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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    Greenville, NC

    The Pride Factor??

    During the UNC vs. FSU game, FSU was taking UNC behind the woodshed. The commentators repeatedly stated that UNC wasn't playing with PRIDE. This is not the first time I've heard commentators say this regarding UNC (ex. 82-50). However, vice-versa, when Duke is losing it's always Duke is too unathletic to compete and the built in excuse of not playing with PRIDE is not mentioned. Nonetheless, can't it be that a team is just better than you on that given day. I think PRIDE may make a game more competitive but in the end the ability to hit shots and hustle on defense would justify moreless who would win regardless of whether or not you are playing with PRIDE? How big a factor is PRIDE in winning games? Can you win without it, with an elite group of athletes?

  2. #2
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    Nov 2011
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    Macon, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by BlueDevilCorvette! View Post
    During the UNC vs. FSU game, FSU was taking UNC behind the woodshed. The commentators repeatedly stated that UNC wasn't playing with PRIDE. This is not the first time I've heard commentators say this regarding UNC (ex. 82-50). However, vice-versa, when Duke is losing it's always Duke is too unathletic to compete and the built in excuse of not playing with PRIDE is not mentioned. Nonetheless, can't it be that a team is just better than you on that given day. I think PRIDE may make a game more competitive but in the end the ability to hit shots and hustle on defense would justify moreless who would win regardless of whether or not you are playing with PRIDE? How big a factor is PRIDE in winning games? Can you win without it, with an elite group of athletes?

    Wouldn't hustle on defense factor into the playing with pride?

  3. #3
    The only time I've seen a Duke team lose a little bit of its fight is when the opponent is hitting all kinds of crazy shots against good defense. Think Georgetown two years ago, Ohio State this year and Arizona last year. Sometimes there's just nothing you can do. We were the beneficiary of this phenomenon against WVa in the 2010 final four.

    I must admit that while I didn't see the UNC game, 90 points does seem like a lot for Florida State. As much as I'd like to believe that UNC's players are just a bunch of whiners and girly men, I suspect they played hard at the beginning of the game at least. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
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    Albemarle, North Carolina
    Idk to me playing with pride is as simple as recognizing how great of a program you are a part of and working and playing your butt off for that program and realizing that you gotta work to be great. UNC went out to FSU and played like they thought they would win just for showing up and having the name North Carolina on the jersey, they felt to entitled. This happens sometimes with great programs like Duke, UNC, Kentucky, etc... I felt like this watching Duke one time a couple of years ago when they lost to NC State. I turned on the tv and only watched the first 5 minutes of the game and saw how they played and were acting or lack of how they were acting and I immediately turned the tv off and said "That was not Duke. There is no way that was the Duke I know." I literally said that to my wife. Maybe it is different to some people but that is my own definition.

  5. #5
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    Dec 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by g-money View Post
    The only time I've seen a Duke team lose a little bit of its fight is when the opponent is hitting all kinds of crazy shots against good defense. Think Georgetown two years ago, Ohio State this year and Arizona last year. Sometimes there's just nothing you can do. We were the beneficiary of this phenomenon against WVa in the 2010 final four.

    I must admit that while I didn't see the UNC game, 90 points does seem like a lot for Florida State. As much as I'd like to believe that UNC's players are just a bunch of whiners and girly men, I suspect they played hard at the beginning of the game at least. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
    I felt that we played with pride in all three of those games though. It was just a game that no matter what we would not win, it was a special moment kind of thing... for the other team that is.

  6. #6
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    Washington DC
    Quote Originally Posted by JNort View Post
    I felt that we played with pride in all three of those games though. It was just a game that no matter what we would not win, it was a special moment kind of thing... for the other team that is.
    I believe we fought to the finish and whittled down our opponent's big lead in all three of those games mentioned. Unc knew it was going to lose, but did not fight to the finish. At some point they gave up and let FSU turn an upset into a blowout. I'd say that's a pride thing and it probably start with Roy. He has to set the tone. He has to burn his timeouts and generate some passion and resistance in his players. But he did not.

    Along those lines, I do not really know who Unc's vocal leader is this year. They return everyone from an Elite 8 team last year and added two freshmen to the rotation. But Barnes and Zeller dont seem vocal. Henson either. It should be Marshall, the experienced point guard, right?

  7. #7

    If God Is Not A Tar Heel...

    then why is the sun Carolina yellow?

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Atlanta, GA/Durham, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by BlueDevilCorvette! View Post
    During the UNC vs. FSU game, FSU was taking UNC behind the woodshed. The commentators repeatedly stated that UNC wasn't playing with PRIDE. This is not the first time I've heard commentators say this regarding UNC (ex. 82-50). However, vice-versa, when Duke is losing it's always Duke is too unathletic to compete and the built in excuse of not playing with PRIDE is not mentioned. Nonetheless, can't it be that a team is just better than you on that given day. I think PRIDE may make a game more competitive but in the end the ability to hit shots and hustle on defense would justify moreless who would win regardless of whether or not you are playing with PRIDE? How big a factor is PRIDE in winning games? Can you win without it, with an elite group of athletes?
    I actually thought part of the reason UNC lost is because they were indeed not athletic enough. Barnes was checking Dulkys for many of this threes.

  9. #9
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    Greenville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Ichabod Drain View Post
    Wouldn't hustle on defense factor into the playing with pride?
    Technically you can hustle and still be sandbagging especially if you are not hustling to your full potential. Example, I use to sandbag alot on weekly Marine Corps PFT's (Physical Fitness Test). Officers knew I could do the 3 mile run under 22 minutes but I'd sandbag and do it in 30 minutes and still finish in the top 5. I guess pride is one of those "intangibles" that's hard to measure and/or recognize but I do understand your point.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Asheville

    Thumbs up

    Quote Originally Posted by LoveGun2112 View Post
    then why is the sun Carolina yellow?
    First post? If it is, that's quite a beginning! Well done. I have never posted from work, but I just could not resist bringing recognition to what I think is a great post.

    ricks

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Ichabod Drain View Post
    Wouldn't hustle on defense factor into the playing with pride?
    Exactly. I spoke to a UNC alum today that had decided after their third game that these guys were not going to play defense this year and wrote them off as news clipping-reading prima donnas. I didn't completely agree, but I liked his thought process...

  12. #12
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    Dec 2011
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    Albemarle, North Carolina
    Quote Originally Posted by superdave View Post
    I believe we fought to the finish and whittled down our opponent's big lead in all three of those games mentioned. Unc knew it was going to lose, but did not fight to the finish. At some point they gave up and let FSU turn an upset into a blowout. I'd say that's a pride thing and it probably start with Roy. He has to set the tone. He has to burn his timeouts and generate some passion and resistance in his players. But he did not.

    Along those lines, I do not really know who Unc's vocal leader is this year. They return everyone from an Elite 8 team last year and added two freshmen to the rotation. But Barnes and Zeller dont seem vocal. Henson either. It should be Marshall, the experienced point guard, right?
    Sorry if you thought I was saying I did not think this but that is what I was trying to get across when I responded to the previous poster. Especially in the Ohio State game, I believe our scoring equaled theirs and our defense was a little bit better than the first half.

  13. #13
    Continuing to hustle and play defense despite the score = playing with pride.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    West of CIS

    Indulge me please..

    Quote Originally Posted by BlueDevilCorvette! View Post
    During the UNC vs. FSU game, FSU was taking UNC behind the woodshed. The commentators repeatedly stated that UNC wasn't playing with PRIDE. This is not the first time I've heard commentators say this regarding UNC (ex. 82-50). However, vice-versa, when Duke is losing it's always Duke is too unathletic to compete and the built in excuse of not playing with PRIDE is not mentioned. Nonetheless, can't it be that a team is just better than you on that given day. I think PRIDE may make a game more competitive but in the end the ability to hit shots and hustle on defense would justify moreless who would win regardless of whether or not you are playing with PRIDE? How big a factor is PRIDE in winning games? Can you win without it, with an elite group of athletes?
    What happened at FSU, began at the top in my opinion!
    "IF", appropriate time out's are called and a play is set and there is not a positive effort... That's coaching thats leadership or lack thereof:
    "IF" a team is having a bad day offensively(and it happens in all athletics).. There is always the defensive end..may not win..but this is where hard work, pride, self respect, team effort, coaching or lack thereof are on display!
    "WHEN" a team and a coach has a whole halftime to adjust, and nothing positive happens..that is lack of effort, and it happened before they ever got to FSU, it's lack of work ethic, lack of pride, lack of leadership/coaching!

    We get beat, all teams get beat,but it's pretty rare that it is a result of lack of effort, maybe a short spurt, i.e. opening minutes at Clemson as an example.. But a leader, a coach, a team with pride will have put in the work previously and make adjustments, and at the "very least" make the effort to compete! K's teams do that and just not at Duke, all the national teams do... That's coaching, that's leadership,thats playing with pride..and it begins in practice!!

    But we have had some fine examples of this in all arena's not just the very obvious one in our our backyard... Which is why I am a DUKE fan for these many years...it's playing the game , the whole game,
    And leaving it on the floor... I was in Anaheim last year, AZ, had a hell of a game and we got beat by a better team that night, it happens, not once was I concerned with the effort or intensity, I was proud to be a Dukie,
    Because even in a loss, we lost with dignity, effort(remember Kyle's ball save as an example).. The will to compete, the will to put out the effort, The Pride.. Is why I believe we are all here!!!

    It's easy to play hard when your winning and things are working on "all cylinder's"'
    When that is not the case.. That's where effort and pride are on display!'

    Indulge me some more: an obvious one! Not to be trite, but some things are timeless !!

    Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi

    Teamwork
    “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”
    “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”
    “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

    Commitment
    “Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
    “Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him?”
    “Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”
    “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
    “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
    “I would say that the quality of each man’s life is the full measure of that man’s commitment of excellence and victory – whether it be football, whether it be business, whether it be politics or government or what have you.”

    Success/Sacrifice
    “Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
    “To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price.”
    “Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there.”
    “Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.”
    “A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive, and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.”

    Discipline
    “I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. “
    “There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.”
    “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.”
    “The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.”
    “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”
    “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
    “Once you have established the goals you want and the price you’re willing to pay, you can ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure and the temporary failures.”

    Will to Win
    “The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel – these are the things that endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events that occasion them.”
    “There’s only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything. I do, and I demand that my players do.”
    “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”
    “You never win a game unless you beat the guy in front of you. The score on the board doesn’t mean a thing. That’s for the fans. You’ve got to win the war with the man in front of you. You’ve got to get your man.”
    “If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.”

    Leadership
    “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
    “It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.”
    “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality --- the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.”
    “Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it.”
    “Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity – having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character.”
    “A leader must identify himself with the group, must back up the group, even at the risk of displeasing superiors. He must believe that the group wants from him a sense of approval. If this feeling prevails, production, discipline, morale will be high, and in return, you can demand the cooperation to promote the goals of the community.”

    Excellence
    “….I firmly believe that any man’s finest hours – his greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
    “The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel --- these are the things what will endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events themselves.”
    “They call it coaching but it is teaching. You do not just tell them…you show them the reasons.”
    “After all the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written, and after you are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and after all the pomp and fanfare have faded, the enduring thing that is left is the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.”

    Mental Toughness
    “If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.”
    “Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale.”
    “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it ‘character in action.’”
    “Mental toughness is essential to success.”

    Habit
    “Winning is a habit. Watch your thoughts, they become your beliefs. Watch your beliefs, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.”
    “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”
    “Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence, and a customer will recognize both.”
    “If you don’t think you’re a winner, you don’t

    Passion
    “It is and has always been an American zeal to be first in everything we do, and to win…”
    “It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.”
    “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.”
    “To be successful, a man must exert an effective influence upon his brothers and upon his associates, and the degree in which he accomplishes this depends on the personality of the man. The incandescence of which he is capable. The flame of fire that burns inside of him. The magnetism which draws the heart of other men to him.”

    Results/Winning
    “Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization…”
    “Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will all be judged on one thing: the result.”
    “Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.”
    “Success demands singleness of purpose.”
    “If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”
    “Winning is not a sometime thing…it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while…you don’t do the right thing once in a while…you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”


    “The object is to win fairly, by the rules – but to win.”

    Zig Ziglar said:
    "you don't pay the price for success, you enjoy the price of success, you pay the price, for failure"

    There are so many more examples, but I'll stop here, just my opinion on the subject!

    Doesn't this all come under the broad unbrella of "PRIDE" ?
    Last edited by BluDvlsN1; 01-19-2012 at 08:17 AM.
    Let's go DUKE !!!

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    San Francisco
    Quote Originally Posted by BlueDevilCorvette! View Post
    During the UNC vs. FSU game, FSU was taking UNC behind the woodshed. The commentators repeatedly stated that UNC wasn't playing with PRIDE. This is not the first time I've heard commentators say this regarding UNC (ex. 82-50). However, vice-versa, when Duke is losing it's always Duke is too unathletic to compete and the built in excuse of not playing with PRIDE is not mentioned. Nonetheless, can't it be that a team is just better than you on that given day. I think PRIDE may make a game more competitive but in the end the ability to hit shots and hustle on defense would justify moreless who would win regardless of whether or not you are playing with PRIDE? How big a factor is PRIDE in winning games? Can you win without it, with an elite group of athletes?
    Because of the relatively small sample size of games against quality competition in college basketball, I think commentators and fans alike often put too much stock in the outcome of one game. The '95-'96 Chicago Bulls, arguably the best NBA team of all time and certainly the winning-est regular season team, didn't even win 90% of its games (.878 winning %). However, because they played so many games and had so many quality wins on the season (plus a championship or three in the recent past), the media didn't wonder if they were suddenly not athletic enough or lacked pride because of those 10 losses. On the other hand, in college basketball, most of the early season games are against less than top notch competition, which can make a team seem better than it is. A single loss is an outlier and seems surprising because most are used to reading scorelines like Duke (or UNC) 96 - Poor non-BCS school 52 or something similar. Also, redemption for a loss is often hard to find. Duke can win all but one of our games the rest of the way out, but if that one loss comes against UNC, people will say that we can't beat the truly elite teams (Ohio State, UNC) on their home floor and will therefore question our point guard play, our defense, and our athleticism, and possibly our pride, as there must be an objective fact as to why we lost those games.

    For whatever reason, commentators rarely admit that many of these games are toss-ups and a combination of hot shooting from one team and a colder than usual night from the other can be all one team needs to pull away decisively. A ten game series between two top ten teams would likely yield at least one blowout win, especially if the series is a home and home series, even if the final tally in the series is 6 games to 4. In the event that a blowout win happens to be the only game played between the two teams, the blowout is magnified disproportionately because there are no other games between the teams to compare it to.

    FSU, which returns a lot of talent from a very good team last year, had a less than stellar start to the season. But those results don't take away from the fact that FSU is a solid team capable of a great performance. I had UNC @ FSU pegged as one of the Tar Heels' most likely losses this season. Yes, it is shocking that the loss was as decisive as it was. Yes, the game shows that UNC isn't as dominant as most pundits predicted. However, this shouldn't surprise people too much. If all of the preseason top 25 teams did nothing but play each other for the entire season, we'd look at teams with a .600 winning percentage as a title contender, a team with a .700 winning percentage as dominant, and a team with a winning percentage above .800 as historically good. As it is, we actually have very few games against the top teams with which to distinguish the very good teams from the best. While I do think that UNC has questions about leadership and experience (no one on that team played a major role on the 2009 title winning team), I think it is folly (although lots of fun!) to put too much stock in one loss, no matter what the margin was. If this becomes a trend, I would reevaluate (man I hope it becomes a trend with the Heels). But as shocking as the loss was, the sample size of games is still too small to draw any conclusions, and talk of "lack of pride" or "lack of athleticism" are more or less crutches for comentaters who think they have to explain why a top dog team lost rather than realizing that it is very unlikely that any team in college basketball in any given year is good enough to win all of their games.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Greenville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by BluDvlsN1 View Post
    What happened at FSU, began at the top in my opinion!
    "IF", appropriate time out's are called and a play is set and there is not a positive effort... That's coaching thats leadership or lack thereof:
    "IF" a team is having a bad day offensively(and it happens in all athletics).. There is always the defensive end..may not win..but this is where hard work, pride, self respect, team effort, coaching or lack thereof are on display!
    "WHEN" a team and a coach has a whole halftime to adjust, and nothing positive happens..that is lack of effort, and it happened before they ever got to FSU, it's lack of work ethic, lack of pride, lack of leadership/coaching!

    We get beat, all teams get beat,but it's pretty rare that it is a result of lack of effort, maybe a short spurt, i.e. opening minutes at Clemson as an example.. But a leader, a coach, a team with pride will have put in the work previously and make adjustments, and at the "very least" make the effort to compete! K's teams do that and just not at Duke, all the national teams do... That's coaching, that's leadership,thats playing with pride..and it begins in practice!!

    But we have had some fine examples of this in all arena's not just the very obvious one in our our backyard... Which is why I am a DUKE fan for these many years...it's playing the game , the whole game,
    And leaving it on the floor... I was in Anaheim last year, AZ, had a hell of a game and we got beat by a better team that night, it happens, not once was I concerned with the effort or intensity, I was proud to be a Dukie,
    Because even in a loss, we lost with dignity, effort(remember Kyle's ball save as an example).. The will to compete, the will to put out the effort, The Pride.. Is why I believe we are all here!!!

    It's easy to play hard when your winning and things are working on "all cylinder's"'
    When that is not the case.. That's where effort and pride are on display!'

    Indulge me some more: an obvious one! Not to be trite, but some things are timeless !!

    Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi

    Teamwork
    “The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”
    “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.”
    “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

    Commitment
    “Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
    “Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him?”
    “Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”
    “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
    “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
    “I would say that the quality of each man’s life is the full measure of that man’s commitment of excellence and victory – whether it be football, whether it be business, whether it be politics or government or what have you.”

    Success/Sacrifice
    “Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
    “To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price.”
    “Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there.”
    “Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.”
    “A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive, and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.”

    Discipline
    “I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. “
    “There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.”
    “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.”
    “The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.”
    “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”
    “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
    “Once you have established the goals you want and the price you’re willing to pay, you can ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure and the temporary failures.”

    Will to Win
    “The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel – these are the things that endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events that occasion them.”
    “There’s only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything. I do, and I demand that my players do.”
    “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”
    “You never win a game unless you beat the guy in front of you. The score on the board doesn’t mean a thing. That’s for the fans. You’ve got to win the war with the man in front of you. You’ve got to get your man.”
    “If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.”

    Leadership
    “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
    “It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.”
    “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality --- the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.”
    “Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it.”
    “Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity – having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character.”
    “A leader must identify himself with the group, must back up the group, even at the risk of displeasing superiors. He must believe that the group wants from him a sense of approval. If this feeling prevails, production, discipline, morale will be high, and in return, you can demand the cooperation to promote the goals of the community.”

    Excellence
    “….I firmly believe that any man’s finest hours – his greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”
    “The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel --- these are the things what will endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events themselves.”
    “They call it coaching but it is teaching. You do not just tell them…you show them the reasons.”
    “After all the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written, and after you are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and after all the pomp and fanfare have faded, the enduring thing that is left is the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.”

    Mental Toughness
    “If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.”
    “Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale.”
    “Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it ‘character in action.’”
    “Mental toughness is essential to success.”

    Habit
    “Winning is a habit. Watch your thoughts, they become your beliefs. Watch your beliefs, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.”
    “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”
    “Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence, and a customer will recognize both.”
    “If you don’t think you’re a winner, you don’t

    Passion
    “It is and has always been an American zeal to be first in everything we do, and to win…”
    “It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.”
    “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.”
    “To be successful, a man must exert an effective influence upon his brothers and upon his associates, and the degree in which he accomplishes this depends on the personality of the man. The incandescence of which he is capable. The flame of fire that burns inside of him. The magnetism which draws the heart of other men to him.”

    Results/Winning
    “Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization…”
    “Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will all be judged on one thing: the result.”
    “Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.”
    “Success demands singleness of purpose.”
    “If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?”
    “Winning is not a sometime thing…it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while…you don’t do the right thing once in a while…you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”


    “The object is to win fairly, by the rules – but to win.”

    Zig Ziglar said:
    "you don't pay the price for success, you enjoy the price of success, you pay the price, for failure"

    There are so many more examples, but I'll stop here, just my opinion on the subject!

    Doesn't this all come under the broad unbrella of "PRIDE" ?

    I enjoyed reading your response. You made several valid points and the quotes are very motivating and inspirational. Duke has had a few players that were limited athletically but whenever they were on the court you could count on them giving it their all until the last 14.2 seconds of a game. This is what makes me proud as a Duke fan...heck if you gonna lose a game, do it with dignity and fight till the end.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Greensboro, NC
    I have come to believe that Roy does everything by the book - Dean's book. He has all the lesson plans, he remembers (or has written down) all the things Dean taught him. And, of course, he is a lot smarter than he sometimes appears

    But when Roy has to wing it, when something other than a Deanism is required, that's when Roy has these brain cramps. Doing things by rote all the time doesn't prepare one for the unexpected times, like the end of the FSU game.

    So what did Roy do? Well, he ended up copying what Dean did when Roy beat him in the game to see who would lose to Duke in 1991! He threw himself out of the game, walked down the line of players and coaches of the other team. He shook their hands all the while showing off a stupid grin. Then, left to his own devices, he has since made a fool of himself trying to re-invent the end of the game.

    I think these kinds of things will repeat themselves periodically until he retires. When things get tough, Roy gets dumber!

    If recruits would realize that he's only pretending to be a cartoon character he admires, they'd go to college somewhere else.
    Man, if your Mom made you wear that color when you were a baby, and you're still wearing it, it's time to grow up!

  18. #18
    The VT game will be very interesting. VT is alway physical and are in desperate need of a win. That, plus UNC should come out with a chip on their shoulder. Could be fun to watch.

  19. #19
    I think COY's post above is really spot-on. Too much is made of a single game. I'll also add that, while we all know that qualities like effort, determination, hustle, and pride influence both a player's and team's performance, I think those terms tend to get over-used by analysts, especially by TV announcers. If a team is losing, either unexpectedly or badly, announcers will always fall back on some effort-based explanation. Even in the FSU game, I felt like a couple of rebounds just bounced FSU's way and the announcers were quick to say something like "FSU just wants it more".

    Sometimes you lose because the other team hits more shots- it's just that simple. It's often the case that at least some of those shots are difficult and deflating (i.e. Duke's loss to Arizona last year). Those shots lead to some hanging heads and sagging shoulders and the inevitable criticism of a lack of effort or intensity.

    As for our FSU debacle, I would really have to watch the second half again to make a judgment about pride. I don't think I can do that for reasons of personal health and sanity. I think Subzero2's definition of pride- playing hard regardless of the score- is a good one. So the question is, did UNC quit? My memory is that we played poorly in the first 7-8 minutes of the second half, especially at the offensive end where we had TOs and poor shot selection, and an 8-point lead ballooned into a 30 point lead. We scratched back momentarily and cut it to about 20, but any hint of a comeback was thwarted by a couple of turnovers and a killer three by Dulkys. At that point, maybe 5-6 minutes left in the game, yes, we may have quit and shown a lack of pride. For most of the game though, we just played badly (and FSU played out of its mind). But it's one game and as COY pointed out, it is easy to make too much out of a single game. We bounce back and throttle VaTech tonight and the 'pride' issue will start to fade away.

  20. #20

    Question

    What happened to the limerick?

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