Quotes About Football

Back in the 1930s, when men with handlebar moustaches played football in long johns and tails, and the ball was a spherical clod of bitumen, did fans weep in the stands when their team lost? No. They limited their responses to a muttered 'blast' or a muted 'hurrah' before going home to smoke a pipe and lean on the mantelpiece.

I remember my dad, who coached football, would buy some of his players football shoes when they couldn't afford it.

To be sure, every football play is in a sense a short narrative. First come the signals of the quarterback. That is the preliminary exposition. Then the plot thickens, action becomes intense and a climax is reached whereby the mood of tragedy or comedy is established.

Homecoming means football, festivities, and friendship.

Things don't always go your way in football: there are always good and bad times. At the end of the day, you have to have a positive attitude and a strong mentality and not let any setbacks get you down. And that's what I've done – I've tried to keep my composure, even when things aren't going the way I'd like.

College football would be more interesting if the faculty played instead of the students - there would be a great increase in broken arms, legs and necks.

I think [Colin Kaepernick] is getting a raw deal. I've been watching pro ball a long time, and if you look at all the quarterbacks in the league right now. I think you have to say he is 1-2-3-4 ... I don't think anybody can do the things he can do. I just wish somebody would open up and give him a chance to do this thing and say hey, he's entitled to whatever he did, and let's forget about it. Let's get on with it.

Okay, I know he was captain of the football team and he could bake a cake—that didn't mean I was ready to suck his finger. I was picky about what I put in my mouth. "I'll wait," I told him. "Wouldn't want to spoil my appetite.

It's hard to describe to people unless you're a college football fan, the energy of it, the pageantry, getting onto a college campus in the fall.

I don't want to be the center of attention, which is ironic. I hate having all eyes on me - unless it's for my job, and my job is playing football. I'm not that attention-hungry.

Ronnie Lott - he got a really good shot on me once and I learned that unless I wanted to shorten my career, I needed to steer clear of his path.

Tournament football is unlike anything else. The campaign can be great, but a finals is a different challenge.

Only a handful of professional football athletes have had a signature shoe, unlike in basketball where there have been a number of guys.

If chronic bashing of the head could destroy a boxer's brain, couldn't it also destroy a football player's brain? Surely someone in the history of football had thought to look for dementia pugilistica. Unlike boxers, football players wear helmets, but a helmet can't fully protect the head from damaging impact.

The game of football requires attention constantly. If you miss one play, you can miss a lot of action - unlike some other sports.

Because we are a small country, unlike England, Italy, or Brazil, we don't have as many good players.

Vermaelen is like a role model to me. His life is all about football and he's extremely disciplined. I'm more laid-back than he is. Thomas isn't the type of person to go out for a drink on a regular basis, unlike me.

While the U.S. government is unlikely to ever limit the number of football games, plenty of parents are refusing to let their children play the sport due to the risk of head injuries.

Grooming in football is quite big. I'm somebody that brings my Boss Bottled Unlimited to training or in my washbag, and I've put a few of my teammates onto that.

My father moved to Belgium to play in the first division. He was a very good player, someone I looked up to, but he was unlucky with knee injuries. He was a winger and I wanted to be the same as him.

If I have children, and they were supporters of Madrid, it would be very unlucky, but they would be brought up knowing about Barcelona.

The best coach I have ever worked with is certainly Jose Mourinho. He has an unparalleled passion.

Ryan Giggs is an idol - I don't think there's any other words for him. What he achieved at Manchester United, and what he achieved in football, is unparalleled.

I am and always have been a football guy. My relationship with 'Monday Night Football' lasted 21 years, which is unprecedented for any theme song to be on the air that long.