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| I came here tonight, and I didn't know what to expect.1 I don't know what to say, really.2 We're way past big speech time,3 let's all gather round. I'm not much for giving inspirational addresses.4 I have only come up with two hard incontrovertible facts: There is a God, and I'm not Him.5 There's a force in the universe that makes things happen. All you have to do is get in touch with it. Stop thinking. Let things happen and6 you're gonna eat lightning and you're gonna crap thunder. You're gonna become a very dangerous person.7 Eye of the tiger.8 Now that's class.9 It's not enough. Rely on your gift alone and you're gonna fail. You gotta develop yourself. The secret is confidence and concentration. You got them, you don't need much else.10 Take your time. Be patient. Be patient.11 When it comes to books, I'm not really that smart.12 Shinto philosophy teaches you to accept life as a seasonal occupation.13 The Zen philosopher, Basho, once wrote: A flute with no holes is not a flute, and14 bees and dogs can smell fear.15 You're becoming one with fear.16 People have to live their own lives. Nobody can live it for you.17 This is where it all happens.18 You just got lesson No. 1: Don't think19 you're going to live forever.20 Take a lesson from the dead.21 Everybody'd be nice to you if they knew you were dying.22 I don't know, nobody likes to think about it. I don't like to think about it. But if you don't, you might go through life thinking you've got plenty of time and you put off the really important stuff until later. Pretty soon, before you know it -- there's no more time left. You've blown it.23 It goes fast. Don't sleep. Don't waste a second of it. Because before you know it -- it's done. Nothing but babies and memories ... you hear me? Babies and memories.24 Don't get caught watching the paint dry.25 That's right. Or in the words of Jean-Paul Sartre: "Au revoir, gopher."26 I would like to relieve you of the fears and anxieties which are so inherently symptomatic of a losing team.27 You can get through college half-assed. ... You can get through life half-assed. But I'll guarantee28 you wake up after a few years thinking you're a winner, but you're not. You're really a loser.29 All the arguing in the world can't change the decision of the umpire.30 What are you trying to prove? What's it prove?31 You're nothing but a small-time Charlie.32 I do know this: A foul is not a foul unless the referee blows the whistle.33 So I've got that going for me ... which is nice.34 It's time to put away childish things.35 Show me the money36 and winner take all.37 Every sucker for himself.38 You gotta look to the future. You can't build on what you don't got.39 No time to waste.40 Now, the golden years are behind you.41 Nothing's ever gonna be the same again.42 Well, I've got news for you43, you wanna dance, you gotta pay the band.44 All of us, we dig our own holes.45 You gotta go for all the answers.46 There is no tomorrow.47 Right about now your bladder feels like an overstuffed vacuum cleaner bag, and your butt is kind of like an about-to-explode bratwurst.48 It's only your life.49 Don't make a joke of your life.50 Exhausted? Good. Get used to it. From now on it's gonna be more of the same.51 Stay in school and use your brain. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, carry a leather briefcase. Forget about sports as a profession. Sports make you grunt and smell. See, be a thinker, not a stinker.52 For it is money they have and peace they lack.53 It's OK to think about what you want to do until it was time to start doing what you were meant to do.54 You know, like anything can be great. Anything can be great. I don't care. Bricklaying can be great.55 The world needs ditchdiggers, too.56 It's a good day to think about responsibility.57 People who confuse brains and luck can get in a whole lot of trouble. Seeing through the game is not the same as winning the game.58 A breakthrough. Breakdown? Breakthrough.59 I have to laugh, because I've often asked myself, my foe, my enemy, is an animal. In order to conquer him, I have to60 go the distance.61 I'm talking about wanting things in life. I'm talking about having dreams. And all that starts right here.62 Having dreams is what makes life tolerable.63 You don't have dreams, you don't have anything.64 Let them play!65 You hear me?66 Can you be perfect?67 Are you afraid to try?68 What's can't? There ain't no can't.69 Why don't you just step up and play the hero?70 Anything worth doing is worth doing right.71 We're always looking for excuses.72 Let's pretend ... we're real human beings.73 We analyze, we theorize, prosthetize, sometimes we even sympathize, but we never, never rationalize.74 Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small, I mean, one half a step too late, or too early, and you don't quite make it, one half a second too slow or too fast you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us.75 In this life, you don't have to prove nothing to nobody but yourself.76 If you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential to be the best that you can be77, that's heroic. Let's be heroes.78 Buckle up my friend. You're about to embark on a great adventure.79 I want you to put each other in your hearts forever -- because forever is about to happen here in just a few minutes.80 That's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?81 I guess there's only one thing left to do.82 Hey, I don't have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I've failed as much as I've succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you, my kind of successes.83 This is your time. Now go out there and take it84 ... and no one can ever take it away.85 Victoire! Victoire!86 USA! USA! USA!87 |
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1 Rocky Balboa, Rocky IV 2 Tony D'Amato, Any Given Sunday 3 Norman Dale, Hoosiers 4 Lou Brown, Major League 5 Father Cavanaugh, Rudy 6 Ty Webb, Caddyshack 7 Mickey Goldmill, Rocky 8 Apollo Creed, Rocky III 9 Rocky Balboa, Rocky II 10 Ed Hobbs, The Natural 11 Norman Dale, Hoosiers 12 Henry Steele, One on One 13 David Sommers, American Flyers 14 Ty Webb, Caddyshack 15 Ray Boyd, Jerry Maguire 16 Hitchhiker, American Flyers 17 Lou Gehrig, Pride of the Yankees 18 Cletus, Hoosiers 19 Crash Davis, Bull Durham 20 Buck Weaver, Eight Men Out 21 Herman Boone, Remember The Titans 22 Bruce Pearson, Bang The Drum Slowly 23 Louden Swain, Vision Quest 24 Brian, Friday Night Lights 25 Shooter Flatch, Hoosiers 26 Carl Spackler, Caddyshack 27 Dr. Knobb, The Natural 28 Pete Bell, Blue Chips 29 Rocky Balboa, Rocky III 30 Lou Gehrig, Pride of the Yankees 31 Joey La Motta, Raging Bull 32 Eddie Felson, The Hustler 33 Lavada McRae, Blue Chips 34 Carl Spackler, Caddyshack 35 Phil Elliott, North Dallas Forty 36 Rod Tidwell, Jerry Maguire 37 Roy Hobbs, The Natural 38 Ned Braden, Slap Shot 39 Gus Sands, The Natural 40 Apollo Creed, Rocky III 41 Joe McGrath, Slap Shot 42 Kuch, Vision Quest 43 Terrence Mann, Field of Dreams 44 Rocky Balboa, Rocky 45 Gary Gaines, Friday Night Lights 46 Kuch, Vision Quest 47 Apollo Creed, Rocky III 48 Ernie McCracken, Kingpin 49 Jake Taylor, Major League 50 Dorothy Boyd, Jerry Maguire 51 Raymond Stoller, Breaking Away 52 Apollo Creed, Rocky 53 Terrence Mann, Field of Dreams 54 Jim Morris Sr., The Rookie 55 Eddie Felson, The Hustler 56 Judge Elihu Smails, Caddyshack 57 Gary Gaines, Friday Night Lights 58 Conrad Hunter, North Dallas Forty 59 Jerry Maguire, Jerry Maguire 60 Carl Spackler, Caddyshack 61 The Voice, Field of Dreams 62 Jimmy Morris, The Rookie 63 Pete, Rudy 64 Jimmy Morris, The Rookie 65 Mike Leak, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training 66 Jake La Motta, Raging Bull 67 Gary Gaines, Friday Night Lights 68 Pyrie, Victory 69 Mickey Goldmill, Rocky II 70 Jules Harbor, Varsity Blues 71 Jimmy Dugan, A League of Their Own 72 Marcus Sommers, American Flyers 73 Ty Webb, Caddyshack 74 Dennis Conrad, American Flyers 75 Tony D'Amato, Any Given Sunday 76 Fortune, Rudy 77 Norman Dale, Hoosiers 78 Jonathon Moxon, Varsity Blues 79 Roy Munson, Kingpin 80 Gary Gaines, Friday Night Lights 81 Tony D'Amato, Any Given Sunday 82 Jake Taylor, Major League 83 Dicky Fox, Jerry Maguire 84 Herb Brooks, Miracle 85 Jonathon Moxon, Varsity Blues 86 Crowd, Victory 87 Crowd, Miracle |
Mike Philbrick is an editor for Page 2. You can reach him at michael.w.philbrick@espn3.com