Jeff Pearlman > Quotes

“Everyone loves a success story,” says Newton. “And once you succeed, everyone loves tearing you down.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty

“The hullabaloo passed, but days later an even bigger bombshell hit the Staples Center: Kobe Bryant was engaged. To be married. To another person. With a pulse. Really.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“Recalled Chuck Clanton, a junior cornerback: “When I saw him the first time I was like, ‘Jesus Christ, what the fuck is that?’ When he walked, his thighs naturally rubbed together. There was no fat. None. He had Earl Campbell thighs. But he was faster than Earl Campbell. If he had three percent body fat, that’d be a lot. He was all muscle. Like a tank from the future.”
― Jeff Pearlman, The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson

“I was at a party in Beverly Hills, and everyone in sports was there. Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky, Kareem. And I spotted my idol—Hank Aaron! I walked up to him and introduced myself. He said, “I know who you are. You made a great decision going to the USFL.” I was shocked. Then he leaned in and whispered, “Tom, you always have to get the money. Get the fucking money. Because they don’t care about you.” —Tom Ramsey, quarterback, Los Angeles Express”
― Jeff Pearlman, Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

“O’Neal bit his tongue and said little. Years later, however, he admitted that the anger was real. “Do I hold a grudge about that? Yeah—I do,” he said. “Some fucking dickhead kept me from being the first unanimous MVP. Some asshole who doesn’t know shit gives his vote to Iverson and fucks up history. I never forgot that.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“Aikman, whose vocal stylings are reminiscent of a cat choking on a lug nut.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty

“Roland Lazenby in his Bryant biography: “In the third quarter”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“O’Neal, meanwhile, was told of the article’s contents and decided he was done turning the other cheek. He would always take care of guys like Fox and Horry and Penberthy and Madsen. They were his people. But Kobe? Fuck Kobe. As the media gathered around after a practice, O’Neal spoke intentionally loudly with Jerome Crawford, his bodyguard. “Did you know they pay more taxes in Canada?” he said. “Like in Vancouver?” Crawford replied. “Hmm, Vancouver,” O’Neal said. “Isn’t that where Kobe’s gonna get traded to?”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“If there is a beauty to the three-ring dynasty that was the 1996-2004 Lakers, it's that (with rare exceptions) members of the organization love looking back, love recalling, love sharing memories of a blissful span.


I also found one other thing: minimal sadness that the ride hadn't lasted longer.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“In his defense (sort of), Bryant looked around the league and saw peers firing away from all angles. The uber-athletic Vince Carter had the green light in Toronto, as did Allen Iverson in Philadelphia, Tracy McGrady in Orlando, Paul Pierce in Boston. There was an understandable sense of jealousy from Bryant, who aspired to not merely lead the league in scoring but fulfill an image he couldn’t possibly live up to. “There was a game against Toronto when Kobe decided he needed to go one-on-one against Vince,” Jackson recalled. “He had no space to operate, and he kept going right at him. Nothing kills team spirit like that.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“O’Neal, however, didn’t take care of himself—and everyone knew it. With each Laker season he seemed a bit slower, a bit less athletic, a bit more injury prone—still otherworldly 85 percent of the time, but not 100 percent of the time, as once had been the case.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“I come from parents who are big on respect and also who are big on treating everyone with love. No race, no religion, no culture—none of that matters. You’re a person: you deserve respect. I was in a position to make people feel good and welcome and loved. Why wouldn’t I act on that?”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“Jackson hung the piece of paper in O’Neal’s locker without uttering a peep. When the Los Angeles big man saw it, he smiled widely. He had recently given himself a new nickname—“the Big Deporter”—for his treatment of foreign-born centers like Divac. Now he spun and told a reporter standing nearby, “I hear and see everything. I’m the police.” Translation: It’s on.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“Sibilia could not get past two things: (1) that the USFL’s dysfunction was the greatest culprit in the league’s failings, and (2) Trump was awful. “He was extremely arrogant and I thought that he was obviously trying to play the game. He wanted an NFL franchise . . . the USFL was a cheap way in.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

“As an assistant coach at Picayune High School, he helped a team that had gone 0–10 the year before…to go 0–10 again. “With all my expertise in coaching,” he wrote, “we came close to winning a game.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty

“The good news for the Washington Federals is they do not have a quarterback controversy. The bad news is they do not have a quarterback.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

“Schmaltz”
― Jeff Pearlman, Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre

“The Orlando Magic didn’t know their assholes from a hole in the wall.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“I was a big Doug Plank fan,” said Tim Ehlebracht, a Blitz wide receiver. “Then my first day of practice I come over the middle, he hits me, and I end up in the hospital after landing on my head.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

“Johnson commenced his heroic second act as a Los Angeles Laker on January 30, 1996, with the visiting Golden State Warriors in town and tickets being scalped outside the Forum for All-Star Game prices.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“If Bryant knew, it was something of a secret to those hoping otherwise. The college recruiting letters arrived by the boatload—from Duke and North Carolina, from UCLA and USC, from Delaware and Drexel and Villanova and Temple. This was the fall of 1995, and at the time Joe Bryant was in his second year as an assistant at nearby La Salle University, his alma mater. He had been hired in 1993 by Speedy Morris, the head coach, and while the official reasoning was that the program needed a replacement for the recently departed Randy Monroe, the reality was different. “Did I think it’d help us get Kobe?” Morris said decades later. “Yes. Of course. Joe was not a good assistant coach. He didn’t work hard, he didn’t actually know that much. Nice guy. But he was there so we’d get his son.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“The most noteworthy knock-Shaq-on-his-rear addition took place on June 26, 2002, when the Houston Rockets used the first pick in the NBA draft to select Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6, 310-pound center who had recently averaged 38.9 points and 20.2 rebounds per game in the playoffs with the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. Though he was just 21 and unfamiliar with high-caliber competition, Yao’s arrival was considered a direct challenge to O’Neal’s reign as the NBA’s mightiest big man. Sure, Shaq was tall. But he wasn’t this tall. Within weeks, a song titled simply “Yao Ming” was being played on Houston radio stations, and Steve Francis, the Rockets’ superstar guard, was being introduced to audiences as “Yao Ming’s teammate.” There was talk—only half in jest—of a Ming dynasty. Put simply, the NBA’s 28 other franchises were doing their all to shove the Lakers off their perch. If that meant copying elements of the triangle offense (as many teams attempted to do), so be it. If that meant adding Mutombo or Clark, so be it. If that meant importing China’s greatest center, so be it. And if that meant throwing punches—well, let’s go.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“History also shows that salaries never go back to an old level. All this reminds me of the old commentary that goes, ‘When a man with money meets up with a man of experience, the man with experience usually ends up with the money and the man with the money ends up with experience.’ I have no intention of going bankrupt signing wealthy players.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

“You came to the USFL either as a marquee guy brought in to bring credibility to the league, or as a washed-up NFL reject. That was me. The reject. —Matt Braswell, center, Michigan Panthers”
― Jeff Pearlman, Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

“Brian Shaw, the veteran point guard who was respected by O’Neal and Bryant, tried explaining to the kid that his words were unwise. Fox, also respected by both, did the same. It mattered not. Jackson was furious, and in a closed-door meeting he told the Lakers he had erred in giving them too much freedom. “I tried to let you guys figure it out,” he said. “Now I’m going to have to instill more discipline. You don’t get the respect of being champions.” But what did that mean? Would Jackson change anything? Would the approach shift? Answer: Not really.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“Still, Trump was given an early pass. He was new and eager, and sometimes a person’s thoughts don’t come across correctly.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

“The mythology began here. On the day. At the moment. Only nobody knew it. As the years passed and the legend grew, it became an increasingly daunting challenge to separate fact from fiction; giant from gnat. That’s what happens when we anoint our heroes with nicknames and expectations and an unusual largeness generally reserved for skyscrapers and grand canyons.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“Basketball is a young man’s game, unkind to ancient legs.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“That’s why, when West was asked during his team’s playoff loss to San Antonio about the possibility of hiring Jackson, he said, curtly, “Fuck Phil Jackson.” Yes, Fuck Phil Jackson.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

“He was asked whether he would have been willing to continue to play alongside O’Neal. The answer was no. He had said no to Jackson, no to Kupchak, no to Jerry Buss. No—he would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever again play with Shaquille O’Neal. Never, ever, ever. Or . . . “That I had something to do with Shaquille leaving, that’s something I laugh at,” he said. “It upsets me. It angers me. If he’d re-signed for whatever, I’d still be here today. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out that way.” Watching from his home, O’Neal couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Watching from his home, Jackson couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Had Jerry Buss extended O’Neal’s contract, Kobe Bryant would be holding up his new Los Angeles Clippers jersey at this very moment. O’Neal knew it. Jackson knew it.”
― Jeff Pearlman, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty