Minutes Speech in Any Given Sunday

很喜歡看 Al Pacino 的電影，他很擅長演那種長篇大論演說的角色，從 Scent of a Woman (1992) 、The Devil's Advocate (1997) 到這部 Any Given Sunday (1999) 都有類似極有煽動性的獨白演說橋段。

Any Given Sunday 前前後後在台灣還有美國的電視上看了四遍，還是很好看。我一直覺得裡面 Al Pacino 的角色是在影射 Pat Riley 〈據說導演 Oliver Stone 本身也是 Miami Heat fan 的樣子〉。Miami 的職業球隊，老牌明星教練，被質疑無法適應新一代的球風，鐵血教練，無預警接管別隊的教練位置，當然還有那震憾力十足的演說能力。不過自然 Al Pacino 是不可能有 Pat Riley 那一身「阿媽尼」的帥勁的。

去年 Miami Heat 的陣容大概也只有 Riley 能壓得住這些來自各隊的問題球員，在季後用 15 Strongs 的口號成功地凝結了整支隊伍並在最後一個系列發揮最大的韌性逆轉獲勝。這讓我想到我在台灣時看到的一篇ESPN 的賽後報導：

記得當年主將還是 Alonzo Mourning & Tim Haradaway，有場比賽 Heat 打得不好，中場時候 Pat Riley 拿出了個裝滿冰水與冰塊的桶子叫大家集合，說道："If you want to win a championship, you have to want it…"

接著 Riley 把自己的頭埋入水中，

時間過了幾秒，

過了一分鐘，

又過了一分鐘，

球員面面相覷不知該怎麼辦，Riley 的脖子上青筋暴露，有的球員已快忍不住準備去拉他起來了，

這時 Riley 終於把頭抬了起來，整個臉凍得僵紅地接著說 "…like it's your last breath."

賽後 Zo 表示如果那時 Riley 要他去撞牆，他一定不加思考立刻去做，當下就算要他幫 Riley 擋子彈他都願意。

Al Pacino 在 Any Given Sunday 中也有類似的一段演說，Inch by Inch，看了還是十分熱血，心情沮喪的人可以多看幾次！

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Minutes Speech / Al Pacino


I don't know what to say really. Three minutes till the biggest battle of our professional lives. It all comes down to today. Now either we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play, till we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb out of hell. One inch at a time.

Now I can't do it for you. I'm too old. I look around, I see these young faces, and I think... I mean I've made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me, and lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life, things get taken from you. That's part of life. But you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out life's this game of inches. And so is football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean... one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow too fast, you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team, we fight for that inch.

On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this - in any fight, its the guy whose willing to die who's gonna win that inch. And I know if I'm going to have any life anymore, it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch. Because that's what living is! The 6 inches in front of your face...

Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you're gonna see a guy who will go that inch with you. You're gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it, you're gonna do the same for him.

That's a team, gentlemen. And either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die, as individuals. That's football, guys. That's all it is. Now, what are you going to do?