Neverisms

and never try to fool your manager.FRED HUTCHINSON, his rule for rookies

Never think about what’s at stake.MICHAEL JORDAN

Jordan said the key to approaching a big game was to relax, and take your mind off the idea of winning or losing. He added: “Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus.”

Never have a club in your bag that you’re afraid to hit.TOM KITE, professional golfer

Never forget a defeat.

Defeat can be the key to victory.MIKE KRZYZEWSKI, in Leading with the Heart (2000),

written with Donald T. Phillips

In his bestselling book about success strategies in basketball, business, and life, Coach K also provided these additional coaching insights:

Never let a person’s weakness get in the way of his strength.

There is always a way to win. Never say you cannot do it.

Never set a goal that involves number of wins—never.

Set goals that revolve around playing together as a team.

Doing so will put you in a position to win every game.

The time your game is most vulnerable is when you’re ahead.

Never let up!ROD LAVER, quoted in a 1975 profile

in U.S. News & World Report

Never tell your team anything that you don’t believe yourself.VINCE LOMBARDI

Lombardi was one of America’s most iconic coaches, best remembered for taking the Green Bay Packers to five NFL championship titles during his nine seasons as their coach and general manager (1959 through 1968). He also said:

Never miss a practice. Never.

Never be ready to settle for a tie.

Never take an easy opponent lightly.

Never practice without a thought in mind.NANCY LOPEZ, professional golfer

Never bet with anyone who has a deep tan,

squinty eyes, and a one-iron in his bag.DAVE MARR, professional golfer

The one-iron is regarded as one of the most difficult clubs to master, so a golfer who carries one—especially if he’s tanned and squinty-eyed—is likely to be skilled. About the club, Lee Trevino observed, “Not even God can hit a one-iron.” The legendary baseball executive Branch Rickey was fond of giving similar advice, but in a slightly different way: “Never play checkers with a man who carries his own board.”

Never take shit from anybody.BILLY MARTIN, quoting his mother

In an interview during his playing days, Martin cited this as one of the most valuable pieces of advice he got from his mother, Jenny Salvini Martin Downey. The daughter of struggling Italian immigrants who lived in West Berkeley, California, Jenny was a highly volatile and combative woman whose motto was, “Never take no shit from nobody.” Jenny’s second husband (and Billy Martin’s father) was Alfred Martin, a smooth-talking, guitar-strumming womanizer of Portuguese descent. When Jenny found out that her husband was becoming involved with a fifteen-year-old high school student, she tracked the girl down and beat her senseless. Returning home, she gathered together her husband’s clothes and threw them on the front lawn. When Alfred arrived home, the pregnant Jenny (with Billy in her womb) rushed outside and bashed in every window in his car with a hand mirror. The couple divorced before she gave birth. As Billy grew up, Jenny taught him that “Every insult must be avenged” and “To earn respect you have to use your fists.” After Martin’s playing career with the New York Yankees, he had managerial stints with five baseball clubs, most notably the Oakland A’s and the New York Yankees. Because of a stormy relationship with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Martin was hired and fired as team manager five separate times. As a player and manager, he had a fiery and combative style that made his mother proud.

When badly overmatched,

never descend to weak dejection or loss of interest.

Play as strongly as you can and keep your self-respect.PAUL METZLER, in Advanced Tennis (1968)

Never fake a throw during a rundown;

you might fake out your teammates as well as the runner.JOE MORGAN, in his 1998 book Baseball for Dummies,

written with Richard Lally

Never look back and never look ahead.CHUCK NOLL

Noll, who was head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1969 to 1991, took the team to four Super Bowl victories, more than any other NFL coach. He added: “The key to a winning season is focusing on one opponent at a time. Winning one week at a time.”

Never let your head hang down.

Never give up and sit down and grieve.

Find another way.

And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.LEROY “SATCHEL” PAIGE

Buck Owen, the legendary Negro League baseball star, said in his 1997 autobiography, I Was Right On Time, that this was his favorite Satchel Paige quote. Another popular Paige quotation was, “Never do nothing till your muscles are loosed up.”

Never try a shot you haven’t practiced.HARVEY PENICK

After serving as the golf coach at the University of Texas for more than three decades, Penick became a favorite trainer of golfers on the PGA and LPGA tour. In 1992, he wrote (with Bud Shrake) Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, one of the most popular golf books ever written. Among the numerous tips he offered on the mental game of golf was this:

Never—I repeat, never—allow yourself to think about

what is riding on a putt.

Never forget that it’s imperative to keep people positive,