They said it, and I quote!!

Dean Smith, former North Carolina basketball coach:

"Once a year an athlete may be made insufferable by praise. Every other day in the year a deserving athlete will drop out of a sport for want of a word of praise."

Bob Bruce, Former Senior PGA Pro:

"I used to play with a guy who was such an inveterate cheat that when he made a hole-in-one he wrote down 0 on his scorecard"

Ara Parseghian, former Notre Dame football coach:

"The best time to make friends is before you need them."

Father Hesburgh, Notre Dame:

"Ten years after the average athlete graduates, everyone will have forgotten when and where he played, but every time he opens his mouth, everyone will know whether he was educated." 

Kay Yow, former NC State women's basketball coach:

"It's important for your team to know what you stand for and what you won't stand for."

Chuck Noll, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach:

 "Coaches who scrimmage all the time probably don't know what to practice."

Bryan Lewis, NHL referee after Tiger Williams, former NHL tough guy skated over to him and said:

"Look at Walker and Schultz hammering each other. Add up their IQ's and it wouldn't come to 11." 

Lewis: "Why don't you jump in and make it an even dozen?"

Dale Brown, former LSU basketball coach:

"How come the NCAA needs a 500 page manual when the Ten Commandments can fit on a 3x5 card?"

Time Magazine 8/25/1961 edition, on umpires:

"The umpire should combine the integrity of a Supreme Court judge, the physical Agility of an acrobat, the endurance of Job, and the heart of a serial killer."

Frank Deford on Keyshawn Johnson:

"Before they made Keyshawn, they should have broken the mold."

Mickey Rivers, after hearing Reggie Jackson brag that he had a 140 IQ:

"Out of what? A thousand?"

Lou Piniella, on an argument he had with an umpire:

"I cussed him out in Spanish and he threw me out in English."

Vin Scully, recalling Tommy Lasorda's reaction after Jack Clark's 9th inning HR eliminates the Dodgers from 1985 playoffs:

"Tommy Lasorda looked up to the Big Dodger in the sky and cried 'Why me?' and the Big Dodger in the sky replied: 'Because you should have walked him, dummy'"