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Winning is overrated. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war.

Al McGuire

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Al McGuire
Age: 72 †
Born: 1928
Born: September 7
Died: 2001
Died: January 26
Basketball Coach
Basketball Player
Queens
New York
Winning
War
Important
Really
Overrated
Time
Surgery
Basketball
Leadership
Sports

More quotes by Al McGuire

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I'm an Einstein of the streets and an Oxford scholar of common sense.
Al McGuire
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I just can't recruit where there's grass around. You gotta have a concrete lawn before I feel comfortable enough to go in and talk to you parents.
Al McGuire
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Don't be just another guy going down the street and going nowhere.
Al McGuire
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Our guys took Shop and Advanced Shop. Shop is when you make a chair. Advanced Shop is when you paint it.
Al McGuire
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It bothers me that the average fan, the average sportswriter for that matter, pays so much attention to what's in a box score. A box score does not properly represent the most important thing - team play. It shows some guy scoring 27 points, but it doesn't show that my 27-point man let his guy score 30.
Al McGuire
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When a guy takes off his coat, he's not going to fight. When a guy takes off his wristwatch, watch out!
Al McGuire
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When I was losing, they called me nuts. When I was winning they called me eccentric.
Al McGuire
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If winning weren't important nobody would keep score.
Al McGuire
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Winning is only important in war and surgery.
Al McGuire
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I don't think any decent human being enjoys recruiting.
Al McGuire
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The next time I will cry is when I die. My life has been that beautiful.
Al McGuire
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If you're straight with your players, they'll be straight with you.
Al McGuire
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It's so ridiculous to see a golfer with a one foot putt and everybody is saying Shhh and not moving a muscle. Then we allow nineteen year-old kids to face a game-deciding free throw with seventeen thousand people yelling.
Al McGuire
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It's a profession in which, the longer you stay, the closer you are to being fired.
Al McGuire
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Butch, you come from DeWitt Clinton. There are five thousand brothers in that school. You're the best there. You've been all-city two years in a row. How bad can you be? You come with me and we'll make nice music.
Al McGuire
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We rush for the stars as we crawl toward our graves.
Al McGuire
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God didn't miss any of us.
Al McGuire
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That's it. Curtains. Off to the races. Treetops. Seashells and balloons.
Al McGuire
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I want my team to have my personality: surly, obnoxious, and arrogant.
Al McGuire
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A team should be an extension of a coach's personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious.
Al McGuire