Sports

The Toronto Blue Jays offered my son first-round money out of high school. The kind of number that changes a family’s life. He turned it down to go to Vanderbilt.

People said we were crazy. The money is real, and the draft is never promised twice.

He won a College World Series, earned the degree, and went 14th overall three years later. The money was still there. By then the education was not optional; it was his.

I do not share that to brag. The pathway was the point. The bat/arm gets an athlete looked at. The classroom decides how long he stays in the game, and who he is when it ends. – Walter Beede

When it comes to collegiate baseball recruiting, always abide by your ABCs. Academics, Baseball and Character. In this specific order. – Gary Cohn

Being the best is the only answer. The only way to have this career to happen, no matter what you look like, no matter who you are, is to do the work. Not because they’ll put you in because of, or they won’t put you in because of, just do the work. – Jason Benetti

On bad teams nobody leads. On average teams, coaches lead. On elite teams, players lead. – PJ Fleck

Two of the most important lessons I’ve learned while watching and playing baseball are #1 Learn from the mistakes and then #2 Flush em. Obsessing about the past (which you can’t change) will spoil the future. – Dad

I was out of boxing for 10 years, and the only picture that I saved was Muhammad Ali knocking me down. There I was going down from that punch, I kept that and looked at it all the time, mainly because I realised what a big moment it was for sports and for boxing, and it kept me humbled. – George Foreman