Reflections from the greats

It is a time of reflection, as Lent usually is. It’s also the time of year when even the leisure of sport takes a break, and we try to still ourselves, or at the very least, head out of town.

But before we do that, I’d like to share some of the quotes from the great minds of sports that have helped me learn much of life, particularly when there is precious little to do except think.

"The key to any game is to see your strengths and hide your weaknesses," says coach and former NBA All-Star Paul Westphal. "More than anything I’m the best judge of what I can do and what I can’t do."

The fathomless (and often abrasive) Howard Cosell, as always, had a kilometric contribution: "Victory on the scoreboard is a nice thing, but it is not the ultimate victory. The ultimate victory in competition derives from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best, and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give. Always be honest with yourself."

Boston Celtics great John Havlicek’s thoughts are in a similar vein.

"If you are honest with yourself and can look into a mirror and believe that you have given 100 percent, you should feel proud. If you cannot, then there is more work to be done. In some cases, successful people never reach the point of feeling they have given 100 percent. Therefore, the task and work is endless."

"Be honest and work hard to get what you want," says Major League coach and first baseman Willie Stargell. "Don’t take short cuts; you only cheat yourself in the long run. Success is not measured by money or fame, but by how you feel about your own goals and accomplishments and the time and effort you put into them."

A great paradox is espoused in turn by college football coach Joe Paterno when he says "We need people who influence their peers and who cannot be detoured from their convictions by peers who do not have the courage to have any convictions."

Here’s more on being uniquely your own person, from someone who carved his own path.

"I enjoy competition and I was brought up to win every point," declares tennis legend and former world’s number one player John McEnroe. "I just can’t be what you call a crowd-pleaser. I have to be me."

Major League outfielder and eventual manager Frank Robinson agreed.

"It’s fine to look up to and learn from the best, not only in sports but in anything you’re striving to achieve — in school, in a career or in your relationship with others," he once said. "But whatever it is, your first responsibility is to be the best you can. There’s nobody else like you, so why try to be like somebody else?"

"You don’t know what you can do, and with drugs, you’ll never find out," believes three-time Olympic athletics gold medalist Evelyn Ashford. "I believe in women. I believe in myself. I believe in my body. I believe I can run faster not using drugs than people can using drugs, because that’s the way I was put here. I don’t want to be around people who even look at drugs. It’s all up in your head. Whatever muscles I have are the product of my own hard work — nothing else."

Catcher Johnny Bench talks about the importance of having a mindset that you cannot be swayed from.

"There are too many false things in the world, and I don’t want to be a part of them," affirms Bench, who became a broadcaster after his playing career. "If you say what you think, you’re called cocky or conceited. But if you have an objective in life, you shouldn’t be afraid to stand up and say it. In the second grade, they asked us what we wanted to be. I said I wanted to be a ballplayer and they laughed. In the eighth grade, they asked the same question, and I said a ballplayer and they laughed a little more. By the eleventh grade, no one was laughing."

Fittingly, I’d like to end this piece with a quote on class from perhaps the most accomplished and dignified college coach in basketball history: UCLA’s John Wooden.

"Class is an intangible quality which commands, rather than demands, the respect of others. This is because those who have it are truly considerate of others, are courteous and polite without being subservient, are not disagreeable when they disagree, are good listeners, and are at peace with themselves because they do not knowingly do wrong. In short, a person with class might well be defined as one who practices "The Golden Rule" in both his personal and professional life."

Have a peaceful week.