“Everybody wants to be where the cool kids are. I felt like when Blake did that and it was so successful … people could see that this was a place where you could come and do comedy as an athlete” – Funny Or Die’s Alex Richanbach, on Clippers F Blake Griffin’s internship video (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 3/16).
“I blame the system that has allowed it to happen. The NBA players union is really guilty. … If a kid like a LeBron James or a Kobe (Bryant) wants to go right to the NBA, they should be allowed to go. Once you step on a college campus, just like baseball, you should have to be there for three years” – ESPN’s Dick Vitale, on being upset with the current state of college basketball (OKLAHOMAN, 3/15).
“We’ll continue to defend and protect his rights the way we would any player. He’s a part of the fraternity, indifferent to any of the challenges that may have taken place over the last few years” – MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark, addressing a group of Yankees, on Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez (NEWSDAY, 3/15).
“I’ve learned from other people that have gotten in trouble in the past – like Michael Phelps, and other people, football players. … I read all about that stuff, so I’m like, ‘Alright, this is what not to do’” – U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/15).
“I hope 10 years from now, 20 years from now the smell of exhaust will be as much a thing of the past as the smell of cigarettes at a restaurant. That’s where we have to get to” – Virgin Founder Richard Branson, who sees Formula E as a driving force behind a goal of making the world carbon neutral by ’50 (THE DAILY).
“The first time people heard me on an NBA game in the color analyst chair, it was like ‘Oh, what is she doing there.’ Then slowly but surely, the more you do it, the more comfortable people become. That’s the cultural shift” – ESPN’s Doris Burke, on women making inroads in sports broadcasting (SHREVEPORT TIMES, 3/15).
“If it goes well, I expect it to have the potential to be an annual event where every year there will be a Pac-12 China tip-off game” – Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, on plans for Washington and Texas to play a regular-season basketball game in China in November (DESERET NEWS, 3/14).
