Photo: Nina MatthewsContinuing with my requests for famous quotations and sayings that might make it into the next edition of The Yale Book of Quotations, I’d like now to ask for memorable recent (or not-so-recent) words of wit or wisdom from the sports world.
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Attributed to Bruce McLaren, Steve McQueen and others: “Racing is life; everything else is just waiting.”
Michael Waltrip (NASCAR): “In our sport, if you go out of bounds you’re likely not coming back.”
Mark Martin (NASCAR), explaining why he crashed: “I ran out of talent before I ran out of nerve.”
Alan Hansen a football (soccer) pundit in the UK claimed after Manchester United lost an early game “You can’t win anything with kids”….. Of course United went on to win the league that year.
“Only fruits wear earrings”
Marge Schott
Luis Polonia, after being traded from the Yankees to the Angels: “The New York Yankees are only interested in one thing – and I have no idea what that is.”
I don;t know the origin, but I’d love to know who first spoke of “Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat” and also I’d like to know who first changed it around and talked about “Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory”
“This was fun, but it’s gonna get a whole lot funner.”
- Roy Halliday, after the Phillies clinced the NL East 9/26/10.
I’d say pitching the 2nd no-hitter in playoff history qualifies as “funner”
“I’m taking my talents to South Beach”
When speaking in his tribute match, Diego Armando Maradona said something regarding his turbulent personal life: “the ball does not get stain” (“la pelota no se mancha”). For most Argentineans, this is one of the single most popular quotes in history.