Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 02:39PM His essential confidence was unshaken. “Just be who we are,” he told his team. It’s interesting advice. Lesser-talented teams sometimes need to be more than who they are.
-Michael Sokolove in his Article "Happiness Is A Warm Football Coach" about Pete Carroll
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 09:53AM “It is amazing what you can get through, really, the sort of stuff that you just get on with. You do it and then you think, 'Oh, that's sore', but at the time it is all part of being a footballer, of not letting things get the better of you. I think that has got me where I am today - the hatred of losing, of not being involved. That is why I always do that little bit extra.”
- John Terry
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 09:48AM “I've had a lot of injuries in my career, but this has got to be one of the most painful,” Terry said. “I thought I'd broken my arm it was that bad and I immediately thought I was out of the final. But it was one of those things. No problem, in the end. I always say to Petr, every season, come out, and if you have to go through me and the striker to get the ball, just do it. And that is what he did. So how can I complain? He did what I have been telling him to do for three years. He did the right thing. As long as the ball got cleared, which it did, and we didn't concede, which we didn't, everything else was just bad luck. And I'm going to be OK, so it worked out.”
- John Terry
Friday, April 25, 2008 at 09:25AM Artists cannot break the rules until they have learned them.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 11:43AM It isn't hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough, is being good every day.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 11:41AM The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 11:38AM You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 11:32AM Good guys are a dime a dozen, but an aggressive leader is priceless.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 11:31AM Success is about having, excellence is about being. Success is about having money and fame, but excellence is being the best you can be.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at 11:25AM Make the present good, and the past will take care of itself.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 09:05AM You try to raise your kids to make decisions for themselves and there is a point where again you get tested as a parent as to whether or not you know what's best for them or how you discuss those things. And they're not easy things.
-Bob Bradley
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 09:03AM Bob Bradley helped out with Michael's youth teams but never coached one. Was it important to him that his son would become an exceptional player?
"No," says Bob Bradley. "You hope to help your kids find things that they have passion for, things that they really love, and things that they want to put something into. That was just the way we always approached it. "
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 09:00AM He was the runt of the litter. Athletically, he wasn't, let's say, fully developed. Sometimes when you look a youth team, people say the best guys are the ones who are the better athletes.
Mike wasn't that. But he loved the game. He had a passion for it. He was a soccer rat. And he always had the desire to improve.
-David Richardson, coach of the Sockers FC Chicago youth club, on Michael Bradley
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 08:58AM Certainly, for all of us who are involved in youth soccer there are times when you say that it's true. That a younger player who is smaller has got to develop his other qualities, so it's a plus. It can work that way. But I don't think it's an automatic.
-Bob Bradley
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 11:54AM He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right.
-George Best
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 11:46AM "Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
Monday, March 17, 2008 at 01:23PM In the San Siro last week, I thought I heard the Liverpool fans chant “England”. Just the once, mind, and long after the ground had cleared of Italian supporters. It seemed a fine gesture, though, an acknowledgement of the wider achievement of English football in Europe. It felt consistent that supporters who care so much for history would have a heightened sense of it.
Then the letters started arriving. Liverpool fans were chanting “Inter”, in recognition of the sportsmanship of their hosts, which was still a decent thing to do. Some of the contributors, however, were affronted by the misunderstanding. Liverpool supporters would never chant England, they said. They think nothing of England.
I accept that I misheard. I also overestimated the ability of club fans to see, briefly, the bigger picture. I forgot that we remain a petty, parochial nation that rarely sees farther than the end of our road. For a moment, I thought we were pretty cool. This will not happen again, don’t worry.
Monday, March 10, 2008 at 09:52PM "You have to believe in what you're doing, you have to relax. This game has taught me a lot. You must continue with what you set out to do."
-United States coach Pia Sundhage
|
|