Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Practice As You Mean To Play

"At a sports banquet in St. Louis a number of years ago, I sat between "Dizzy" Dean and an all-American football player from a southern university, Paul Moss. "Ol' Diz" was in rare form, so I had to address my talking to the football hero. Paul Moss was a big, handsome fellow, and very modest. His greatest claim to fame was an uncanny ability to snag and hold a forward pass. Playing that year with the now defunct St. Louis professional team, he had made many a catch that had seemed impossible. So during the evening I popped a question at him. "Paul," I asked, "what's the secret of your ability to catch forward passes? I have seen you take them off your shoe-tops, high over your head, far to the right or the left, and no matter how hard they were thrown. If it isn't a professional secret, I surely would like to know how you do it." He waited so long to reply, that I was beginning to think he had not heard me, but I guess he was only thinking. "Well," he finally drawled, "I guess it's because I always practice as I mean to play."

A Help-Your-Self Booklet, 1959


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