Ray Lewis knows how to get a team hyped before a big game. Before the Standford Cardinal men’s basketball team took on UMass in the semifinals of the NIT tournament, Lewis gave a pregame speech in the locker room. Ray has been known to bring the best out of his teammates in the NFL and it seems his pregame speeches work for NCAA basketball too. Stanford went on to win the matchup 74-64, advancing to the NIT final for the first time since 1991, the year the Cardinal won it all.
His full speech here:
“I can’t thank you guys for the opportunity. Let me tell you something: If tomorrow wasn’t promised, what would you give for today? Forget everything else. Forget everything else. Forget that there was any sunlight left. What would you spend today thinking about. Yourself? Or the man that’s beside you? Or the man that you know you’d give everything in your heart for?
We get one opportunity in life. One chance in life … to do whatever you’re gonna do. To lay your foundation. To make whatever mark you’re gonna make. To leave whatever legacy you’re gonna leave. Leave your legacy. And it’s found through effort.
Wins and losses come a dime a dozen. But effort? Nobody can judge effort. Effort is between you and you. Effort aint got nothing to do with nobody else. So that team that think they ready to seen you? They think what they seen on film. They ain’t saw what film shows. Because every day is a new day. Every moment is a new moment.
So now you got to go out and show them that you a different creature now than I was five minutes ago. Cause I’m pissed off for greatness. Because you ain’t pissed off for greatness, that mean you OK with being mediocre. Aint no man in here OK with bring just space. So let’s do what we do. Tonight, we ain’t gotta worry about taking no breaks.”
If this doesn’t get you hyped up, I don’t know what will. Needless to say, Ray has a career in motivational speaking after his football days are over.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07fhOVQ9wEA[/youtube]
via SB Nation
