In all honesty, once you become a professional, number one, you're no longer a fan. I don't root for the Dodgers, really. I just try to do the game as best I can. And the winning and the losing will take care of itself.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the transition from being a fan to a professional, highlighting the focus on performance rather than allegiance.
Vin Scully expresses that once you reach a professional level in any field, your perspective shifts from being a supporter to a performer. In this context, he reflects on how focusing on doing one's job to the best of one's ability is more important than the outcomes, like winning or losing, which are outside one's control.
In practice
Using this quote in a motivational speech to aspiring professionals in sports or other fields.
The game is just one long conversation, and I'm anticipating that, and I will say things like 'Did you know that?' or 'You're probably wondering why.' I'm really just conversing rather than just doing play-by-play. I never thought of myself as having a style. I don't use key words. And the best thing I do? I shut up.
That really is my trademark. Day to day, week in, week out. If something happens and the crowd roars, I shut up.
Don't let the winds blow your dreams away... or steal your faith in God.
As long as you live keep smiling because it brightens everybody's day.
In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened…
Almost all of us growing up have played baseball on some level. It has an inside track with people. It has a unifying effect.
Battles that last five minutes spawn legends that live a thousand years.
When I was publishing my first books, the previous generation of authors was fading away, so I was welcomed because I was a new author.
I think money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things. It enables you to invest in ideas that don't have a short-term payback.
Chess continues to advance over time, so the players of the future will inevitably surpass me in the quality of their play, assuming the rules and regulations allow them to play serious chess. But it will likely be a long time before anyone spends 20 consecutive years as number, one as I did.
We must create economic opportunity, build a culture of entrepreneurship, get people to take responsibility for improving their lives, rather than putting them in a position where they sit back in their poverty and blame others for it.
I've had enough success for two lifetimes, My success is talent put together with hard work and luck.
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