Grantland Quotes

For when the One Great Scorer comes
To mark against your name,
He writes - not that you won or lost -
But HOW you played the Game.
Alumnus Football ~ Grantland Rice

It's not whether you won or lost, but how many bad-beat stories you were able to tell. ~ Grantland Rice

I learned much more from defeat than I ever learned from winning. ~ Grantland Rice

Golf gives you an insight into human nature, your own as well as your opponent's. ~ Grantland Rice

I am the servant of my score. ~ Grantland Rice

All wars are planned by old men in council rooms apart. ~ Grantland Rice

Christy Mathewson brought something to baseball no one else had ever given the game. He handed the game a certain touch of class, an indefinable lift in culture, brains, and personality. ~ Grantland Rice

Q: Which party had wildest celebration and how did it play out?

1) The 1972 Dolphins Super Bowl watching party for the David Tyree catch?

2) The Jack Nicklaus day after Thanksgiving morning in 2009?

3) The NFL referee Monday night football watching party at Ed Hochuli's house for the Seattle/Green Bay game?
- Steve G., Salt Lake City

SG: Here's my theory on the day after Thanksgiving in 2009: I think Jack Nicklaus heard the news, went out and bought a bottle of 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle, found an antique shotgun with 300 rounds of ammo, then drove to a secluded spot in the woods 25 miles away from any other human being. He got out of his car, started jumping around and screaming like he won the Super Bowl, did this for 20 solid minutes, then started swigging whiskey and shooting at things while whooping it up. Eventually, he drank the entire bottle, got back into his car and just started happily ramming into trees until the car stopped moving. Then he passed out in the driver's seat, woke up the next morning and walked home. Anyway, my answer is Jack Nicklaus. ~ Bill Simmons Grantland Mailbag Oct. 28 2012

Fate only picks on the cowards and quitters,
So give 'em both barrels - and aim for the eyes. ~ Grantland Rice

Because golf exposes the flaws of the human swing - a basically simple maneuver - it causes more self-torture than any game short of Russian roulette. ~ Grantland Rice

It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. ~ Grantland Rice

There is no type of miracle that can't happen at least once in golf. ~ Grantland Rice

There are many stars and a few super-stars in sport. There are champions who bag a coronet now and then, and there are others who dominate some game year after year. In other words there are Bobby Jones and Helen Wills. ~ Grantland Rice

You wonder how they do it and you look to see the knack You watch the foot in action, or the shoulder or the back, But when you spot the answer where the higher glamours lurk You'll find in moving higher up the laurel covered spire That most of it is practice and the rest of it is work. ~ Grantland Rice

Every father who ever lived has a dream for his son. ~ Grantland Rice

Grantland Rice, the great sportswriter once said, 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.' Well Grantland Rice can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. ~ Gene Autry

There are three types of golf: golf, tournament golf and Major championship golf. ~ Grantland Rice

Depend upon yourself. Make your judgement trustworthy by trusting it. You can develop good judgement as you do the muscles of your body - by judicious, daily exercise. To be known as a man of sound judgement will be much in your favor. ~ Grantland Rice

When One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, He marks, not that you won or lost, but how you played the game. ~ Grantland Rice

Who is the best the sportswriter who wore shorts? I keep trying to envision Grantland Rice or John Lardner in shorts. It never occurred to me to wear shorts. I'd look too silly to wear shorts. ~ Dan Jenkins

Like life, golf can be humbling. However, little good comes from brooding about mistakes we've made. The next shot, in golf or in life, is the big one. ~ Grantland Rice

Michael Bohn provides a rare opportunity to experience the American sporting scene in the Roaring Twenties. A constant stream of legendary characters marches across these pages. You'll meet them all: The Babe, The Four Horsemen, The Manassa Manassas Mauler, The Wheaton Iceman, Bill Tilden, Gertrude Ederle, and Grantland Rice, the sportswriter whose purple prose made them all come alive. ~ Peter Golenbock

Failure isn't bad if it doesn't attack the heart. Success is all right if it doesn't go to the head. ~ Grantland Rice