Certain Stanley Cup traditions remain intact, including the handshake line between players who had been belting one another for a couple of weeks. – George Vecsey
Some religious guys in sports give the impression, ‘I’ve got something you don’t have.’ – George Vecsey
What I like about it is the creativity. When I watch good soccer players – the way they have to make a play out of nothing. – George Vecsey
It needs to be said, over and over again, that Stan the Man was voted by ‘The Sporting News’ as the best baseball player of the postwar decade, from 1946 through 1955. – George Vecsey
War of attrition, war of wills. That’s what the Stanley Cup playoffs are – more intense, more physical and more prolonged than the playoffs of any other sport. – George Vecsey
I never watch ‘Sopranos’ reruns back home. As far as I am concerned, the nuclear family is still sitting around the luncheonette in New Jersey, munching and chatting, safe and together, and that’s how it ended for me. – George Vecsey
The Greatest Living Yankee is Whitey Ford, who came out of Aviation High School, which was then in Manhattan, and helped pitch the Yankees to victory in the 1950 World Series when he was 21. – George Vecsey
I would never tell anybody to give up hockey – the great sports we have here – basketball, lacrosse – rugby coming into its own – we’ve got so many great team sports, and I say hold on to them. – George Vecsey
There is only one thing wrong about the Flo Hyman Award: it came to be named for the Old Lady of Volleyball much too soon. – George Vecsey
Some people insist that hallowed professional teams should never change their nicknames. – George Vecsey
Weary soccer players just cannot run anymore and must resort to shootouts after 120 minutes when a result is mandatory, but men on skates can go indefinitely, no matter how badly it disrupts the television network’s schedule. – George Vecsey
Lots of ballplayers have their own personal music blasted by the sound systems in modern ball parks. – George Vecsey
Hockey lends itself to special events, including the Olympic competition: a glorious tournament of the best players in the world, putting on their national jerseys and playing on big rinks with no-goon Olympic rules and referee enforcement. – George Vecsey
The Boys of Summer were heroes in Brooklyn for a full postwar decade partly because the players could not entertain higher offers. – George Vecsey
Sure, there were people from Missouri and Illinois who grew up Cardinals fans and migrated to New York for work or love. Cardinals fans congregate periodically at Foley’s near Herald Square to root for the team of their childhood, up there on the TV screen. – George Vecsey
FIFA is a vuvuzela. It’s in your ear, but you don’t want to hear it, and then eventually it goes away. – George Vecsey
