Speeches by sportspeople at graduations, awards ceremonies and the like?“I’m very flattered in coming here ’cause you never could have made me believe years ago when I got out of high school with a D-minus average,” Ali said. “And they gave me the minus because I won the Olympics!”
“I still consider myself lucky. I got to guard Jordan, I went the distance with Ali, I pitched to Babe Ruth. I feel like I know what it must have been like to watch Picasso . I saw it all.“I won a couple of times, not a lot. I am proud to say no other sport has been lifted from having such great people as its leaders. The ‘Big Four’ guys really pissed me off most of the time, but I’m absolutely proud to have my life and career associated with such quality individuals . . .
But his killer point, was on points themselves, revealing an extraordinary truth. In the course of his professional tennis career, he played 1526 singles matches and of those, he won just under 80 per cent of them. But here’s the thing: In all those matches, he only won 54 per cent of the points. Broadly, whatever you do, you need to get your head around the fact that you won’t win everything and in any competitive environment it is inevitable both that you will make mistakes and your fellow competitors will display blinding flashes that will beat you. Onwards, anyway! Don’t fuss.