Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Sadly, beloved sports reporter Craig Sager passed away today. He’ll leave behind a large legacy of reporting, with his work extending from 1972. He’s covered everything from the NBA to the Olympic Games to the World Series. As a reporter, he covered both football (NFL) and fùtbol (1990 FIFI World Cup). He has also played a hand in covering golf and tennis events, as well as NCAA games like PAC-10 and Big 12 college football. He’s certainly left us with many memories of his craft. But he has also left us with some truly remarkable words to live by. The man with many colorful suits lives on with many colorful quotes that can inspire anyone.
Craig Sager may be gone, but his words live on. Here are the top 10 best quotes and sayings from a great man who lived a life immersed in sports:
“I am not an expert on time or on cancer or on life itself. I’m a kid from the small Illinois town of Potamia who grew up on the Chicago Cubs and made sports his life’s work, although there’s never been a day when it actually seemed like work.”
“I will never give up, and I will never give in. I will continue to keep fighting, sucking the marrow out of life, as life sucks the marrow out of me. I will live my life full of love and full of fun. It’s the only way I know how.”
“I’m a kid from the small Illinois town of Batavia, who grew up on the Chicago Cubs, and made sports his life’s work, although there’s never been a day where it actually seemed like work. I have run with the bulls in Pamplona. I have raced with Mario Andretti in Indianapolis. I have climbed the Great Wall of China. I have jumped out of airplanes over Kansas. I have wrestled gators in Florida. I have sailed the ocean with Ted Turner. I have swam the oceans in the Caribbean. And I have interviewed Gregg Popovich. Mid-game. Spurs down seven.”
“I grew up in Batavia, Illinois, a small town out in the corn fields, west of Chicago. It was boring. For our senior picture, they said, ‘black or navy blazer.’ And I thought, Why do I want to look like everybody else? I was a big fan of The Monkees, and I had this electric blue nehru jacket, like one Micky would wear. So I wore that and showed up and they said, ‘We told you: a blue or black sportcoat.’ I argued that it was actually blue, created a little controversy. But, now, you look at the yearbook and everyone looks exactly the same. Except for me.”
“If I’ve learned anything through all of this, it’s that each and every day is a canvas, waiting to be painted — an opportunity for love, for fun, for living, for learning.
“I will continue to keep fighting sucking the marrow out of life as life sucks the marrow out of me.”
“Time is something that cannot be bought, it cannot be wagered with God, and it is not in endless supply. Time is simply how you live your life.”- said Sager at this year’s ESPY awards.
Rest in peace, Craig Sager. June 29, 1951 – December 15, 2016
