Skip to main content

Wisdom in Football

Considering what time of the year it is, and since I am a big fan of sports analogies, primarily due to fact that they are usually dead nuts on target in explaining what people should do to improve their companies, teams, or ourselves, I thought a post about football would be worthwhile here. In that light, here are some football quotations that I hope you find useful and enlightening...

“Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble the football”
John Heisman

“I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game.”
Bear Bryant / Alabama

“It isn't necessary to see a good tackle, you can hear it!
Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

“At Georgia Southern, we don't cheat . That costs money, and we don't have any.”
Erk Russell / Georgia Southern

“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.”
Lou Holtz / Arkansas - Norte Dame

“When you win, nothing hurts.”
Joe Namath / Alabama

“Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.”
Lou Holtz / Arkansas - Norte Dame

“A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.”
Frank Leahy / Notre Dame

There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.”
Woody Hayes / Ohio State

I don't expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation.”
Bob Devaney / Nebraska

In Alabama, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant.”
Wally Butts / University of Georgia

“I never graduated from Iowa. But I was only there for two terms - Truman's and Eisenhower's.”
Alex Karras / Iowa

“I could have been a Rhodes Scholar except for my grades.”
Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State

“Always remember Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David.”
Shug Jordan / Auburn

“They whipped us like a rented mule.”
Spike Dykes / Texas Tech

“I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me. ”He said, “Well, Walt, we took a look at you, and you weren't any good.”
Walt Garrison / Oklahoma State

”Football is NOT a contact sport, it is a collision sport. Dancing IS a contact sport.”
Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State

“If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting their Ph.D.”
Murray Warmath / Minnesota

“The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb.”
Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

“We played about like three tons of buzzard puke this afternoon.”
Spike Dykes / Texas Tech

“We didn't tackle well today, but we made up for it by not blocking.”
John McKay / USC

“Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.”
Darrell Royal / University of Texas

“I've found that prayers work best when you have big players.”
Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Moldy Middle

While taking statistics during my quest to get an MBA and while earning my engineering degree, the professors always emphasized the importance of finding the statistical mean of any population by using the Central Mean Theorem (a.k.a the highest point of the Bell Curve). As an engineer, this was essential in order to maximize throughput, minimize cost and waste, and ultimately make a better, faster, cheaper widget. A funny thing happened on the way to the dark side of marketing. I discovered that the only thing in the middle of the road was quite literally dead road kill. I do not know if you remember stores like Bradlees, Ames and Service Merchandise (just to name a few), but they all folded because the environment changed and they were caught trying to service the mythological “average customer.” Part of that change came when Wal-Mart began its juggernaut with the discount department store. Wal-Mart did two things right: 1) Focused on “mobile” consumers, and 2) Fo...

Fortune Cookie of Persistence

There are many things or factors that can determine a person’s success or failure, but one thing that cuts across EVERY successful person I have met or read about or studied is perseverance, persistence, stick-to-itiveness, and determination. As I say, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. The desire and ability to press on has and always will solve the problems of the human race and divide those who achieve from those who might have been." Incredibly, this ONE characteristic is really what makes a true entrepreneur as testimony to these little factoids: Coca-Cola only sold twenty five (25) bottles in its first year of business! They grossed $50.0 and spent $73.96 on merchandising. But they kept on going and never gave up, and nowadays the sell more than one billion bottles per day! Apple Computer co-founder offered the computer design to Hewlett-Packard five times and was rejected by both HP and Atari (the giant at the time) for acquisition. A...

I'd Rather Be a Pirate

Recently, I have had to make some presentations about what it takes to be an entrepreneur or start up a company, and what type of people I would hire or be associated with.  When asked, I usually come back with this question:  If you had a choice to sail the seven seas either with the Royal Navy or as a Pirate/Privateer, what would you choose? Incredibly, the answer to this simple question is really at the crux if you can be an entrepreneur or not.  One choice offers the prestige and power of a great power, and known and respected entity, at the price of having to conform to a certain system of rules and regulations based mostly on seniority and position not necessarily performance and merit.  The other offers a high risk lifestyle, but with some freedoms and the ability to join a group of liked minded individuals.  To sail to unchartered, risky lands; to fight for what you believe in, and to seize opportunities wherever you go. How you answer this questi...