If you talk, you only repeat something that you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something that you don't know.
— Bud Grant
If winning or losing is going to define your life, you're on a rough road.
If you have time to be with a dog, and the dog is smart, you come to understand the dog, and the dog understands you. They're not hard to train. But they have to be smart, and you have to spend time with them. It's like coaching. I was a better coach when I had smart players.
I happened to be in a position in Superior where I could play three sports, and when I came to Minnesota, I had the understanding they would allow me to play three sports. Kids now don't have the same amount of time. You have coaches that think baseball is 10 months a year. Hockey is 11 or 12 months a year.
If you're a coach, you've got to have a lot of confidence in what you're doing. Your egos are so large that you know it all anyway if you're a coach.
Come September, the middle of September when the first frost comes, that's hunting season. Fishing poles are hung up and the hunting season starts. You've got to be careful, if you're a hunter, that it doesn't become an obsession.
Well 'Monday Night Football,' I think the players kind of like it because they like the attention, and it's a lot of attention. But on the other hand, it's a disruption of the routine we used to have to play on Monday night. If you're a player, you sit around all day waiting for a game. It's different than when you play at noon.
We never had anybody who froze to death playing football. You probably had somebody who died from heat stroke playing football.
The day after high school, I was off to basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Station. You gotta understand, we didn't care about sports. We wanted to win the war. We wanted to win the war! And at the time, we didn't know if we would.
At some point, we're going to have to get to the point where, before you play football, I'm going to test you at some stage in your life to determine if you're susceptible to concussions. We need a test that shows us that your brain is situated a certain way that puts you at risk. If you are susceptible, don't play football.
You have to remember one thing: Football is entertainment; it's not life or death. Once the game is over, you're already talking about next year and the draft. It's just entertainment.
Over the years, I've always had one Labrador and usually two. I've had some great dogs, and I've had some dogs that didn't work out. I found them good homes and gave them away.
You're imprinted in high school more than any other point in your life.
Being cold for a short period of time is not life-threatening. You can perform a task when you're cold. We proved that when the Vikings played outside.
First of all the name, and the color purple, I think those two things distinguish the Vikings as much as anything. You go anywhere in the country and say 'Vikings,' they know exactly where you are. You say 'Cardinals,' well, Cardinals who? There are a dozen Cardinals teams in the country in professional and amateur sports.
Being cold is not debilitating. We learned that from the Eskimos. They could be cold, and they could function. And you could function better when you're cold than when you're hot. I mean, hot, you become overheated, and, you know, you lose energy. If you're cold, you could function being cold. Now, frozen is different.
There was a prison uprising at Alcatraz, and I drove the Marines over there in a landing craft to quell the riot. I am the only serviceman I know with an American Theatre ribbon.
It's not an exercise on how to avoid getting hit. I think there are certain safety measures that take care of the mental part of it, with players not looking to hit somebody in the head. They've done that. But let's not take the entertainment value out of football.
Now, with Annie gone, I'm looking for a new dog. I have a lot of duck hunting planned, and I can't imagine doing it without a dog. I'm 84, so I won't get a puppy.
Legislators are interested in their pet projects, getting re-elected, and popularity contests.
Some of the most innovative things in football I see at high school games. It's not the play - it's when you run it. The right time.
The quarterback is the most vulnerable one on the field. He's in an awkward position a lot of times when he throws the ball. So he does have to be protected. You lose a quarterback, you're in trouble. I don't know if they can make it too safe. I think health becomes an issue.
'Monday Night Football' has the good and the bad points. The bad point is you have to wait around all day, and it disrupts your schedule for the next week. Now you have one less day to prepare for the following week.
Cold is a state of mind.
I never use the word 'hero' in sports. Hero is way above 'star.' I save 'star' for sports. Sports is entertainment; that's all it is.
