It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

He said, 'Gosh, Dad, that mean's we're not going to any more bowl games.'
(on his 11-year-old son's reaction read more

He said, 'Gosh, Dad, that mean's we're not going to any more bowl games.'
(on his 11-year-old son's reaction after he took the job with the Boilermakers)

If I weren't earning $3 million a year to dunk a basketball, most people on the street would run in read more

If I weren't earning $3 million a year to dunk a basketball, most people on the street would run in the other direction if they saw me coming.

Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject.
(recounting what he told a player read more

Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject.
(recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D)

Athletes have studied how to leap and how to survive the leap some of the time and return to the read more

Athletes have studied how to leap and how to survive the leap some of the time and return to the ground. They don't always do it well. But they are our philosophers of actual moments and the body and soul in them, and of our maneuvers in our emergencies and longings.

I'll be back.
(five days after being pummeled in his fight with Mike Tyson.)

I'll be back.
(five days after being pummeled in his fight with Mike Tyson.)

Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best.

Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best.

Nobody roots for Goliath.

Nobody roots for Goliath.

It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf.

It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf.