille O’Neal
Whoever said, ‘It’s not whether you win or lose that counts,’ probably lost.
Martina Navratilova, American Tennis Player
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
Billie Jean King
I’ll let the racket do the talking.
John McEnroe
When I go out on the ice, I just think about my skating. I forget it is a competition.
Katarina Witt