Quote of your career...

Can't top the Ted Williams quote, and won't try, but the most memorable quote in my experience was uttered by Vernon Holland, an offensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Anticipating that he was about to be displaced by the young Anthony Munoz -- good guess -- Holland told me he had dreamed he had been traded.

Naturally, I asked about his destination.

"I couldn't tell what color the suits were," he said. "I dream in black and white."

 

i was doing a feature on this 75-year-old guy dying of cancer. some folks had set up a deal where he could stand in against a major league pitcher just to see what it's like to see a major league curve and fastball.
I asked him what are some of the other things he'd like to do.
"I always wanted to go to a whorehouse -- you know, the kind where you sit around with drinks and they bring out the girls and they parade in front of you. I don't even know if they still have those."
later, he repeated it to the major league pitcher.
"I can't help you there," the pitcher said.
Needless to say, it didn't make the story.

 

"Fastball, (waist) high" is how it read in the story.

"Fastball, cock high," is how Grant Jackson described the pitch he allowed the game-winning homer on.

This might out me if one or two certain people are here, but I don't think they are and this is about 20 years ago, so ...

I was covering an NBA team. The team I covered traded a tall, skinny, unathletic center known for being too passive for a young, athletic forward. In one of the first games after the trade, the new forward comes up with a loose ball near the free throw line. As he looks for a guard to pass the ball to, the defense drops off him expecting a pass and leaves the lane open. The new guy takes one dribble and two steps and WHAM! slam-dunks the ball with great authority. The crowd goes wild. The coach who also the team's VP of basketball operations so he did the trade, too. He turns to us writers at the table next to the bench and says "(Old guy's name) didn't do that a lot."

 

my second week at my first job, I'm interviewing some guy about some invention he got a patent for, and it led to this exchange:

me: so how did you come up with the idea for your invention?

him: God gave it to me in a vision.

me: ok

him: it wasn't the first time God's given me visions

me: what else have you had visions of?

him: remember 9/11?

me: yeah

him: God gave me a vision of that, too.

 

What'd you say to that?

 

I asked him about it and he gave me this long, rambling explanation of why he moved from New York in 1991 because he had some vision of something bad happening.

 

Great stuff. I've been basically a career-long copy editor, so about the only thing I have to contribute is that I was doing a little feature on former Braves prospect Wonderful Monds III, and I left a message for him to call me. I answer the phone and he says, "This is Wonderful." Muy surreal.

 

this one happened to my SE, but i was in the office.

Coach calls to report his prep basketball team's score. They lost, yet again.
Pays lip service to his opponent.
"They're a well-coached team," he says. "That's what we hope to be someday."

 

Best one I remember at this point was from an interview in 2007 with retired rodeo star Ty Murray. Working in the rodeo industry for the last 11 years, I've interviewed him many times. He has good and bad days when it comes to the media. But this particular day we were sitting in the living room of his Texas ranch while now wife Jewel was writing songs for a new album in the next room.

“There are some young guys who’ve grown up watching the Professional Bull Roders who have stars in their eyes. They need to know that whenever you do something for the wrong reasons, it’s going to show. It’s like being a musician. If you want to be successful, it’s got to be about the music. To be a cowboy you have to love being around horses, bulls and livestock. The difference is if you’re a musician and you’re doing it for the wrong reasons, you’re just going to suck. If you’re a bull rider for the wrong reasons, you might get killed."

 

American Legion manager early in career tries a bases loaded hit and run with no outs in a playoff game.

The bases were loaded because the pitcher stunk got wrecked on three straight line drives and the No. 4 hitter had already hit a home run. It turns into a triple play when there is a line drive to second who steps on second base. The 1st and third runners get back. he was coaching third at the time and tells the kid to go home after tagging up. He gets thrown out at the plate.

They eventually won the game.

Me: Jamie, that hit and run...

Jamie: "Nope, nope nope, the coaching was shit. It was a shit call. This is my first year, I got the job when xxxx coach left before the season. I don't know what I am doing."

He gets in the car with the player who hit the ball and they go to an Ozzfest if I recall. Manager had to have been 24.

Never forget that.

 

Thanks for sharing, rockstar. :

 

Crap, I'm starting to think I don't have nearly as many great quotes as everyone else.

Mine's too serious, but I think it would be this, at least at this point (I'm still a youngin, so I've got time to get better ones)

"I saw my life flash before me in a newspaper article. I remember trying to escape the helicopter as it was sinking; I just started swimming toward the light," said Bruno, who suffered a broken leg in the crash. "When I got to the surface, I started checking to see if I could wiggle my toes and checked to see if my teeth were there, and then said, 'Thank God I could still fight.'"