As a huge sports fan, lots of people have asked me what the best sports quote of all time is. Fortunately, it’s an easy question, and it does not come from a sports professional.
When I was in high school taking a history class, I came across a quote from former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren: “I always turn to sports pages first, which records people’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.”
While few people read sections of the newspaper anymore, this quote instantly validated me as a young sports geek. Plus, my father was always asking me about current events, and now I had an official judicial opinion for why I should read the sports section first.
While Chief Justice Warren did not give me a free pass to ignore the rest of the paper, that is often what happened. His observation still holds true fifty years later. You need proof? Just take a look at the morning headlines tomorrow.
Of course, failure occurs in sports. “A little roller up first….behind the bag..” But we don’t memorialize them and you’ll never see a Dr. Cheese tee with a silhouette of the ball going through Buckner’s legs. We root for hits, not errors.