George Vecsey

“When I was working on the unauthorized biography 'Stan Musial: An American Life,' which came out in 2011, old opponents recalled how Musial knew their names after they had been in the majors only a few days.”

“In recent generations, women's sports have been a blessing. Some of us can remember the bad old days in the '50s, when we would discover in casual schoolyard play that a girl could outrun most of us or hold her own in basketball or hit a softball - but there were no teams, no coaches, for girls.”

“FIFA is a vuvuzela. It's in your ear, but you don't want to hear it, and then eventually it goes away.”

“Under a pulsating full moon, the gussied-up Billie Jean King National Tennis Center seems much softer and prettier at night, with the fountains bubbling and fans without tickets to the big stadium sitting in the plaza and watching a big screen.”

“Personal honors never meant much to Bill Russell, one of America's most successful athletes with 2 college titles, 1 Olympic gold medal and 11 - count 'em, 11 - N.B.A. championships with the Boston Celtics.”

“It's a Stanley Cup thing. The boys mangle one another for a series, performing all kinds of nasty tricks, then they make nice, shaking soggy hands as the teams shuffle in opposite directions.”

“Certain Stanley Cup traditions remain intact, including the handshake line between players who had been belting one another for a couple of weeks.”

“Title IX, whether voluntarily or via court cases, opened gymnasiums to women, produced uniforms and schedules and buses.”

“Most descriptions make Beijing sound overbuilt: not a blade of grass left.”

“I've seen fire, and I've seen rain. I've also had to scramble over tundra to get to the Super Bowl and seen baseball turf fields that could fry a fielder's soles.”

“I love Boston. I love Fenway Park. I love Red Sox history. But in no way am I a Red Sox fan.”

“For years, I have been harboring memories of my first major league game at a place named Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.”

“Pennant races drain the energy from the best of them. Old-fashioned baseball races are to me the most grueling daily test in any sport. Gotta keep coming out, every day, in the face of looming disaster.”

“I will always treasure the privilege of writing the 'Sports of The Times' column.”

“Fans all have their memories of pennant races, good memories, sick memories.”