Entertainment

Celebrate The Release Anniversary Of ‘Any Given Sunday’ With Al Pacino’s Speech

(Photo credit should read JIM RUYMEN/AFP/Getty Images)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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Friday marks the 18-year anniversary of “Any Given Sunday” being released.

The hit movie, which stars Al Pacino and Dennis Quaid, provided film lovers with one of the greatest sports speeches we’ve ever seen on the big screen.

Pacino gives his guys a rousing and intense speech that I have personally tried to recreate with the help of alcohol on no less than a dozen different occasions.

How can you have a pulse and not get chills from that speech? So many great quotes and lines. “One inch at a time” is a golden line that can literally apply to anything, but we all know what the best  quote is:

On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know
when we add up all those inches
that’s going to make the f***ing difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.

I’ll tell you this
in any fight
it is the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.

This video should be required to play before every single major football game. I want it during the Super Bowl, the playoffs for college and the NFL and every other single major bowl game.

I watched this speech right before Wisconsin took the field against Ohio State in the Big Ten championship. I was ready to run through a concrete barrier, and I had no doubt we were going to win. We ultimately ended up losing, but that’s not the point.

The point is that the speech made me believe in my underdog team. It gave me hope, it inspired me and it had me prepared to do battle. As Pacino said, “That’s football.”

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