“So when I hear a guy after a game-winning home run say or gesture that God was on his side, I think to myself, 'He's saying God screwed the pitcher.” ThinkingHomeRunningGuyGamesWinningSidesGesturesPitcherHome Run Book:The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results Source: The Power of Negative Thinking: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results
“I think that it's perhaps harder to learn from victory than it is from defeat. I think that we don't want defeat. We don't want defeat in sport. We don't want defeat in life. How are we going to be beaten? All right. We have to deal with those things. What's going to cause us to lose the game, whatever the game might be?” ThinkingWantMightGamesCausesSportsLosesDealsVictoryHarderDefeatBeaten Author:Bobby Knight
“We talk in coaching about "winners" - kids, and I've had a lot of them, who just will not allow themselves or their team to lose. Coaches call that a will to win. I don't. I think that puts the emphasis in the wrong place. Everybody has a will to win. What's far more important is having the will to prepare to win.” ThinkingImportantKidsWinningLosesTeamCoachesWinnerCoachingEmphasisWill To Win Author:Bobby Knight
“Well, I think it's pretty much established that I just didn't have any interest in coaching in the pros.” ThinkingWellsSportsInterestCoaching Author:Bobby Knight
“As I've said, basketball has been, I think, a real cooperative venture. There have been a lot of people that have been involved in it: coaches, administrators - not recently - fans and nobody, nobody any more so than students over the years.” PeopleThinkingYearsHas BeensSaidRealSportsFansStudentsInvolvedBasketballCoachesVentureCooperativesAdministrators Author:Bobby Knight
“I think that to stop an offense, you must go to the heart of that offense. If it is a particular move, a screen, the break, an outstanding scorer, whatever it is that they like to do and rely on, you have to work in your plans on taking that completely or as much as possible away from them.” IfsThinkingHeartMovingBreakPlansParticularBasketballScreensRelyCoachingOffenseOutstandingBasketball Coaching Author:Bobby Knight
“Perform drills that force your players to think” ThinkingForcePlayerBasketballNbaDrills Author:Bobby Knight
“A quick way for any player to make himself better is to think about what he himself doesn't like to play against” ThinkingWayPlayPlayerBasketballNba Author:Bobby Knight
“I think that we as a people are always prone to think about, well, tomorrow will be a better day. Well, why will it be a better day? And I think the more that we believe in doing things better, doing the right thing rather than hoping that that's going to happen, let's make it happen.” PeopleThinkingBelieveWellsHappensTomorrowRight ThingMake It HappenDoing The Right ThingBetter Days Author:Bobby Knight
“When I first started coaching, one of the worst things that I think I heard was 'It will be O.K.' I would wonder, 'How the hell is it going to be O.K.?' The worst word in the English language is 'hope.'” ThinkingFirstsLanguageWonderHellHeardWorstCoachingWorst ThingsEnglish Language Author:Bobby Knight
“I'm not sure that an athlete is prepared to be a role model. He has a lot of attention paid to him that he shouldn't have, and then the athletes tend to think of themselves as better than they are.” ThinkingAttentionRolesBasketballModelsPaidPreparedAthleteNot SureRole Models Author:Bobby Knight
“I think the ability to motivate might be interpreted as the ability to lead, or to show people their goals or, perhaps more important, what their potential is - as a person as well as a player. You've got to show players that being part of a team will carry over to the experience of becoming part of society.” PeopleThinkingWellsPersonsImportantShowsMightSportsGoalAbilityPlayerTeamBecoming Author:Bobby Knight
