Basketball Sportsmanship Quotes

#1. I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat. #Quote by Ron Atkinson

#2. Basketball is like Religion. Many attend but few understand. #Quote by Scott Skiles

#3. I've always had a passion for giving back. It's a family tradition that comes from my devout parents. They were always giving back and serving the community. So when I became fortunate enough and blessed to play the game of basketball, I was also fortunate enough to follow in my parents' footsteps and give back like the way they did. #Quote by Dikembe Mutombo

#4. I played team sport as a kid and loved it. I played basketball and football throughout high school into college in the intramurals and I loved it. There was nothing like a team. #Quote by Tom Watson

#5. Basketball is an endurance sport, and you have to learn to control your breath; that's the essence of yoga, too. So, I consciously began using yoga techniques in my practice and playing. I think yoga helped reduce the number and severity of injuries I suffered. As preventative medicine, it's unequaled. #Quote by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#6. Well let me tell you what [High School Musical] is really about. High School Musical is about this group of boys who are all being molested by the basketball coach, who is Zac Efron's dad. It's about them struggling to cope with this molestation. And they have these little girlfriends, who are their beards. Oh, and somehow there's music involved. You have to get stoned to watch it. #Quote by Megan Fox

#7. I feel like I have another level every year that I start a new season of basketball. If I continue to keep growing, and make everything consistent, I'm going to get better and better each year. #Quote by Victor Oladipo

#8. You obviously have your routines that you rely on, then you go out and play and have fun. For us in basketball, we have a seven-game series, so you have time to adjust if you need to. It's a fun experience to go through, and one that I'll remember for a long time. #Quote by Stephen Curry

#9. My goal was just to try and be the best player on my high school team, and look where I am now. And that was still my goal as a young kid, just to try and be a little better than my brother was. #Quote by Larry Bird

#10. For a college basketball player or coach, to reach the Final Four is la-la land. You've achieved, you've got your stamp of approval. My first team to do that was in 1986. Then we did it in '88, '89 and '90. #Quote by Mike Krzyzewski

#11. ... you know what was really messing me up when I got down there to Pittsburgh? Was how young he seemed. He kept asking me things like what did I think of Kanye West's music, and did I think he should hold on to Kevin Garnett in this fantasy basketball league he was in or trade him. And how he wasn't just in this league; he was commissioner of it. Like that was some big mark of distinction: commissioner of make-believe. And I wanted to slam him, one-handed, against the wall, the way he used to do to me, and scream in his face, 'Stop it! Act your age!' ... I didn't do it, though. I wanted to, but I couldn't. 'Honor thy father,' you know what I'm saying? So instead, I grabbed my car keys, got out of there, and took off. It was messing with my head, you know? You get out of there alive, more or less, wait for your father to come see you at the hospital you're stuck at, and when you finally go to see him, he's younger than you are. #Quote by Wally Lamb

#12. When I was growing up, we used to play basketball in a park that was never shoveled when it snowed. The basketball rims were never fixed. And we understood then that there was a relationship between public policy and our quality of life. #Quote by DeForest Soaries

#13. I shift the basketball from hand to hand, hating his tone, as though we're the only two levelheaded people on earth and everyone else is full of shit. #Quote by Ashley Herring Blake

#14. Our centers spread the floor, shoot the three and block shots. We can play pick and pop. #Quote by Steve Nash

#15. Being an All-Star is everything. #Quote by Allen Iverson

#16. When I'm in Miami I like to go and watch basketball, the Miami Heat. #Quote by Andy Murray

#17. One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it. #Quote by Knute Rockne

#18. My name is on the thing, but the reality of it is, when I get up there on stage, I'm part of a band. I'm part of a unit. It's like a basketball team. #Quote by David Sanborn

#19. Basketball, like all sports, is predicated on the execution of fundamentals. The coach is a teacher. His subject: fundamentals #Quote by Jack Ramsay

#20. I had no experience with broadcasting basketball games, so I took a tape recorder and went to a playground where there was a summer league, and I stood up in the top of the stands and I called the game. #Quote by Ed Bradley

#21. Joy comes from places you least expect it. It's usually the simple things, like watching my son play basketball or going through Central Park when the blossoms are blooming. #Quote by Dave Gahan

#22. As you keep shooting the ball, you become a better basketball player. #Quote by Raekwon

#23. When I played basketball, I spent hours On the court practicing. When i became a body-builder, I was in the gym all the time. Like most beginners, I didn't really know what I was doing, but the more I did it, the more I loved it. I guess you could say I was a gym rat. Seeing my body change made me come back for more. #Quote by Phil Heath

#24. Practice? I mean, listen, we're talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We're talking about practice. Not a game. Not the game. Not the game. We're talkin about practice, man. We're talkin about practice. We're taklin about practice, man. What are we talkin about? Practice. We're talkin about practice, man. #Quote by Allen Iverson

#25. Bradley is one of the few basketball players who have ever been appreciatively cheered by a disinterested away-from-home crowd while warming up. This curious event occurred last March, just before Princeton eliminated the Virginia Military Institute, the year's Southern Conference champion, from the NCAA championships. The game was played in Philadelphia and was the last of a tripleheader. The people there were worn out, because most of them were emotionally committed to either Villanova or Temple-two local teams that had just been involved in enervating battles with Providence and Connecticut, respectively, scrambling for a chance at the rest of the country. A group of Princeton players shooting basketballs miscellaneously in preparation for still another game hardly promised to be a high point of the evening, but Bradley, whose routine in the warmup time is a gradual crescendo of activity, is more interesting to watch before a game than most players are in play. In Philadelphia that night, what he did was, for him, anything but unusual. As he does before all games, he began by shooting set shots close to the basket, gradually moving back until he was shooting long sets from 20 feet out, and nearly all of them dropped into the net with an almost mechanical rhythm of accuracy. Then he began a series of expandingly difficult jump shots, and one jumper after another went cleanly through the basket with so few exceptions that the crowd began to murmur. Then he started to perform #Quote by John McPhee

#26. The basketball skills I have, I've got because I work hard. When you work hard, I think you don't have to be afraid of anything. #Quote by Peja Stojakovic

#27. What distinguishes a true competitor from a mere participant is that the competitor derives enjoyment from the nature of the competition aside from the prize at the end. She gets a rush from the gaming dynamics and appreciates the beauty of the game. At the end of the day, you play for the love of the game or not at all. #Quote by Alisa Melekhina

#28. Each moment of my life I was dreaming of how great I could be, and continued working hard. Each time I closed my eyes I could see me shining bright like a sun. #Quote by Kobe Bryant

#29. Athletes, we were supposed to just be there, and in class I made it a point that I was prepared for every exam, that I got on that Dean's List. Because I wanted them to see that there was a black person on the Dean's List who was an athlete. I accepted the challenge, because I want you to know that we bleed just like you do. We have feelings just like you do. Let us read the same books and we'll understand it just like you do! #Quote by Lenny Wilkens

#30. Great players never look in the mirror and think I'm a great basketball player. You ask yourself, Am I the best player I can be? #Quote by Michael Jordan

#31. Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference. #Quote by John Wooden

#32. A person really doesn't become whole, until he becomes a part of something that's bigger than himself. #Quote by Jim Valvano

#33. You just gotta be who you are, and I think it's time to get rid of this whole National Basketball Association. Call it the TBA, the Thug Basketball Association, and stop calling them teams. Call 'em gangs. #Quote by Rush Limbaugh

#34. Know how to win and how to lose and be able to handle adversity. #Quote by Tom Osborne

#35. The morale and the camaraderie that we had for one another earlier in the year is starting to come under duress because of all the losses. Some of the guys are feeling the pressure now from the last year when they were not successful. #Quote by Bill Russell

#36. I'm sorry to see it end. #Quote by Michael Jordan

#37. We're going to miss Damon. He was a great shooter ... He got what he wanted, but he gave up a lot. No more night life, no more warm weather and no more a lot of media attention ... I guess this was his first shot at getting something big. I guess he had to take it. #Quote by Shaquille O'Neal

#38. Sometimes the best recruits are the ones you don't get. #Quote by Don Meyer

#39. I used to play basketball and I was pretty competitive, but I was never a bad loser. I never got angry. For me it was always about doing my best and devoting myself to a challenge. #Quote by Benicio Del Toro

#40. For 'Iron Man' I had to improv with Robert Downey Jr., which is like going up against LeBron in basketball. At one point he stopped and said, 'Can we give a round of applause to Olivia, because she's rocking it right now.' #Quote by Olivia Munn

#41. The only important statistic is the final score. #Quote by Bill Russell

#42. I love playing basketball because you could be having a rough day in your life, and while you're on the court it gives you a clear mind. I'm not worried about anything. I'm there just playing freely and I go out there all and I have fun. #Quote by Derrick Rose