nbaoffseason:

Dennis Rodman’s 2011 Hall of Fame speech. Whoa, you guys.

My Favorite Sports Quotes

  • Do any of you critics realize how short a year is? -Red Auerbach. This is the only one that I think needs an explanation and it inspired the post. I watched this great video about Larry Bird earlier and I thought it skipped over one of the most interesting pieces of sports trivia that I know. Red Auerbach and the Celtics selected Larry Bird sixth overall in the 1978 NBA draft after Bird’s junior season at Indiana State. No one knew if Bird would return for his senior season. A reporter asked Auerbach why he would use such a high draft pick on a player when he didn’t know if Bird would play that season for the Celtics and this quote is how he replied. Bird did end up going back to Indiana State for his senior year but Auerbach’s willingness to gamble and follow his gut paid off as Bird led the Celtics to three titles.
  • 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
  • Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy Protestants, today it’s open to anybody who owns hideous clothing. -Dave Barry
  • Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her. -Mia Hamm
  • You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. -Wayne Gretzky
  • There’s no crying in baseball! -Jimmy Dugan
  • Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath. -Wilt Chamberlain
  • You can observe a lot just by watching. -Yogi Berra
  • Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. -Lou Gehrig
  • Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein. -Joe Theismann
  • It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up. -Vince Lombardi
  • I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. -Michael Jordan
  • You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach the limits, that is real joy. -Arthur Ashe
  • Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. -Jim Valvano

nbaoffseason:

ECF, Game 4.

Songs By: Kreayshawn & Clams Casino.

Video courtesy of TNT.

Chills.

“The Heat is the coolest and most famous team in South Florida’s history, but here’s what makes it the most interesting team we have ever seen around here, as well: There has never been a team this loved locally — not the perfect Dolphins of 1972, not the underdog champion Marlins, not the popular teams of Shaquille O’Neal or Dan Marino, not the anarchist Hurricanes football kings — that was this hated everywhere else. Very little is going to connect a community and a sports team quite like that. America’s hate and South Florida’s love, in fact, are directly proportional. Sports teams always are symbols for civic pride, so the more villainous America makes this team, the more the Heat’s players become our villains, damn it. … And now, after 82 meaningful meaningless games, here comes the best stuff. Finally. The most interesting team in South Florida’s history, and one of the most polarizing in America’s, begins the playoffs Saturday, and it really and truly is us against everybody else. Are you ready?”

Dan Le Batard

So ready.

Joel Anthony: the spectacle who works

This is the best NBA article I’ve read this year. Fantastic.

“

“These guys care. They care a lot, actually. Yes, they care what people think. They care that their legacies are on the line. They care about the city of Miami. They care about the NBA. They even care about you, their haters. How do I know they care? Because I know how much you have to care to cry after a loss…

… Furthermore, the guys who cry after the games don’t cry because they are terrible and have no chance. They do it because they’re close. So close it hurts. I’ve never seen a last place team cry after a game. Nor have a seen a team with no chance for serious success do it. It’s only the guys whose will is strong enough to do something about it afterwards. My senior year of college was the biggest setback of my life. Since then I’ve done nothing but grow and get better, because my will to do so is strong.

I’m not here trying to convert anyone into Miami fans. I’m not even a Miami fan. I actually think it’s fun and easy to ridicule them. But when I see tears in their eyes, I get the idea that the fun and games are over, and maybe they’re poised to turn things around after this setback. Heck, maybe they won’t, but I’ll never again question how much they care.”

”

Rod Benson, on crying in basketball.

One more time, for emphasis: “…But when I see tears in their eyes, I get the idea that the fun and games are over, and maybe they’re poised to turn things around after this setback. Heck, maybe they won’t, but I’ll never again question how much they care.”

(via nbaoffseason)

nbaoffseason: The Academy Awards or Knicks vs. Heat? I really don’t have to a ask you guys what we are watchin’, do I?? This wouldn’t have been the best Heat game ever if JVG hadn’t grabbed Zo’s leg. This was so much better than the best of the Dolphins / Jets rivalry and I think there’s a chance it will be this intense again for the next few years.

nbaoffseason:

The Academy Awards or Knicks vs. Heat?

I really don’t have to a ask you guys what we are watchin’, do I??

This wouldn’t have been the best Heat game ever if JVG hadn’t grabbed Zo’s leg. This was so much better than the best of the Dolphins / Jets rivalry and I think there’s a chance it will be this intense again for the next few years.