In a 1997 Nike commercial, Michael Jordan arrives at a stadium and walks to the locker room. His voice says: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
sports
Jim Tressel’s Emails
Five Ohio State football players were suspended for the first five games of the next season. They had sold championship rings, uniforms and other memorabilia for cash or discounted tattoos at a Columbus tattoo parlor.
Then emails showed that the coach, Jim Tressel, had known since April 2010 and had not told his athletic director. Tressel had won Ohio State its first national title in 34 years. He resigned on May 30, 2011.
Signing Day
A high school athlete’s verbal commitment to a college is a public statement of intent. It is not binding. Either side could back out before signing day.
From 1964 the National Letter of Intent was the document that counted. In October 2024 the NCAA phased it out. Today a signed financial aid agreement marks the official signing. Oral commitments and social media posts still count as unofficial.
DeAndre Jordan Goes Silent
In July 2015 the center DeAndre Jordan verbally agreed to a four-year, $80 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks. During the league’s eight-day moratorium, a handshake agreement was the only deal allowed.
Within days Jordan had second thoughts. He ignored repeated calls and texts from the team’s owner Mark Cuban and the player Chandler Parsons. Cuban wrote that Jordan “never responded to me at all yesterday. Not once.” Jordan re-signed with the Los Angeles Clippers and apologized: “I am sorry to have a change of heart.”
Asked about the moratorium, Cuban said: “Until you get him to sign on the line that is dotted, nothing happens.”
Go for It, by 22.6%
In 2021 the NFL introduced the Next Gen Stats Decision Guide, first shown on NBC. On fourth down, it gives a team’s win probability if it goes for it, attempts a field goal, or punts. A recommendation can read: “Go for it, by 22.6%.”
Coaches are now “going for it on fourth down, when the numbers say they should, at a higher rate than ever before.” In the first nine weeks of the 2021 season, teams went for it in 147 of 268 situations where the model favored it by two or more percentage points. That rate of 55% was a six-year high.
Nice Guys Finish Last
Leo Durocher, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is remembered for saying “Nice guys finish last.” In July 1946 he spoke about the New York Giants. What he said, according to the New York Journal-American, was: “The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place.”
When Baseball Digest reprinted the story that fall, “seventh” became “last.” Durocher adopted the shorter version. He used it as the title of a magazine article in 1948 and of his autobiography in 1975.
Tried in the Minors First
In 2022 Major League Baseball tried new rules in the minor leagues: a pitch clock, limits on defensive shifts and larger bases. The tests were run “ahead of possible big league use in 2023.”
The pitch clock worked. The average minor league game fell from 3 hours 3 minutes in 2021 to 2 hours 38 minutes in 2022. In September 2022, MLB’s competition committee voted to bring the changes to the major leagues in 2023.
The Swingin’ A’s
The Oakland Athletics won three consecutive World Series, in 1972, 1973 and 1974. They also fought each other. Reggie Jackson and Billy North had a locker room fight.
Just before Game 1 of the 1974 World Series, Blue Moon Odom and Rollie Fingers fought. Fingers needed stitches and Odom sprained an ankle. The A’s won the Series.
Shaq and Kobe
Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant played together for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1996 to 2004. They feuded for years over their roles on the team.
Together they won three consecutive NBA championships, in 2000, 2001 and 2002, and reached the Finals again in 2004. That summer the Lakers traded O’Neal to the Miami Heat. Years later O’Neal spoke of an “athletic dislike,” and Bryant of “mutual respect.”
The 199th Pick
The New England Patriots drafted Tom Brady with the 199th pick in 2000, in the sixth round. Their starter was Drew Bledsoe, who had signed a 10-year, $103 million contract. On September 23, 2001, a hit from the Jets linebacker Mo Lewis sheared an artery, and Brady got his chance.
In November, with Bledsoe back, Bill Belichick announced that Brady would remain the starter. Bledsoe said he had been told he would get a chance to win back his job. Brady finished that season as the Super Bowl MVP.