120 games. 14 different teams. 3 different newspapers. Same damnquotes. When it comes to sports quotes, expect the same type ofquotes at the end of each and every game. “Yeah, we playedour hearts out but in the end the other team came out the betterteam.” Or…. “We played the game the way itshould be played. We enforced the fundamentals, and it got us thewin.” My favorite… “We gotta learn from ourmistakes, and come out stronger next time. Next time, I’mpromising you that we will dominate.” It doesn’t matterwho you quote, whether it’s the De Anza mens’basketball team or the San Jose Sharks, the quotes always sound thesame. Please don’t think I’m hating on the athletes,because they truly do “play their hearts out”sometimes, but sports quotes are so typical that they can pulledout of a list generated by team public relations personnel (theyreally wouldn’t do that; its just a thought). Nowyou’re thinking, it’s not the athlete’s fault forthe common quotes. Some may argue that the blame lies on theshoulders of the reporter for not coming up with clear and concisequestions. Well, I wouldn’t be writing this column if itwasn’t true. So many times have I sat down on the bleachersor in the press box jotting down great questions to ask anddreaming like Martin Luther King Jr. that I’ll get greatresponses. After I make my way down to the locker room or thebench, I realize my dreams were mere fantasies because the athletesreally don’t have much to say. It’s not that they arenot smart individuals (Prince Benitez has a higher GPA than I do),but under the pressure and the exhaustion of the game they justfinished, their minds aren’t going to create a great orscholarly quote. I’m working on deadline sometimes, and Ican’t wait for the kid to get dressed or sit back and drink aPowerade. I want to capture the emotions immediately after the gamein order to obtain the freshness of the quote. I want it hot andsizzlin’. There’s not much you can quote on besides thebig plays. It’s going to be about whether or not the teamplayed well or how one player stood out or changed the outcome ofthe game. The latter is often expressed in an angry tone by thecoach who really doesn’t want to give a quote to you afterthe game, but is obligated to because you covered the team theentire season. Even during the best of times or the worst of times,I still need quotes just as much as athletes needs to wipe of theirsweat. It’s essential. Michael Klinski once wrote exactlywhat I’m trying to say. “It takes a good athlete tosink a game-winning three pointer or to hit a bases-clearing homerun. It takes a better speaker, however, to talk to the reportersafter the game and come up with that magical quote.”I’m looking for that magical quote. Just one quote. Maybe twoto help me get my story going. Originally, I thought the De Anzaathletes didn’t have much to say because they usuallydon’t expect to be interviewed by anyone unless its La Voz.But in my recent high school reports for the Palo Alto Daily, Ispoke to players from Palo Alto, Los Altos, Burlingame and Saratogahigh schools and not one of them said anything interesting.It’s very hard to revolve your story around these quotes.Last year the football team wanted to get rid of me because Iproposed getting rid of them in my column in order to bring involleyball. I feel the same anger will come at me again, but by allathletes. But, before you go shining your baseball bat to take awhack at me, please take my comments more in the spirit ofunderstanding my please and not in the spirit that you are doingsomething wrong. Give me something great to jot down, not yourusual “we played well” quotes. Unless you’reMuhammad Ali, you can’t float like a butterfly, nor can yousting us like a bee with the quotes you provide.