We want to hear from you! No wrong answers, but there is only one Right answer
I understand that this is subjective, and there’s plenty of classic (even great) football movies such as Friday Night Lights, The Replacements, Remember the Titans, The Waterboy and more, and I want to know what your favorite speech(es) from your favorite football movies are, but one movie and one speech is the greatest, and you already know what it is.
You clicked on this headline to ensure you were right, and I am here to tell you, objectively, that YOU are right.
The best football speech (you already know) from a football move is Al Pacino’s “Inch by Inch” speech as head coach Tony D’Amato in Any Given Sunday. It’s not close, and if you feel differently that’s cool, I welcome you to this thread, and I accept you, but I don’t agree with you. And somewhere deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you know I am right.
Curtesy of rev.com, we have the transcript (with timestamps!) right here (the actual clip is above):
“Al Pacino / Coach D’Amato: (00:01)
I don’t know what to say really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives, all comes down to today. Either we heal as a team, or we’re going to crumble, inch by inch, play by play, til we’re finished.
Al Pacino / Coach D’Amato: (00:29)
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 made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make.
Al Pacino / Coach D’Amato: (01:14)
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. I mean, that’s part of life. But you only learn that, when you start losing stuff.
Al Pacino / Coach D’Amato: (01:47)
You find out life’s this game of inches. 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’re in every break of the game, every minute, every second
Al Pacino / Coach D’Amato: (02:22)
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 going to make the fucking difference between winning and losing, between living and dying.
Al Pacino / Coach D’Amato: (02:53)
I’ll tell you this, in any fight, it’s the guy who’s willing to die, who’s going to 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 six inches in front of your face. Now I can’t make you do it. You got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes.
Al Pacino / Coach D’Amato: (03:23)
Now I think you’re going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You’re going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you’re going to 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?”
Whether I had a tough day in life, or at work, or maybe I am playing Madden with the boys and we need a boost, this is the speech. This is the go to inspiration, it’s not Sean McVay’s “I believe” speech in the Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl win against the Cincinnati Bengals. I’ll post that below if you want to check out the tremendous moment by McVay though.
My understanding is the NFL wanted no part of Any Given Sunday, because as dramatic and comical as the movie is at times, it touches on real issues in the NFL, sports and in life, and the speech by Pacino sums up life and football in a way that even a non-football fan will understand and maybe even appreciate.
It’s the best speech in a football movie; it may be the best scene in any football movie. It may be the best scene in any sports movie.
Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? I don’t know, that’s above my pay grade, but I do know this speech works because it feels real. It feels like something a coach (or anyone) with their back against the wall would say.
I shared my thoughts, and yes, I am putting those thoughts on a pedestal today, but I still want to hear from you! Whether you agree, disagree or don’t care, let us know what your favorite football speech from a football movie is!