Quotes & Sayings About A Championship Game

But as a Christian, let me say Merry Christmas on a national holiday called Christmas and you'd think Satan incarnate himself just showed up. I'm sorry that is a bad example because if Satan did show up, he would get more respect than Christians, Jews, Tea Partiers, patriots and conservatives. Thus all the forenamed groups, and any like them, must stand and fight for their equal rights that are disappearing faster than San Antonio fans after game seven of the NBA championship in Miami. — Ken Hutcherson

Our goal as a team is to keep playing as a group for as long as we can because you will never have that team again. It is like a dying limb, you have to prune it off and let another one grow in its place. That is the way you have to do it, but it still hurts losing these guys and that team because they and you have put so much effort into building a team. Even if you win that last game (and a national championship), it hurts badly because the players know they will never have that same special group of guys together on the same team again. Somebody always goes and somebody new always comes in. — Don Meyer

When my father bid $5,000 for the 1962 Championship Game, that was a huge amount. It was double the bid the year before. Pete Rozelle was flabbergasted. Who was this guy who was willing to spend so much money on what seemed like relatively worthless rights to the NFL Championship Game? — Steve Sabol

Usually a championship team is built on a strong defense. That is something you can bring to every game. A great attack is always going to be inconsistent - at least on the scoreboard - that's the nature of the game. — Anson Dorrance

There's nothing easy about winning a game in the National Football League, let alone winning a championship, things that we've done in the past. However, that's in the past. — Rodney Harrison

The thing I wanted to focus on first was that I wanted to graduate, and (with me) coming back, I knew that I wanted another national championship. Another national championship is everyone's main goal, but we have to take it one game at a time. We can't get ahead of ourselves. We've got Washington first, then we'll see what happens. — Will Smith

The heartbeat of a football team is the quarterback position and I think everyone who has any intelligence about the game understands you must have consistency at that position to be a championship team. — Ron Jaworski

When it comes to signing up new talent, that's what I'm looking for
not just someone who has the skill, but someone built for this life. Someone who has the work ethic, the drive. The gift that Jordan had wasn't just that he was willing to do the work, but he loved doing it, because he could feel himself getting stronger, ready for anything. He left the game and came back and worked just as hard as he did when he started. He came into the game as Rookie of the Year, and he finished the last playoff game of his career with a shot that won the Bulls their sixth championship. THAT'S THE KIND OF CONSISTENCY THAT YOU CAN ONLY GET BY ADDING DEAD-SERIOUS DISCIPLINE TO WHATEVER TALENT YOU HAVE. — Jay-Z

When I played at Minnesota, Green Bay, those northern cities, Buffalo, they wanted to have those championship games at home. It was going to be an advantage to be there with their fans and the cold weather and all that. But when you've got a Super Bowl, and it's the two best teams, you want ideal conditions. You want to play a great game. — Tony Dungy

There's been injuries to where my perseverance may have gotten overlooked-just my hard work and what I bring to a franchise and to a team may have gotten overlooked. But it's a matter of staying professional and playing the game of basketball and ultimately doing whatever it takes to win a championship for your teammates. — Amar'e Stoudemire

In those years, it was easier to win the Soviet Championship than a game against 'Iron Tigran'. — Lev Polugaevsky

I think this can be a championship team. But we do have to take it one game at a time. You can't look at the end of the road before you get the next foot in. — Michael Strahan

The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud. — Bob Uecker

Everybody was ready to put Denver and Indianapolis in the championship game. We're the same team that went 15-1 last year and made it to the championship game. We're coming from a different perspective now, being on the road playing two tough road games. We all believed in one another, even if no one else did. — Hines Ward

My biggest frustration with the Heisman is it's become the MVP of the national champion, or a team going to the National Championship game. That's what it's turned into. If you're not undefeated, you're out of the running. — Doug Flutie

We're not going to do anything different for this game since we're not treating this game any different than another game. Every game is a championship game for us, so we'll treat this one, the last one and the next one exactly the same. And that goes for our practices leading up to it as well. — Pete Carroll

It looks like our defense is quite a bit better than it has been in the last two years, ... If we can keep it up and stay at least in the middle of the league, that would be significant. We haven't ordered any championship rings yet; two games doesn't make a season. I love the Colorado air. I love the game, the competition, the show. — Lamar Hunt

It will be a hard game if you think about winning a championship. We need to think about our own game at the moment and focus on getting good results especially over the Christmas period. — Dennis Bergkamp

Every game's a championship game. When we focus that way, get prepared that way-that this is it, you know, this is the last one, the biggest one-you get ready, you get amped up, you get that laser focus and you're ready to play. — Russell Wilson

My parents have always worried that I'd take Amy too personally - they always tell not to read too much into her, And yet I can't fail to notice that whenever I screw something up, Amy does it right: When I finally quit violin at age twelve, Amy was revealed as a prodigy in the next book. ("Sheesh, violin can be hard work, but handwork is the only way to get better!") When I blew off the junior championship at age sixteen to do a beach weekend with friends, Amy recommitted to the game. ("Sheesh, I know it's fun to spend time with friends, but I'd be letting myself and everyone else down if I didn't show up for the tournament.") This used to drive me mad, but after I wend off to Harvard (and Amy correct those my parents' alma mater), I decided it was all too ridiculous to think about. That my parents, two child psychologists, chose this particular public form of passive-aggressiveness toward their child was not just fucked up but also stupid and weird and kind of hilarious. — Gillian Flynn

I always get up for every game, but this game is especially big. It's a do-or-die thing. This could be (decide) whoever wins the regular-season championship. — Rajon Rondo

Coming back in that AFC Championship Game against the Steelers, that was a poignant moment for me for a lot of reasons - the magnitude of the game and having not been able to play for quite a while and to be able to get on the field for that game. That one stands out. — Drew Bledsoe

I spent the nights before the Jets' two biggest games last year-for the AFL championship and the Super Bowl-with girls. But I don't consider that bad or foolish of me ... The night before a game, I prepare myself both mentally and physically for the next day. I think a ballplayer has to be relaxed to play well; and if that involves being with a girl that night, he should do it. — Joe Namath

If it weren't for a new rule that came into being, we'd have played three years in a row in the championship game. — Al Davis

In 1981, when I went down to visit Georgia Tech, I watched Michael Jordan play and literally get ridiculed for taking a jump shot in the championship game that went off the backboard, and they won. People are forgetting that Michael was just one of the players when they went to the Dream Team. — John Salley

I'm the head coach at LSU. I will be the head coach at LSU. I have no interest in talking to anybody else. I got a championship game to play, and I'm excited for the opportunity of my damn strong football team to play in it. Please ask me after. I'm busy. Thank you very much. Have a great day! — Les Miles

When you go out on the court whether it be for the championship or just a scrimmage, have confidence that your abilities and what you've learned in your drills are better than your opponent's. This does not mean you should disregard your opponent. Before taking the court for any game, you should do a lot of thinking about what you have to do to beat your opponent and what he must or can do to beat you. — Bob Pettit

Tom Seaver was let loose twice by the Mets and pitched a no-hitter for the Reds and won his 300th game for the White Sox, but he wears a Mets cap in the Hall of Fame as homage to the 1969 championship. — George Vecsey

Getting hurt and watching Tom Brady take over and beginning what's been just a spectacular run of his, and to come back and play in the AFC Championship Game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, and help us win that game, is a memory that stands out very clearly. — Drew Bledsoe

I once heard that Paul Seymour said as much as winning an NBA Championship, he'd like to see the Celtics lose a game after Auerbach brought out the cigar so he could go up to Arnold and stuff the cigar in his face. — Bob Cousy

Stats don't matter. I care about winning, not stats. If I score 0 points and we win I'm happy. If I score 50, 60 points, break the records, and we lose, I'm pissed off. 'Cause I knew I did something wrong. I'll have a hell of a season if I win the championship and average 20 points a game. — Shaquille O'Neal

What she revealed was not sexy lingerie, but a supportive piece of athletic equipment. After the consolation match that preceded the championship game, both Brazilian and Norwegian players removed their jerseys and exchanged them on the floor of the Rose Bowl. Chastain had previously removed her jersey after regulation to air it out. While training in Florida, the players frequently doffed their shirts after practice in the smothering heat, and they sometimes gave interviews in their sports bras, which were items of utility, not titillation. Chastain 'has brought instant attention to a piece of clothing that is humble and practical, not a traditional bra of shine and lace and cleavage, but a sturdy compression garment,' wrote Ann Gerhart of the Washington Post. 'The sports bra is the cloth symbol of Title IX's success. — Jere Longman

The greatest single moment Ive ever known in Detroit was Jim Northrups triple in the seventh game of the World Series in St. Louis. It was a stunning moment because not only were the Tigers winning a world championship that meant so much to an entire city, they were beating the best pitcher I ever saw-Bob Gibson. — Ernie Harwell

As soon as I started to realize that I could make a living playing professional soccer, I went to that place where I could torture myself because I knew it would make me better for the championship game. — Abby Wambach

I am pleased that in a match for the World Championship I was able to conduct a game in the style of Akiba Rubinstein, where the entire strategic course was maintained from the first to the last move. — Boris Gelfand

If basketball was going to enable Bradley to make friends, to prove that a banker's son is as good as the next fellow, to prove that he could do without being the greatest-end-ever at Missouri, to prove that he was not chicken, and to live up to his mother's championship standards, and if he was going to have some moments left over to savor his delight in the game, he obviously needed considerable practice, so he borrowed keys to the gym and set a schedule for himself that he adhereded to for four full years - in the school year, three and a half hours every day after school, nine to five on Saturday, one-thirty to five on Sunday, and, in the summer, about three hours a day. — John McPhee

I guess it's good in a sense that it stops any of it from happening, but now you're telling me if it's Game 7 of the NBA Finals and a guy has a chance to make a play he's going to be like, 'Well, do I want this $10,000 or do I want a championship?' — Blake Griffin

That's the only reason I'm here. I don't need to play the game for any other reason than to win a championship. — Drew Bledsoe

I am very pleased with my synthetic golf green from Southwest Greens. It reacts like a championship golf green, so I can practice my short game whenever I'm at home. I couldn't believe that a synthetic green could be this perfect. — Matteo Manassero

I have high expectations for myself. I'm not out there playing the game just to be playing it. I want to win a championship. — Albert Belle

I've got a Championship game to play and I'm excited about the opportunity of my damn strong football team to play in it. — Les Miles

Bill Russell is one of the great names in basketball, an all-American ... and the only athlete to ever win an NCAA Championship, an Olympic Gold Medal, and a professional championship all in the same year-1956 ... But Bill Russell had this one problem: He threw up before every game. — John Eliot

You can play and try to get focused for that time, but still the reality of that whole situation is once that game is over you still have to be confronted with what's going on. I think that's where the senior leadership on your football team has to come. They have to understand that we have a responsibility to reach our goals and that's to win the championship. — Pete Richardson

When the Knicks won the championship in 1970, our fans rallied behind us and became our sixth man because they saw a group of five distinct personalities come together and play as one seamless unit. Winning takes a game plan and that's where a great coach comes in. He has to have the vision. He has to be the architect and design a particular style of play that his players can work together and excel at. The great Celtics teams that won 11 championships in the span of 13 seasons ( 1957-69) never changed their system. They played the same game regardless of who their cast was. — Walt Frazier

I wanted to be like Nolan Ryan. I didn't want to be like Pete Gray ... And I don't want kids to be like me because I have one hand. I want kids to be like Jim Abbott because he's a baseball pitcher at Michigan and he won the Big Ten Championship game, and not because I can field a bunt and throw to first. — Jim Abbott