No one is saying not to go out there and have fun. But when practice starts, we’re there an hour ahead of time. When practice starts, we’ve already been sweating and ready to go. After practice we’re getting better every day. This is not something you do when you feel like it. This is a job, and if someone’s going to be paying you to do this and you want to do it for a long a time, hard work is not an option. Antonio Davis to Al Harrington during his rookie year
Building the Spurs Culture
Gregg Popovich Explains How the Spurs Select Players: “For us, it’s easy. We’re looking for character, but what the hell does that mean? We’re looking for people — and I’ve said it many times — [who] have gotten over themselves, and you can tell that pretty quickly. You can talk to somebody for four or five minutes, and you can tell if it’s about them, or if they understand that they’re just a piece of the puzzle. So we look for that. A sense of humour is a huge thing with us. You’ve got to be able to laugh. You’ve …
Learning from Losing
It was an eye-opening loss for me. Some losses you’re angry about and some losses you learn from. That loss, I think I learned the most from in a long time. I got so much better after that loss. I was able to improve a lot. I worked on things. I didn’t see the results straightaway. But months later, I started seeing the results, more and more. Serena Williams, reflecting upon her loss to Garbine Muguruza in the 2014 French Open.
Do Things the Right Way
If you do this job half-way, then you’ll be a half-way basketball player, you’ll be a halfway-student. You have to do things the right way. Earvin Johnson Sr. to his son about rushing through his part-time sanitation job and the importance of working hard.
Coaches Challenge Themselves
He’s always challenging himself. He has this saying about, ‘Take the lid off it. See where it can go.’ You can tell he’s done all these great things, and he’ll continue to do great things as long as he’s coaching. Tom Thibodeau on Mike Krzyzewski
Inspiring a Shared Vision
Sometimes, the toughest thing to do is get everybody pointed in the right direction or share the same vision. When you have the same group together for so long, I think it’s easier to understand when you have to reinvent yourself or make changes. That’s true in any walk of life – not just baseball. Experience is also the ultimate coping mechanism when it comes to crisis management. Brian Sabean, General Manager, San Francisco Giants
Mr. T at the Mall
You’re right, Marge. Just like the time I could have met Mr. T at the mall. The entire day, I kept saying, ‘I’ll go a little later, I’ll go a little later…’ And when I got there, they told me he just left. And when I asked the mall guy if he’ll ever come back again, he said he didn’t know. Well, I’m never going to let something like that happen again! Homer Simpson
Climbing the Mountaintop
In life, it’s very difficult to get to the mountaintop, because one day leads to another day and leads to another day. There are small wins and losses in the process. You win an election or lose an election. You can close a deal or not close a deal. But in sports, what you can do as a team, a with your fans feeling part of it, is show what’s possible for human beings to achieve if they work together, if they care about each other. Winning the title gave resolution to people who didn’t have much resolution in lives, …