Greatest Sports Quotes & Sayings

Playing sports has always been my greatest pleasure. I don't smoke, I hardly drink alcohol. Sports helped get me into the presidential palace. My first position in the union was that of sports secretary. — Evo Morales

There are three great international team sports in Australia: cricket, rugby (two codes), and Pom-bashing. But the greatest of these is the last, and it is time we prepared ourselves for the greatest celebration of Pom-bashing since Bodyline, the 1930s cricket tour that became an international incident. That one rankles to this day and is otherwise known as the longest whinge in sporting history. — Simon Barnes

That's what's great about baseball: some people are exceptional at the game, but still, even people that aren't very athletic, like me - I played Little League! It's one of those games in sports where even if you're not the greatest, you can still play. — Tom Guiry

One of the greatest tragedies of growing up is the discovery that your parents- and your teachers, and your sports heroes, and your favorite actors, singers, YouTube sensations- are fallible. Adults don't know all, and what they do know, they often won't tell you- because they've got their own agendas, or because they want to shield you from the hard truths "for your own good." Adults lie, they betray, they screw up in every way possible ... — Robin Wasserman

Now tell me this. What would you consider the greatest spectator sport in the country today? Would you say it was baseball, basketball, football? ... It's politics. That's right, politics. Millions and millions of people following it every day in the newspapers, over the TV and the radio. Now mind you, they wouldn't get mixed up in this themselves for all the tea in China, but they know the names and numbers of all the players. And what they can't tell the coaches about strategy. Oh, you should see some of the letters I get. — Frank Nugent

Overall, I think Michael Jordan is the greatest athlete in any particular sport. He dominated the game for the Chicago Bulls and brought the NBA to its greatest peak of popularity. — Will McDonough

I would consider it the greatest experience of my life, it's the experience that made me a man, that taught me so many life lessons that you get from sport, ones that I've been able to pass down. (It was) invaluable, beyond words, got me through school, high school, and college, it was the greatest gift I gave myself. — Ted McGinley

If Lance is clean, it is the greatest comeback in the history of sports. If he isn't, it would be the greatest fraud. — Greg LeMond

The five S's of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit. — Ken Doherty

The greatest gap in sports is between the winner and the loser of the Super Bowl. The winner has confetti, parades, rings, the whole thing. The loser puts his head down and goes to his house. — John Madden

John McEnroe ... was arguably the best serve-and-volley man of all time, but then McEnroe was an exception to pretty much every predictive norm there was. At his peak (say 1980 to 1984), he was the greatest tennis player who ever lived-the most talented, the most beautiful, the most tormented: a genius. For me, watching McEnroe don a blue polyester blazer and do stiff lame truistic color commentary for TV is like watching Faulkner do a Gap ad. — David Foster Wallace

I think pro-athletes should be forced to use steroids. I think we as fans deserve the greatest athletes science can create! Lets go! Anything that will make you run faster, jump higher! I have High-Definition TV! I want my athletes like my video games! Lets go! I could care less if you die at 40. You hate life after sports anyways. I'm doing you a favor. — Daniel Tosh

I'm aware that the World Cup is probably the greatest spectacle in the world of sport, and that's despite the referees that have been found to have fixed games specifically. — David Stern

In sports and in business, the greatest leaders are those who make the best decisions in the most crucial of situations. They are the ones who focus their energy on turning tough decisions into winning decisions. — Don Yaeger

Baseball is the greatest sport in the world. It is the cleanest, besides affording more people the right kind of amusement than any other. I do not say that because I have made my living at it. I say it from the heart. — Charles Comiskey

Tendulkar can now rightly lay claim to the title of being the greatest batsman in cricket history. And if some people argue about his greatness then there are certainly no arguments about his being the most prolific, he is a complete run machine and his 50th Test hundred is a testimony of his endurance and passion for the sport — Rashid Latif

Men ought to know that from nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations. And by this, in an especial manner, we acquire wisdom and knowledge, and see and hear and know what are foul and what are fair, what are bad and what are good, what are sweet and what are unsavory ... . And by the same organ we become mad and delirious, and fears and terrors assail us ... .All these things we endure from the brain when it is not healthy ... .In these ways I am of the opinion that the brain exercises the greatest power in the man. — Hippocrates

Baseball is the greatest of all team sports. — Herbert Hoover

This is what's great about sports. This is what the greatest thing about sports is. You play to win the game. Hello? You play to win the game. You don't play it to just play it. That's the great thing about sports: you play to win, and I don't care if you don't have any wins. You go play to win. When you start tellin' me it doesn't matter, then retire. Get out! 'Cause it matters. — Herman Edwards

The opportunity to perform my music for billions of people around the globe will be the greatest highlight of my life, I am honoured to be part of the biggest sports event in the world. — Tiesto

I hate divers, like Cristiano Ronaldo, who might be the greatest athlete in the sport, but he's a big baby. If things are going well he's great, but when things are going badly it's the ref's fault, it's his teammates' fault. — Viggo Mortensen

You think the greatest thing in the whole world would be to become a baseball player - if best things already happened, what's next? — John McGraw

Once one recognizes the value of having difficult obstacles to overcome, it is a simple matter to see the true benefit that can be gained from competitive sports. In tennis who is it that provides a person with the obstacles he needs in order to experience his highest limits? His opponent, of course! Then is your opponent a friend or an enemy? He is a friend to the extent that he does his best to make things difficult for you. Only by playing the role of your enemy does he become your true friend. Only by competing with you does he in fact cooperate! No one wants to stand around on the court waiting for the big wave. In this use of competition it is the duty of your opponent to create the greatest possible difficulties for you, just as it is yours to try to create obstacles for him. Only by doing this do you give each other the opportunity to find out to what heights each can rise. — Zach Kleiman

In life and in sports we know that nothing lasts forever. The same year the greatest physical gift (football) the Lord gave me was taken away from me, I was blessed with the greatest gift any of us could have in two beautiful children. I'd take that trade every day of the week. — Peyton Manning

The beauty of baseball is multidimensional, appealing to the eye and the mind. There is beauty, for instance, in its geometry, the space between the bases and the fielders; beauty in the arc of the season, which brings us out of doors to gather, until fall calls us back in; and beauty in its democracy, that each player hits in turn. But one of its greatest beauties is that, more than any other sport, it emboldens an expertise from those who watch it. Everybody can manage. That does not happen as easily in other sports. In — Tom Verducci

Coach may have been the greatest innovator the sport has ever had. — Ken Morrow

From sports the greatest thing I've learned is discipline achieves goals. — Desmond Green

All I can tell you is I played with Johnny Mitchell. Johnny Mitchell was one of the greatest athletic talents I ever played with, but I could never trust him. When the game was on the line and he was supposed to run an out route at 10 yards, he would run an in route at eight and slide to the outside and scream to me that he was open. But it was how he got open that really made me uncomfortable in trusting him. — Boomer Esiason

Football games are generally won by the boys with the greatest desire. — Bear Bryant

I've been very fortunate to play for four great organizations, but New York really takes the cake. Wearing the pinstripes is something that's very special to me, and it's the greatest organization in sports history. — Mark Teixeira

The 2006 event logo combines the twin spires of Churchill Downs, one of the great signature elements in sports, with the greatest international day of Thoroughbred racing. We look forward to displaying the logo widely throughout the commonwealth of Kentucky, and to our international outlets. — Damon Thayer

My greatest gift in life was being dyslexic. It made me special. It made me different. If I had not been dyslexic, I wouldn't have needed sports. — Caitlyn Jenner

The greatest owner in professional sports history is Eddie DeBartolo. — Ronnie Lott

The playoffs are the wedge between the season and the World Series. If you lose, it means you won't be going to the greatest sports event in this country ... You're forgotten by Thanksgiving. — Tim McCarver

Being No. 1. It's talked about all of the time in hip-hop. 'I'm still No. 1! I'm the best! I'm the greatest of all time!' It's the same mentality in sports. — Michael Rapaport

Tension is the greatest curse in sport. I've never had any tension. You give the best you have - you win or lose. What's the difference if you give all you've got to give? — Chief Bender

Detroit - and I'm not blowing smoke at anybody - is probably the greatest fan sports town in the country. They'll support anything. — William Clay Ford, Sr.

The greatest leader in the world could never win a campaign unless he understood the men he had to lead. — Omar N. Bradley

Every person working in sports journalism today owes a tremendous debt to Howard Cosell. His greatest contribution was elevating sports reporting out of daily play-by-play and placing it in the larger context of society. — Roone Arledge

Anytime you've got an opportunity to play for your country and win a gold medal, I think that takes it all. That's the greatest thing you could ever achieve in your sport. So, I have been very fortunate to play on great teams, but the gold medal was probably the best. — Larry Bird

I think that David Stern is probably the greatest commissioner that any sport has ever had in the history of this country. — Bill Russell

I've fought everybody without ducking anyone. I have beaten 10 undefeated guys, and I never was comparing myself to the greatest in the sport. I was not thinking of breaking any records. I'm just enjoying my time in boxing. — Wladimir Klitschko

They are who we thought they were! — Dennis Green

They say football is America's greatest game, but it's not. The greatest game in America is called opportunity. Football is merely a great expression of it. — Joe Kapp

Art reaches its greatest peak when devoid of self-conciousness. Freedom discovers man the moment he loses concern over what impression he is making or about to make. — Bruce Lee

Sports can unite a group of people from different backgrounds, all working together to achieve a common goal. And even if they fall short, sharing that journey is an experience they'll never forget. It can teach some of the most fundamental and important human values: dedication, perseverance, hard work, and teamwork. It also teaches us how to handle our success and cope with our failure. So, perhaps the greatest glory of sport is that is teaches us so much about life itself. — Ahmad Rashad

The sports arena Julie calls home is unaccountably large, perhaps one of those dual-event 'super venues' built for an era when the greatest quandary facing the world was where to put all the parties. — Isaac Marion

Red Sox versus Yankees is the greatest rivalry in sports. — Carl Yastrzemski

One single great player doesn't make anything for a team; it has to be a team. I think [American] football is the greatest team sport there is because you have to depend on your brother next to you. — Tim Tebow

I think boxers are the greatest athletes in all sports for the simple fact that they don't cry. That is mind-blowing. Have you ever been punched in the nose? Oh my gosh, it hurts so bad. They have to go back to corner, where some little man yells at them. 'Shut up, I just got punched in the face!' ... If I was a boxer, do you know who I would hire as my corner man? My mom. — Daniel Tosh

The greatest communication skill is paying value to others. — Denis Waitley

The story of John Ritter illustrates what it means to be a hero and how we treat our heroes. When we idealize real people they lose their humanity. They are turned into idols that we worship and may later want to destroy. Heroes are transformed from conscious-feeling fellow homo sapiens into characters in our stories. The greatest hero-characters will become legends or even mythic characters. We might think we know them, but when they are idolized they become more like treasured memories, existing in our minds as archetypal characters, rather than living-breathing human beings with thoughts and feelings of their own. — Jeff Rasley

Friends should be like a good bra, lifting you up. Bad friends are like sports bras. They can do wonders when you go out dancing or during high-energy times, but one a day-to-day basis they really just smush down some of your greatest assets. — Mamrie Hart

Gymnastics is the greatest sport in the world, and one of the hardest, but we have to watch out for domineering male figures who try to belittle and scream at young girls. — Dominique Moceanu

I did some sports. It was a bit frustrating. I wasn't the greatest sports person. — Tim Burton

Americans have a profound longing for heroes - now perhaps more than ever. We need our explorers, our sports icons, our Medal of Freedom winners, our Nobel laureates. We need our Greatest Generation warriors, our 'Sully' Sullenbergers, our Neil Armstrongs. On some level, we still subscribe to the myth of the man in the white hat. — Hampton Sides

I want to be remembered as part of the group of the greatest players ever. — Cristiano Ronaldo

I consider the Detroit Red Wings one of the greatest franchises in any sport. For a player to come in and play, it's so special to wear the jersey. — Steve Yzerman

Golfers are the greatest worriers in the world of sport. — Billy Casper

Sports Jerseys: To wear another man's name on your back is a subconscious slap in the face to who you are. Don't fantasize about being someone else. Put in the work required to rise to the level of your greatest self. — Steve Maraboli

Football's the biggest game in the world. America's the greatest sporting nation there is. To play some part in putting those two things together: why wouldn't I be excited about that? — David Beckham

The greatest poet who ever wrote about rowing is Virgil, the greatest historian is Thucydides, but the greatest imagination ever to turn its attention to the sport is that of painter, Thomas Eakins. — Barry S. Strauss

Like all sports fans, tennis junkies are not satisfied with simply following the current crop of players and admiring their accomplishments. They seemingly always need to compare players of different eras and designate one of them as the greatest player of all time. — Dave McPherson

Surely the greatest tragedy for men in regard to the feminine principle is that their fear alienates them from their own anima, the principle of relatedness, feeling and connection to the life force. This alienation from self obliges alienation from other men as well. Often their only connection with each other comes through superficial talk about outer events, such as sports and politics. — James Hollis

Parents are told to turn off the TV and restrict video game time, but we hear little about what the kids should do physically during their non-electronic time. The usual suggestion is organized sports. But consider this: The obesity epidemic coincides with the greatest increase in organized children's sports in history. — Richard Louv

Ruth was probably the greatest athlete to perform in any sport. Never has there been anybody like him. — George Steinbrenner

It's kind of ironic that the two sports with the greatest characters, boxing and horse racing, have both been on the decline. In both cases it's for the lack of a suitable hero. — Dick Schaap

Only three or four outs directly affect the outcome of any given game ... One of the greatest challenges of pitching is to recognize these critical situations and rise to the occasion with consistency and a competitive spirit. — Tom Seaver

The greatest efforts in sports came when the mind is as still as a glass lake. — Timothy Gallwey

The 1992 US Olympic basketball team is the best sports team ever, the equivalent of rounding up the greatest American writers of the last century or so and watching them collaborate: 'OK, Twain, you do the dialogue and hand off to Faulkner. He'll do the interior monologue. Hemingway will edit - no, don't make that face, you know you overwrite. And be nice to Cheever. He's young, but he's got a good ear. Wharton and Cather can't play - they're girls.' — Anna Quindlen

I'm thrilled, I'm grateful, I'm blessed. I played for the world's greatest professional sports team in history. Once a Dallas Cowboy, always a Dallas Cowboy. — Bob Hayes

Not many people understand what a pump is. It must be experienced to be understood. It is the greatest feeling that I get. I search for this pump because it means that that my muscles will grow when I get it. I get a pump when the blood is running into my muscles. They become really tight with blood. Like the skin is going to explode any minute. It's like someone putting air in my muscles. It blows up. It feels fantastic. — Arnold Schwarzenegger

My greatest memories as a kid were playing sports with my dad and watching sports with my dad. — Mark Teixeira

My greatest influences in my sport have been two former number one English lady darts players, Deta Hedman and Mandy Solomons. Deta helped me at international events and both helped me to cope with the big occasion which gave me the confidence I needed to become a champion. — Trina Gulliver

The one strongest, most important part of my game is that I want to be the best. I won't accept anything less that that. My ability to concentrate and work toward hat goal has been my greatest asset. — Jack Nicklaus

If you've given the greatest effort that you can expect of yourself, you always get what you deserve. — C. Vivian Stringer

The game of basketball has been everything to me. My place of refuge, place I've always gone where I needed comfort and peace. It's been the site of intense pain and the most intense feelings of joy and satisfaction. It's a relationship that has evolved over time, given me the greatest respect and love for the game. — Michael Jordan

Here were these college kids beating the Soviets and going on to the Olympic Gold Medal. To me, that's the greatest upset of all time in any sport that I can think of. — Jim McKay

I wanted to make the world's greatest football undershirt. But I realized that no team sport had equipment for apparel. Apparel was an afterthought. — Kevin Plank

I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don't think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete. — Wayne Gretzky

Strive for perfection - never be content with mediocrity. You don't win until you conquer the little flaws. You don't beat these great ones until your form is perfect. This is true in all of life. A flaw in a product can ruin a business. A personal failing, a little one, can ruin a person's life. Don't be content with mediocrity - strive to live up to the greatest within you. — Bob Richards