Quote of your career...

Standing on the sideline at the Florida state football championships, the entire Glades Central High side of the stadium was packed. One of the assistants looked up at the crowd and said, "I hope the last one out of Belle Glade turned the lights out."

 

Hall of Fame trainer and Hall of Fame quote Nick Zito, before the 2009 Travers at Saratoga.

Key: "Birds" refers to Belmont winner Summer Bird and Derby winner Mine That Bird; "Cliff" is Zito's horse, The Cliff's Edge. Mine That Bird scratched before the draw; Summer Bird eventually won the race.

Confused? Read on:

"Now, instead of two 'Birds' and a 'Cliff,' there's only one 'Bird' and a 'Cliff.' I wish there were two 'Birds' and the 'Cliff.' How does that saying go? A bird in the hand? There were two 'Birds' and one 'Cliff' and now there's just one 'Bird' and one 'Cliff', and no bush."

 

I wonder what the quotes are like if you cover the AVN Awards?

 

More Nick Zito:

"Do you sit up at night? Of course, in your head ... that is not good, that is what is called bondage, that is when you put yourself in bondage and you can't escape ... you got anxiety, you got this ... we are human and you have to let it go, but it's hard to let it go, there is a lot of frustration. Let me tell you something, trust me, a 9-to-5 job ain't too bad sometimes, right or wrong? That is what the deal is, right or wrong?"

 

Greg Cronin, the former hockey coach at Northeastern, had a lot of quirky ones.

"We have talent, and just like I tell the guys all the time, talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller blades, there’s a lot of movement but there is no definitive direction." Forget where when this was, and I wasn't actually at the presser, but remember reading it in the story.

And after beating UMass in the 2009 conference quarterfinals,he was asked about the student turn out for the series, where the games weren't free like regular season was.

He said something along the lines of "Well ten dollars for weekend tickets..that's a few beers over at [local campus bar], so that says something about them coming out.

 

Local girls basketball coach was also an English teacher and aspiring writer. Often gave out wordy, even poetic answers, especially when frustrated. One that comes to mind went something like: "Where we should have had senior leadership we instead had a vast, yawning chasm."

One of my favorite quotes ever was given to a friend, who covered courts and cops. Local sheriff (a long-suspected scumbag) was being sued by a former secretary or something for sexual harassment. My buddy called him for comment on the suit.

"You know, I've got no comment." ... And then, because stupid is as stupid does. ... "I've just got nothing to say about that b---h."

Of course he printed it, expletive deleted, and said sheriff was soon out of office.

 

I once asked a Nevada high school football coach how long he planned on staying as the coach in this one town, which is located in a rural part of the state. His response:

"I'm an old Montana hick. If they want to get rid of me, all they have to do is put in a stoplight."

 

The fantasticness of this had to be noted.

 

I was the new guy at my old shop and walked in the basketball coach's office after a loss:

"Where's the hot chick with the tits? I want to talk to the hot chick with the tits."

(Talking about the former sports reporter)

 

TV division: covering a shooting in a not-terribly-nice section of town, aired this soundbite from a teenage girl describing the scene:

"Alls I know is, homeboy come 'round the corner, pulls out a strap, and starts dumpin.'"

 

Legendary Texas high school football coach, on his team's winless season:

"You can't make chicken salad out of chicken S***."

 

A former Division I women's basketball coach told me "It's impossible to keep 15 women happy."