please. i had that on my aim profile.

anyone catch the sportscenter interview with stanford football coach jim harbaugh?

well, first of all, he looked really confused about the whole thing. not that i'm judging. i mean, i wouldn't want espn to interview me. [lie. i totally would.] and it's not that i don't appreciate his beating usc, because ohhh, i do.

but, in answer to "what was the key to winning the game?" here's what he said.

[glance down] well, that our players decided that they could win. so many times in life, so many people tell you no, until it becomes a hundred cant's, a hundred no's, you can't do this, you're not big enough, you're not fast enough, you're not strong enough... until finally our football team said yes, and all those no's and cant's became meaningless, last night in the coliseum.

now, i have seen that before.

all your life you are told the things you cannot do. all your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough. they'll say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. they will tell you no, a thousand times no. until all the no's become meaningless. all your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.
they will tell you no.
and you will tell them yes.

who remembers this from the greatest nike ad ever? i mean, i think i still have the original page torn out from a magazine. SO BADASS. but i don't know how i feel about just randomly quoting it on sportscenter.

unless, of course, it's up on the wall of your training room and it gets stuck in your head. in that case, all i have to say is THE HARDER YOU WORK, THE HARDER IT IS TO SURRENDER!!!




while i was looking up the nike ad, i found this. i think it's from my first visit home from college. aww. so classic. as was seeing mike last summer and realizing that i'm now older than he was when he started coaching us.

me: mike, is my technique on a downward spiral?
mike: you could say that.
joe: that would imply that you were once on a peak.
me: that was when you were coaching me. that was my peak!
joe: oh. you were pretty rough then. i haven't seen you row now, but...
me: at least i had some leg drive.
joe: that can't be coached.
me: i need to get good in the next week and a half.
mike: you're carrying your blade too low on the water. that's where all your problems start.
me: that's how they wanted me to row at school!
mike: well, i wouldn't do that.

is it weird that this all makes me kind of nostalgic?