"I’m satisfied having been a player and a coach. I don’t have to be an owner or an executive. That doesn’t do anything for me" – Pro Football HOFer Mike Ditka, on whether he ever wanted to own an NFL team (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 4/12).
"They know it’s there, maybe it’s lingering but that doesn’t distract us when we step on this field from what we’re trying to accomplish" – Northwestern Univ. football C Brandon Vitabile, on how the players' unionization effort has impacted the team's on-field performance in practice (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/13).
"Right now the injury rate as it was in Sochi was too high to be a sport that we have in the Olympics" – IOC Head of Scientific Activities Lars Engebretsen, on the number of injuries sustained by competitors in ski and snowboard slopestyle (AP, 4/12).
"The room is pretty much a back drop. I just remember a lot television cameras and production people on other side of the room. The whole thing is very staged" – Golfer Adam Scott, on the Butler Cabin at Augusta National Golf Club (N.Y. POST, 4/13).
"Those figures, you can’t read too much into them. You get worried about the business side of it and your head is going to be out of the game. I’m just focusing on what’s (on the field)" – Toronto FC D Mark Bloom, on the disparities between players' salaries in MLS (CANOE.ca, 4/11).
"I probably had 17 or 18 concussions through my career, five or six documented. Just after you have a concussion, you think you’re going to lose your job. So you try to play through it" – Former NHLer Dan LaCouture, on the 110-page complaint against the NHL filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of he and eight other players (N.Y. TIMES, 4/12).
