The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.

I had no future with the Dodgers, because I was too closely identified with Branch Rickey. After the club was taken over by Walter O’Malley, you couldn’t even mention Mr. Rickey’s name in front of him. I considered Mr. Rickey the greatest human being I had ever known.

Principles and rules are intended to provide a thinking man with a frame of reference.

As a kid, I used to see how Sachin Tendulkar used to win matches under pressure for India in Sharjah or other places. So I was always keen to repeat the same in similar situations. I don’t take pressure on myself when I am in the middle. I love pressure, and I always believe that pressure makes you more focused.

From the point of view of basic physics, the most interesting phenomena are, of course, in the new places, the places where the rules do not work – not the places where they do work! That is the way in which we discover new rules.

I’m much more comfortable and confident running out on the field in front of 70,000 people instead of standing in front of a camera trying to say some lines. The people who do that as a profession are very talented because it’s certainly not easy.

Liverpool is a club with a big, big, big history, and all the clubs in the world have a big history if the present is not too successful. If you have never had success, then nobody knows how it is, but in Liverpool, everybody knows how it was.

We’re not going to go 82-0 and blow everybody out. We are going to be challenged.

When you play sports like tennis, you’re alone, and that’s a good school for life, but it’s also a good school for life to bring your best and make those around you better, too – helping others in difficult moments.

People shop for a bathing suit with more care than they do a husband or wife. The rules are the same. Look for something you’ll feel comfortable wearing. Allow for room to grow.

Football is big business – you can’t get away from it. But you have to separate that side from the playing.

Every time I get in the McLaren I feel more comfortable, my confidence increases and I feel more at home with the team.

My first win feels better than a draw!

I was totally dominated and revered my father. I admired everything he did. He was a great sports person. He loved me. I was his only boy at that time, before my brother Billy came along.

Shooting the ball is a part of the game. Everybody can shoot in their own way. Not everybody can make. But everybody can shoot.

Every artist wants something different out the game.

I try to encourage all my teammates, and I sure hope that some day all athletes – my kids, high school kids – get the same level of care I get. Because you can play for a long period of time without having knee replacements, without having all the major head trauma that people are dealing with.

I have learned, in my life and work as a sportswriter, that big-time Sports and big-time Politics are not so far apart in America. They are both a means to the same end, which is victory… And why not? Victory is good for you, and don’t let anybody tell you different.

I signed for Mohun Bagan and then I got the news that Bhaichung also joined the club. The first day he met me he told me that I have heard about you and you are doing well. I told everyone in my family and friends that Bhaichung told me that.

I was the one who took football off the back pages and put it on to page one.

Where would I be without baseball? Who am I without baseball?

All an agent is going to do is buy things for a player, damage his eligibility, and make the player dependent on them.

As a part of the NFL, things change every year.

Pop flies, in a sense, are just a diversion for a second baseman. Grounders are his stock trade.

So like any football or basketball coach, you always always believe you’re going to win.

I saw 14 games in two and a half months at Churchill. It was what I really signed for. They were eyeing the championship and also playing the AFC Cup. So I am very thankful for Churchill, the coaching staff and the players.

In college, a loss is pretty devastating. That feeling kind of goes away in an 82-game season. You hate to lose, but you also have a lot more games to make up for it.

I had been playing for a while, and I asked Louisville Slugger to send me a dozen flame treated bats. But when I got it, I realized they had sent me a box of ashes.

The first rule is not to lose. The second rule is not to forget the first rule.

I used to pray that God would make me a great athlete, and He never did.

I am fortunate to have played 15 years for my country.

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.

All the top players in the world play 45-50-60 games. You need that many games, even the strikers need that many games.

Play the game for more than you can afford to lose… only then will you learn the game.

I have never cared especially for outdoor sports and have no desire to excel at tennis, swimming, or golf. I’ll leave those things to the men.

If I said I would knock out Sonny Liston in 1 minute and 49 seconds of the first round, that would hurt the gate.

I can’t play soccer, and I’m not a great swimmer. I won’t drown, but you won’t see me doing laps in a pool.

When I signed up for BFC, then-coach Ashley Westwood wanted me to play on the left as an attacking midfielder. I was not sure initially but I believed in his vision. For the first six-seven games, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was like a headless chicken. But he kept backing me.

I played by the rules of politics as I found them.

Everyone needs a coach. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player.

I used to play a lot of different sports. Now when I look back, I understand that it really helped with my hand-eye coordination.

I’m not going to lie; listen, I’m nice at basketball.

Retaliation is related to nature and instinct, not to law. Law, by definition, cannot obey the same rules as nature.

I treated it like every day was my last day with a basketball.

Lot of players lose hope because of lack of motivation.

A game is like a mirror that allows you to look at yourself.

It is a fine game to play – the game of politics – and it is well worth waiting for a good hand before really plunging.

War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can’t smile, grin. If you can’t grin, keep out of the way till you can.

In England, when an athlete gets to the top, we do our best to destroy him.

Football is unconditional love.

I am very happy playing and showing off my talent on the cricket field and have no plans to enter Bollywood.

To be honest, there are no problems between me and Messi. People have their own opinions about who they think is the better player. It is what it is, but there is no rivalry beyond games and what happens on the pitch.

I’ve been blessed with talents to play this game and been put on a stage to impact a lot of people. I don’t want to take that for granted.

I am very happy to be signing for the best team in the world and especially proud to be the first Portuguese player to join United.

Everyone loves a win in India. No one wants to lose a match. It is the cricketer who absorbs all the pressure.

Eventually you won’t think of ‚the Internet business.‘ You’ll think of it more like news, weather, sports, but even that taxonomy isn’t clear.

I’ve thought sometimes about what I like about football, and it’s playing together.

Unless someone wants to look funny, I’ll not recommend anyone to copy my bowling action. But on a serious note, with the confidence that I have got from the amount of runs I have been scoring, when I’m thrown the ball to bowl, I am pretty sure of what I have to do. I may not be the most attractive to watch while bowling, but I can be effective.

One rule that will work if it is used everywhere, is that when you have a free-kick, the referee puts the mark on the floor to make sure the defenders keep their distance.

When I won the Golden Gloves in 1960, that made me realize I had a chance. And when I won at the Olympics, that sealed it: I was the champ.

It obviously bothers people when Real Madrid win. It makes them jealous. There isn’t a level playing field.