Editorial

Greg Gard Says Players Will ‘Wish’ They Could Put The Jersey Back On Once They Stop Playing

(Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports - via Reuters)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard had some powerful thoughts after the Badgers upset Michigan State.

The program has been engulfed in chaos over the past week after the suspension of Brad Davison and Kobe King leaving the team. Entering our Saturday game against Michigan State, I thought it was going to get very ugly. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)

 

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Instead, we pulled off a huge win against Tom Izzo with our backs to the wall. Afterwards, the man leading the program had a powerful message about careers coming to an end.

 

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Gard said the following in part after the gigantic upset win:

Every time you take that jersey off, one day it’ll be the last time you take it off, and I’ll guarantee you, the last time you take it off, the further you get from that moment, you’ll wish you could put it back on one more time. So, don’t ever take any of these opportunities and moments for granted.

You can watch and listen to his full comments below.

I’m not sure anybody will be able to find a single word Gard said that can be disagreed with. He’s 100% correct.

You often don’t realize the greatness of the situation until you’ve left it. That applies to a lot of things in life, but especially sports.

 

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Sports have an expiration date on them, and it can come knocking any day. Given the situation with Kobe King leaving the team, now seems like as good of a time as ever to remind people of that fact.

Some might think Gard was trying to take a subtle shot at King, but I don’t think that was the case at all. I think he was just speaking from the heart after an emotional win.

 

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Now, it’s time to get to work and prepare for Minnesota. Things are certainly trending in the correct direction.