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Life is what you allow yourself not to see.

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
Allow
Basketball
Life

More quotes by Al McGuire

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There's no one who's dropped on top of the mountain. You've got to work your way to the top.
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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Winning is only important in war and surgery.
Al McGuire
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That's it. Curtains. Off to the races. Treetops. Seashells and balloons.
Al McGuire
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You measure a player from the head up.
Al McGuire
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I don't think any decent human being enjoys recruiting.
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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I want my team to have my personality: surly, obnoxious, and arrogant.
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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I went into a restaurant one night and ordered lobster, and the waiter brought me one with a claw missing. I called him over and told him about it. He told me that in the back there's a tank they keep the lobsters in and while they're in there, they fight and sometimes one loses a claw. I told him 'then bring me a winner.'
Al McGuire
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I don't believe in looking past anybody - I wouldn't look past the Little Sisters of the Poor after they stayed up all night.
Al McGuire
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You can always tell the Catholic schools by the length of the cheerleaders' skirts.
Al McGuire
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I tell the players that they can't relive any day in their lives and that they can't relive the minutes of a game, so they should make a great effort, a Mount Everest type effort, to live up to their potential. Success is a communal type thing, and if we win, then everyone can be considered successful and we can move uptown together.
Al McGuire
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The nicest thing about coaching is that one day you feel like you can play handball against a curb, and on other days you feel like you can fly to the moon.
Al McGuire
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My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house. That's not my world. My world has a cracked sidewalk.
Al McGuire
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Can't win without talent, you know.
Al McGuire
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If a player leaves Marquette and doesn't have some of my blood in him, then I don't think I've done a good job.
Al McGuire
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Remember, half the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their class.
Al McGuire
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On how to make the game more exciting - Eliminate the referees, raise the basket four feet, double the size of the basketball, limit the height of the players to 5 feet 9 inches, bring back the centre jump, allow taxi drivers in for free and allow the players to carry guns.
Al McGuire
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I don't know why people question the academic training of an athlete. Fifty percent of the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their classes.
Al McGuire