“There was a beauty here bigger than the hurtling beauty of basketball, a beauty refined from country pastures, a game of solitariness, of waiting, waiting for the pitcher to complete his gaze toward first base and throw his lightning, a game whose very taste, of spit and dust and grass and sweat and leather and sun, was America.” FirstsCountryAmericaGamesWaitingSunTasteBasketballBaseballBiggerDustGrassSweatLightningPitcherLeatherSpitRefinedPastures Book:Rabbit Redux Source: Rabbit Redux
“Being named as a finalist for the USA Basketball National Team is an unbelievable feeling and an opportunity that is truly humbling. It is an honor to be included with such talented players and I look forward to the chance to represent my country this summer.” LooksCountryFeelingsOpportunityChancePlayerTeamHonorBasketballSummerUsaUnbelievableHumblingNational Team Author:James Harden
“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.” PeopleKnowsShouldMindCountryTodayPoliticsNamesSportsNumbersMillionsPlayerFootballTvsBasketballLettersBaseballStrategyRadioFollowingChinaCoachesNewspapersTeaSpectators Author:Frank Nugent
“Baseball is like cricket, and I grew up in a country where they had cricket. So I understand cricket, soccer and basketball. I played basketball at the club level and a little bit in college, so thats why Im a basketball fanatic.” LittlesCountryBitsLevelsCollegeGrewBasketballLittle BitGrew UpBaseballClubsSoccerCricketFanatics Author:Patrick Soon-Shiong
“There are lots of things that I will probably never experience in this life. Military combat. Being dictator of a small central American country. Dunking a basketball. Being a famous rock star. Or walking on Mars. But one thing I have been, and will always be, is an entrepreneur.” Has BeensCountryStarsOne ThingRocksMilitaryWalkingBasketballEntrepreneurThis LifeCombatDictatorMarsRock StarDunking Author:Michael Arrington
“We're a country here, that if you take a picture of what America looks like, you can do It in a football stadium or a basketball court and you see all different kinds of Americans There. We're pretty proud of that, the different looking Americans that are still Americans.” KindDifferentCountryFootballLike YouProudBasketballDifferent KindsYou Can Do It Author:Steve King
“There is still an assumption among many people that to be black is to be lower class. In the last fifteen to twenty years, perhaps even further back than that, there's also been an explosion of a very wealthy black class in the United States, but those people are often treated as special cases: they're athletes, entertainers. Jay-Z. Basketball players. The country metabolizes the fact these rich black people exist, but it seems only to reinforce the idea that every other black person is limping along in poverty.” PeopleCountryBlackPovertyRichPlayerSpecialBasketballAthleteAssumptionWealthyBlack PeopleBasketball Player Author:Ayana Mathis
“Remember, half the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their class.” CountryRememberHalfClassBasketballDoctorsBottomGraduation Author:Al McGuire
“I've now been in this country for thirteen years, since I was seventeen. So this is my second home.” YearsCountryHomeBasketballThirteenSeventeen Author:Hakeem Olajuwon
“The old lessons (work, self-discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, fighting to achieve) aren't being taught by many people other than football coaches these days. The football coach has a captive audience and can teach these lessons because the communication lines between himself and his players are more wide open than between kids and parents. We better teach these lessons or else the country's future population will be made up of a majority of crooks, drug addicts, or people on relief.” PeopleBelieveMadeSelfCountryKidsFightingParentLeadershipLinesTeachAudiencePlayerSacrificeAchieveFootballTaughtCommunicationDisciplineLessonsDrugBasketballMajorityPopulationWideCoachesThese DaysCoachingReliefNbaTeamworkSelf DisciplineAddictCaptivesDrug AddictCrooksFootball Coach Author:Bear Bryant
“We may not be the best conditioned team in the country, but our players think they are.” ThinkingMayCountryPlayerTeamBasketballCoachingBeing The BestBasketball Coaching Author:John Wooden