Ray Brown Quotations

Whether through impact or disengaging themselves, they were dislocated from the mainframe and we found the two bodies. So somehow, they got away from the plane.

We know we've got to play better offensively to continue in this tournament.

Last year we had to really try to disguise it because we were limited in what we could do down the field, and there was no cushion for the receiver there.

Nobody would have picked me to play 20 years. I wouldn't have picked myself to play 20 years. I do know there's a lot of my ex-teammates sitting at home watching, saying, 'Can you believe Ray Brown is still playing football?' I might even have family members saying, 'Why is Uncle Ray playing? He needs to get out of there.

Nobody would have picked me to play 20 years,

I don't want to be around the ball unless I'm recovering it. I have no problem with not touching the ball. I don't want to run with the football. . . . They tackle guys with that thing.

For the seller, this is usually the worst time to sell,

We've got to win time of possession. We've got to figure out real quick where their guys are going and how they're going to play us.

We've got to really bring an offensive threat to the field next week. We didn't carry our weight.

We have to address it, ... It has to become an issue, not just from a player perspective, but also from management's perspective, because it becomes a workplace issue. Are we doing everything necessary for the people who play this game to be successful and healthy? Are we putting them at any kind of risk? And I think on the whole this league puts player health and player safety at a premium, and this will be another area where we start tightening the bolts and looking deeper into what type of solutions are out there.

He walked into the storm. He's probably dead.

He just wished me good luck. For him to give me that letter, man, that just made me feel good.

I thought we had the potential to do something. It looks like we're heading that way. It's not all over, said and done, but it's all in front of us, and I'm glad to be a part of a team that's playing for something in December.

Pilates reveals your weaknesses. If one side of your body is stronger than the other, you know it pretty quickly. You need to correct that, and to do so you have to work at it.

Mark did the thing that a backup is supposed to do. Go in and play well and keep himself on the coach's mind.

Mark did the thing that a backup is supposed to do, ... Go in and play well and keep himself on the coach's mind.

I'm honored, and absolutely floored, by this. I know some of the members are guys like Doc Blanchard, Dizzy Dean and Walter Payton. I got a call from (Hall of Fame publicist) Glen Waddle and I remember telling him, 'Are you kidding me?' I had to sit down.

We finally get an opportunity where it's in our hands. We don't have to count on anyone else.

You know what? There shouldn't be any two-a-days, ... There should probably be two preseason games, and then we should just go play football. Guys are in shape pretty much.

You did it all. You did it all.

Well, I think that I've been learning how to, attempting to learn how to write for a trio. I've sort of taken a page out of Duke Ellington's book. I watched Ellington over the years and it didn't matter who got in that band, he found out what they could do good and then he wrote for them.

Financing may be somewhat faster because lenders aren't processing as many loans. You will get better service and more attention this time of year.

We had to do a lot of rehearsals to get it so that it was playable. What it did was make you practice. That's good for any musician to have that kind of pressure. It brings things out of you that might not come out if you don't have to reach for something all the time.

You have to be able to listen. You have got to listen to the singer and give them what they need to sound good.

We had several football players on that team. Eagle Day, Billy Kinard, Eddie Crawford. Back in that time, the various coaches did not demand 100 percent of your time to a specific sport.

Even if your house does go up $20,000 in one year, a lot of that will have to pay for your commission. If you have a $300,000 house and 5 percent commission, say bye-bye to $15,000.

Don't try to second-guess what a new buyer would want. You'll guess wrong nine times out of 10. It's better to let the price reflect that you have an older kitchen or bathroom.

There's a formula to this and somehow we've tended to get away from it, and it caused us to lose six ballgames. But if we can maintain this next week, we've got a good chance of winning.

There's simply no substitute for interviewing several potential listing agents before you hire one. If you notice that the agent is doing all the talking and none of the listening, move on to the next.

There's no TV in our rooms. And this morning somebody hid the coffee.

I've never seen anyone play with two broken thumbs.

Sometimes you encounter a person who firmly believes that listing agents will recommend too low a price just to get a quick sale. But the fact that agents are paid on a percentage commission is one reason they don't like to do that.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a few bad days in practice. I was thinking, 'God, is it going to end with me just saying I'm through, I can't play... in a Thursday practice?' I just thought, 'I'm sore, I'm tired, I can't make it to Friday.' And sure enough, I come back Friday and have a good day.

Something baked. Chicken or fish or pork. I have to take care of myself, eat like a guy in my 40s -- I just happen to be in football. My wife doesn't fry a lot of food. I love fresh tomatoes, broccoli, corn. My two-year-old loves corn, and I agree. I probably should take vitamins but I don't. I get my vitamins the old-fashioned way -- from fruits and vegetables.

One, he had injuries; two, he didn't have the success that he had previously in Jacksonville, and, three, he was benched, ... Put that in your tank as motivation.

Actually, I was starting to feel like my abilities were best suited at tackle, because I'm not as fast as I used to be. As you get older, it's a leg-strength game. I'm able to sort of trick the team and trick this league that I can play inside. That's basically what I got by with - a little guile, a little veteran savvy, and also leaning on my teammates.

Coach Gibbs is not satisfied. He probably wants to prove to some of the guys that he still has it; he's still motivated. That's important. We'll get it done.

That's nothing. He also thinks he's a pregnant woman.

This gives us an opportunity to sort of take care of it ourselves. We're counting on ourselves.

They talked to me about that issue, and I really remember that. 1986 was the steroid year, and here we are 20 years later and that issue is still alive.

They have the best of both worlds. It serves as a destination resort and at the same time, day in and day out, serves the local customer.

It's just another year. I try not to put a whole lot of bells and whistles into it. If I start to do that, it gets in the way of my preparation. Now all of a sudden I'm worried about what happens in my last home game, my last road game or my last game I'd ever play against Dallas. It doesn't matter. I just want to play.

It's a sad and melancholy day, but at the same time, it's a wonderful reunion. It was great to see everyone. It's hard to articulate, but when a man like coach Vaught takes all these guys under his wing, and helps make them better people, he's really accomplished something.

It might be nice to be in the league 20 years. It may be significant. But I can't stop and say, 'Look at this, let me gloat a little bit.' Then I'll get my butt handed to me.

For a small movement, this is harder than it looks. You feel it in your side holding the crunch that long.

For abdominal exercise it's important to work the opposing muscle group -- in this case the back. My two-year-old son, Trey, likes it because it looks like I'm flying.

It's going to be important to set the tempo in these football games because we have to establish some sort of pace, and we did a good job of that this past Sunday, how we came out and ran the football and really put some pressure on the defense. And our defense, I think, really fed off that. I think our team this past week really felt connected in that we fed off each other and really got into a good flow.

They did a great job of scheming. I was surprised at some of the looks we got. They filled (the gaps) a different way with their linebackers that we didn't anticipate. I don't think we did a good job of adjusting.

The thing is, I did have problems and I wish her well,

I know the biggest number for me being in this 20th year isn't how big I am, or how many times I've bench-pressed 225. It's that I'm 42 years old.

I'm pretty sure this is it. I'm not going to stamp that in concrete, but I don't think I want to play. I've had enough football. I've enjoyed it. And when I say I've had enough, it doesn't mean I don't like it. I've had enough with a big smile and a lot of happiness, with some pleasurable moments.

I'm satisfied, I really am. I leave this game with so much. I've taken so much. Now it's my time to try to give something back to somebody else, to give some time to my family and give some time to some charitable organizations in my community.

I had to have two cakes because I had so many candles. That really hit hard.

If somebody can't take their own medications, you can't let them go.

If you have to ask whether or not you have to disclose it, you've already answered the question,

If you've been aggressively marketing your property for six weeks and if you don't have a bloated dead cow in your front yard, your house is probably priced 10 percent over fair market value.

If you're shooting for a year-end close, it will be tricky.

I guess I've had a lot of moments to add up to 20 years. I've been pretty fortunate.

I could do this, definitely, for three or four more weeks. This year.

I will have a song that I'm in love with for a couple of months and then I'll go to something else. That's just constantly changing. And sometimes I will go back to old one that I haven't heard for a long time.

Jazz is something that you have to feel. It's something that you have to live.

The best time to buy a home is always five years ago.

They played so good it was frightening. And I, of course, being young, was in awe of everything that was going on and rightly so. I mean, it was too good to believe.

A 'For Sale' sign in your yard during the holidays is like a 'kick me' sign. You are telling buyers you are a distressed seller.

Coming down off crack is like the worst depression. The worst.

[Thelonious] Monk is a subject in itself. I mean, most piano players in most big bands sit down and they play with the band, you know. But Monk would just sit there like this. And all of a sudden there'd be a pause from all the trumpets and everything and Monk would go 'plink!' like that. And everybody would go 'Yeah!

I went up to his [Hank Jones'] house and there were four guys there: Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and Max Roach. Not a bad place to be. Scared shitless, but a nice place to be on my second day in New York.

The amazing thing about Sweets [Edison] was that he exactly spoke the way that he played! He was really unique, the one and only. He was one of the greatest Blues players that I ever heard and played with. Nobody can play like Sweets man, nobody! Most of us, musicians, frequently quote Sweets' phrases in our solos. Like Lester Young, Sweets had a big influence on us musicians, especially when we play some Blues.

Well, jazz is to me, a complete lifestyle. It's bigger than a word. It's a much bigger force than just something that you can say. It's something that you have to feel. It's something that you have to live.

People are trading distance for dollars.

Jazz is something you have to feel, something you have to live.

The better it gets, the fewer of us know it.

You'd be a fool to buy the most expensive house on the block and then put money in it.

The guy wears an unbelievable bull's-eye on his chest for the players in a sense he's always gonna say it's his fault. And I'll tell you, it's not always the case. Players make mistakes, whether we want to admit it or not.

A huge amount of prospective buyers never ask why a seller is selling, but it immediately determines their level of motivation. You can get a real deal from a person who needs to move to another part of the country pending a new job, for example. Because they have an agenda of their own, a seller in need is a friend indeed.

A house doesn't have as much elasticity as your life.