Sometimes people think that if you're always helping people up and never hit someone with a hard foul, you're automatically a good sport. I don't believe that.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Basketball players want contact to get a foul called. Slaps on the wrist and bumps on the shoulder are big time to them, and they don't like that. In football, you get that all the time. The whole mental makeup is different.
Being a good teammate is when you try to sprint down a ball that everyone thinks is going out of bounds. But you go after it anyways and you get it.
It's not to hurt anyone, but basketball can be rough.
I think guys that play basketball really understand how to go up and get a ball. Because in a rebound situation, you've got to go up and fight for a ball. Just boxing out. There are a lot of things that transfer.
I think sportsmanship is knowing that it is a game, that we are only as a good as our opponents, and whether you win or lose, to always give 100 percent.
Bottom line is, if you turn the ball over to a team that isn't as good, you then have brought them up to your level.
So much of a professional athlete's success depends upon not necessarily the play itself but how he deals with... always saying how you deal with good, is just as important as how you deal with bad.
Defense is a definite part of the game, and a great part of defense is learning to play it without fouling.
That's my mentality. Just because somebody has fouled me, there is no reason for me to be nasty to him. I try to respect football as much as possible, and when someone is injured, you put the ball out.
Professionalism is not sportsmanship. If you don't succeed, you won't be in your profession for long. In our society, it's not about good or bad. It's about who's on top.
No opposing quotes found.