We are coming up on Week 13 of the NFL season and the fight to see who will battle for NCAA Football supremacy is coming down to the wire. We are finally hearing less about Terrell Owens and more about the game. Although I will say giant Pink needs to go away from “Football Night In America,” as do the white dominated “This is Our Country” Chevrolet commercials and Tom Jackson’s “Jacked Up” segment on Monday Night Football. Oh, and what up with Romo denying the Jessica Simpson rumors? Like Tiki said on PTI, “I would let that rumor perpetuate itself until it came true.” She may be dumb, but like 1080i, I want it.
That said it seemed like it was a good time to bring back a golden oldie, sit back and enjoy one of the greatest movie speeches of all-time with Al Pacino from Any Given Sunday, and if you like, you can catch it on FX on Dec. 5. Laremy likes this speech so much he provided a play-by-play just below the video.
Let’s break this thing down because it’s easily the best sport’s movie speech, hell maybe the best speech of any movie in the past decade. Why is it so damn good? It builds and builds until you start getting goosbumps. Everyone, players on the screen included, figures “well here comes the inspirational speech.” But Pacino is too good to let you off the hook that easy. You WILL be moved by it. Here are a few of the really great bits.
He starts out slow with what would be an ok bit if he stopped at the end of it:
We are in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me, and we can stay here and get the shit kicked out of us or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb out of hell. One inch, at a time.
Fine and dandy, he’s set up the “inches” theme very nicely and very calmly. And then he turns introspective, which is where things start getting phenomenal.
Now I can’t do it for you. I’m too old. I look around and I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make. I uh…. I pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who has ever loved me. And lately, I can’t even stand the face I see in the mirror.
I mean, that is laying yourself bare. The players start nodding their heads at about this point because many of them can relate.
You know when you get old in life things get taken from you. That’s, that’s part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out that life is this game of inches. So is football. Because in either game, life or football the margin for error is so small. I mean one half step too late or to early you don’t quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don’t quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game every minute, every second.
This is about as profound as a movie can get; the difference between failure and achievement in all our lives. At this point Pacino is on a roll and could probably ask his guys to invade a country. He goes for the kill.
On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our finger nails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches that’s going to make the fucking difference between WINNING and LOSING. Between LIVING and DYING!
Pacino is bringing together a team that was fractured, all in the space of three minutes with one massive fucking speech. Take us home Al.
I’ll tell you this in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch. And I know if I am going to have any life anymore it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch because that is what LIVING is. The six inches in front of your face.
Now I can’t make you do it. You gotta look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes. Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you are gonna do the same thing for him.That’s a team, gentlemen and either we heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That’s football guys. That’s all it is. Now, whattaya gonna do?
I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to write the living hell out of some columns. If anyone gets in my way I’m going to steamroll them. Thanks Al, and hell yeah man.
