12-08-2020, 10:47 AM
Plus Ricky Bobby said "If you're not first, you're last."
While I have respect for both Bobby and Lombardi, I don't particularly agree with their winning-is-the-only-thing mentality. I prefer this quote by Paulo Coelho: "You are not defeated when you lose. You are defeated when you quit."
Obviously I wanted--and expected--Stanford to beat UW last Saturday. But that's not what made me proudest about the team. It's that they didn't quit in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. And I know that they will take the same never-quit attitude to Corvallis. Would I be happier if Stanford were undefeated? Of course. But I don't know that I would be prouder.
While I have respect for both Bobby and Lombardi, I don't particularly agree with their winning-is-the-only-thing mentality. I prefer this quote by Paulo Coelho: "You are not defeated when you lose. You are defeated when you quit."
Obviously I wanted--and expected--Stanford to beat UW last Saturday. But that's not what made me proudest about the team. It's that they didn't quit in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. And I know that they will take the same never-quit attitude to Corvallis. Would I be happier if Stanford were undefeated? Of course. But I don't know that I would be prouder.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)