Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

Emotionalism

I believe that for every artificial peak you create, there is a valley. I don’t like valleys. Games are lost in valleys. Therefore, I wasn’t much for giving speeches to stir up emotions before a game.

If you need emotionalism to make you perform better, then sooner or later you’ll be vulnerable, an emotional wreck, and unable to function to your level of ability.

My ideal is an ever-rising graph line that peaks with your final performance.

I prefer thorough preparation over some device to make us “rise to the occasion.” Let others try to rise suddenly to a higher level than they had attained previously. We would have already attained it in our preparation. We would be there to begin with. A speech by me shouldn’t be necessary.