I read this one from Abe Lemons in a book once. Sometime in the early 80's John McEnroe was complaining to the press about the pressure he was under being the #1 ranked tennis player in the world. He was crying that no one understood that kind of strain, day in and day out.

 

"You're right about that. I know when I was 18 years old and lying on my belly on Iwo Jima, I used to comfort myself by thinking, 'Boy, am I lucky not having to deal with the pressures of big-time tennis.'"

Another Abe Lemon's quote:

 

In 1982, beginning with a 69-59 loss to the Bears, the Longhorns dropped 11 of their last 13 games, and Lemons was fired by new Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds at the end of the year.

 

Lemons responded by saying: "I want to buy me a glass-bottom car so I can see the expression on Dodds’ face when I run him over."

Final Abe Lemon's quotes:

 

At halftime he noticed that his 7 foot center had only one rebound in the first half.

 

"Son, you just outrebounded a dead man by one."

 

 

"It's not fair. Doctor's get to bury their mistakes. Mine are still on scholarship."

 

 

When he coached at Oklahoma City University, Lemons tried to sign Johnny Bench out of tiny Binger High School in western Oklahoma. Bench declined the basketball scholarship, and went on to become a Baseball Hall of Fame catcher.

 

“If you had come with me, you could have been the principal of a high school by now,” Lemons later told Bench.

 

 

Asked on the eve of the NIT championship game by an imaginative member of the press corps, "Coach, what were the contributing factors to your success this season?" Lemons answered, "Probably beating all those teams."

"I'm a man! I'm 40!"

"[O. J. has] an uncanny instinct for sensing when to make the move, when to make the cut. He can kill you with a headfake, he can kill you with the swiftness of his legs and the ability to be in a direction at any single second. He also kills you with his variation of speed...

 

- Howard Cosell

 

“I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first.”

 

- George Rogers

 

"Hawaii doesn't win many games in the United States."

 

- Lee Corso

 

"I'm really happy for Coach Cooper and the guys who've been around here for six or seven years, especially our seniors."

 

- Ohio State quaterback Bob Hoying

"These first three years was a transitional year for him."

 

- Emmitt Smith

 

"If you want to stay perfect, you cannot go undefeated with a blemish on your record."

 

- Emmitt Smith

 

"Steve Slaton is the type of running back who makes plays with his legs."

 

- Emmitt Smith

 

"The leadership definitely have to come from the leaders."

 

- Emmitt Smith

 

"You cannot change the stripes of a leopard."

 

- Emmitt Smith

 

"I think it's his self-confidence in himself that make him so confident when it get down into the crunch time."

 

- Emmitt Smith

 

"They started 6-2. Now, they're 6-3."

 

- Emmitt Smith

"I thought we'd lost it already. Then I looked down and saw Jimmy Boeheim sitting on the other bench and I knew we had a shot."

-Bob Knight

When did he say this?

If channel 3 was showing the NBA and channel 4 was showing frogs making love, I'd watch the frogs even if it was coming in fuzzy.

- Bobby Knight

If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball.

~Phil Jackson

 

The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not. ~Charles Barkley

 

The secret is to have eight great players and four others who will cheer like crazy.

~Jerry Tarkanian

"We didn't tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking."

 

John McKay

During the final laps at the Pocono 500, Mayfield bumped The Intimidator (Dale Earnhardt) out of the way and moved on ahead to take the checkers.

 

"I told him he was number one."-Dale Earnhardt, describing what he gestured to Jeremy Mayfield as he pulled alongside Mayfield on the track after his win at Pocono.

 

:lol:

 

John McKay was known for his colourful quotes, I grew up a Bucs fan and it was always interesting as to what he was going to say next. Here are some of his best.

 

1 - In response to a question about his team's execution - "I'm all in favour of it."

2 - On an interception thrown by Steve DeBerg in 1984 that cost the Bucs a game against the Giants - "It was thrown to nobody. Well, it was thrown to somebody, Harry Carson. But he happened to be playing for the New York Giants at the time. It would have been a good pass if Harry had been playing for us."

3 - After a particularly heavy loss - "The bus leaves in an hour - anyone who needs a shower, take one."

4 - On losing a key game - "I told our players that there were 700 million Chinese people in the world who didn't even know the game was played. The next week, I got five letters from China asking "What happened?"

5 - After the Bucs broke their 26-game losing streak - "Three or four plane crashes and we're in the playoffs."

6 - On recruiting his son John to play for USC and then the Bucs - "I had an advantage - I slept with his mother."

7 - On the prospect of a late-season trip to Green Bay - "Going there is like winning the 98th prize in a beauty contest with only 97 prizes."

8 - On hearing how Buc kicker Pete Rajecki was nervous about McKay watching him in the 1976 pre-season - "That's unfortuntate as I plan on attending all the games."

9 - At a post-game press conference in 1976 "You guys don't know the difference between a football and a bunch of bananas."

10 - The following week after a media member has dropped off a case of bananas at his door - "You guys don't know the difference between a football and a Mercedez-Benz."

11 - On his team's blocking strategy: "Hold when you're at home and don't hold when you're on the road."

12 - "If you have everyone back from a team that lost ten games, experience isn't too important."

13 - On the Buccaneers poor special-teams play, “They were absolutely horrible and that’s the best thing I can say. Besides that they were bad. These people are not poorly paid you know.”

"I thought we'd lost it already. Then I looked down and saw Jimmy Boeheim sitting on the other bench and I knew we had a shot."

-Bob Knight

 

 

He said this exact same thing in the late 70s/early 80s about Dale Brown. Are you sure he said it about Boeheim as well?

When did he say this?

 

It was last season while he was doing commentary during some game I can't remember. He certainly said it as part of a joke; well the joke worked on me.

The Dan Hawkins rant was awesome as well.